• Fasting: Sleeping through the day in Ramadhan
If we sleep most of the day in Ramadhan, we are like deserters who flee from battle. There is nothing to combat when we are asleep, not even our feeling of hunger and thirst. When we wake up late in the day, it will be only a short while before we enjoy a full meal with several courses, numerous dishes, etc. While it is true that a person who does this fulfills, technically speaking, the basic requirements of fasting, namely, to abstain from eating and drinking during the day, he does not actually go through the experience of fasting.
• Fasting: Swimming while fasting
Is it permissible for a fasting person to have a bath or to swim in a pool or river where there is a chance of water entering his ear or nose, etc.?
If you are asked to define Islamic fasting, you are likely to say that it is a deliberate abstention from eating, drinking, and sex, every day during the month of Ramadhan from dawn till sunset. If this is a correct definition, which it is - if we add to it that such a deliberate abstention is undertaken in obedience to Allah and fulfillment of His order - then anything that constitutes a breach of any restriction which fasting involves will render your fast invalid. Therefore, in order to know whether a particular action invalidates your fasting or not, we have to make sure whether it constitutes such a breach. When you swim, it is true that there is a chance of having a drop of water getting in your ear or nose, but does it constitute drinking? On the other hand, can the use of nasal, eye or ear drops be considered a form of drinking? Obviously not. Hence, such use does not invalidate fasting. Similarly, the use of nasal or mouth inhaler, of the type normally used by people who have asthma is perfectly appropriate for a fasting person.
• Fasting: Tasting food while fasting
I have read that a fasting woman is allowed to taste the food that she cooks for her husband if he is of the type who gets very angry if the taste is not right. If this is true, is it permissible for a fasting mother to taste the food she prepares for her infant?
Let us first be clear about what we are talking about. Eating is different from tasting. You do not need to eat a mouthful or a spoonful of something and swallow it in order to determine its taste. If a woman takes a spoonful of her cooking, chews it and swallows it, she spoils her fast. Whether she does it in order to avoid a row with her husband who may be very difficult to please when it comes to food, or for any other reason, the verdict remains the same. What she does in this case is eating, which is forbidden during fasting.
However, it is not necessary for any person to swallow something in order to find out its taste. It is with the front part of one's tongue that one finds out how something tastes. If a woman puts a small piece of her cooking in her mouth in order to feel its taste with her tongue, without allowing it to reach her throat, before bringing it out, her fast remains valid. However, scholars agree that this should be done only when there is real need for it, as in the case when a woman's husband can be very troublesome over his food. A woman should try to make her husband more understanding when it comes to cooking while fasting.
The need to taste an infant's food is less pressing, since it is possible to feel the temperature of the food with the back of one's hand. It is also possible to determine how sweet or salty the food is, by following the right recipe. But if the tasting is done as I have explained, it does not invalidate fasting. The thing to watch out for is whether the woman feels the taste in her throat. If she does, she has invalidated her fast.
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