Grand Ayatollah Shirazi discusses ruling of using inhalers while fasting

During his daily scholarly session, Grand Ayatollah Shirazi discussed the ruling of using an inhaler during the holy month of Ramadan, and said: Some jurists have stated that using an inhaler is not among the Muftirat, and this is my inference, too, because its content go to the lungs and respiratory tract, not towards the stomach. Thus, it is not an example of eating or drinking, and it does not even include things like drinking a drop of water or a grain of rice, which invalidates the fast. So, in such circumstances, the default understanding is it does not break the fast.

Regarding the use of tobacco, cigarettes, and drugs in Ramadan, His Eminence said: There is consensus opinion on some Muftirat and division of opinion on others among jurists. Regarding thick dust, the hadith states: Someone sweeps a house and dust enters his mouth and throat. Most of the jurists have issued a fatwa or obligatory caution that thick dust reaching the throat is a muftir. They have also said the same about thick vapor and smoke, and although smoking is not an example of eating and drinking, it becomes a muftir according to this narration.

Regarding the ruling of gurgling water while fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, the Marja said: It is mentioned in Urwa al-Wuthqa, and most later scholars have also accepted that there is no problem with gurgling as long as it does not reach the Makhraj (point of articulation) of the letter “خاء”. But, if water reaches that point, as it is at the beginning of the pharynx, then gurgling has been considered as a problem for the fast. However, if a person gurgles water and does not swallow it and discharges it, based on scholarly discussion, it is not established whether it is a problem for the fast, that is, if one makes sure that while gurgling, the water never enters the throat, there is no Sharia-based reason it invalidates fasting.

Let’s watch the statements of Grand Ayatollah Shirazi: