Issue 791: Allowing thick dust to reach one’s throat makes one’s fast void, whether the dust is of something which is legally permissible to eat, like flour, or of something which is forbidden to consume.

Q792: What is the case of smoking cigarettes, tobacco and the like for a person observing fast?

A: As an obligatory precaution, the smoke of cigarettes, tobacco and the like renders the fast void.

Q793: Is it permissible for a person observing fast in Ramadhan to take a bath? What will the case of breathing in the bathroom be if it is very steamy?

Does a dense steam count as water in such a case?

A: Dense steam in the bathroom does not invalidate one’s fast, but as an obligatory precaution one must refrain from allowing dense steam to reach one’s throat.

Q794: What is the case of fasting in cities where air pollution is high and reaches one’s throat while breathing?

A: As in other cities, it is obligatory for the dwellers of such cities to observe fasts and they must prevent think dust and smoke from reaching their throats using special masks and their fasts will be valid; generally, dense air and environmental pollution, is accounted as thick dust and smoke.

Q795: Does it invalidate one’s fast to use medical inhalers?

A: If the inhaler is not thick it will not invalidate one’s fast, but if it contains thick steam, it must not reach one’s throat on the basis of obligatory precaution; it does not matter if it reaches one’s nose or mouth, but if the gas or steam collects in the mouth in the form of water, one must avoid swallowing it, or one’s fast will be void because it is considered water from an external source.