Is a Muslim allowed to use a Ventoline inhaler or similar medicine inhaler during Ramadan?

Question

Is it allowed for a patient to use a Ventoline inhaler during the fasting of Ramadan?

Notice that the disease is chronic, so an inhaler must be used constantly.

Answer 1

Regarding Asthma Inhalers, al-lajnah al-daai'mah said:

Asthma medication which a sick person inhales reaches the lungs through the windpipe and does not reach the stomach. It does not constitute food or drink, nor is it regarded as similar to them. Rather, it is similar to urethra drops, deep head and body wound medication, kohl, enemas and medicines which reach the brain or the body but not through the mouth or the nose.

If it goes to abdomen, Scholars have differed in this issue.

Some scholars view that if a fasting person uses any of them, their Sawm is not invalidated.

The other group views that some of these medicines break Sawm while others do not. However, all scholars are of the opinion that taking these medicines is not the same as eating or drinking.

In general, food and drink if it reaches stomach and abdomen, it invalidates the fast. And also, it was authentically reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) stated:

Sniff water up into the nose deeply, unless you are fasting. [Al-Tirmidhi, Book on Fasting, No. 788]

The Prophet (peace be upon him) excluded the fasting person from this for fear of water reaching the throat or stomach if one sniffs water strongly which can spoil fasting. This indicates that everything which reaches the abdomen voluntarily breaks fast.

Among scholars who did not consider that this (inhaling medicine) will not invalidate fast were Shaykh-ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah be merciful to him), and other scholars who had the same opinion.

They did not validate the analogy between these medicines and food and drink because the evidence does not indicate that nullifiers of Sawm are all that reach the brain, the body, or the stomach, or enter the body through an opening. Thus, as long as there is no Shar`y (Islamic legal) evidence to the effect that nullification of Sawm is conditional on one of these descriptions, it is right to suspend the ruling of invalidation of Sawm in this case. Moreover, deeming these medicines the same as water which reaches the throat or the stomach because of deep sniffing is not correct because they are different. Water is a type of nourishment, and thus if it reaches the throat or the stomach, it spoils Sawm whether it enters through the mouth or the nose which are merely passages. For this reason, Sawm is not invalidated by Madmadah (rinsing the mouth) or careful inhaling of water, as neither of the actions are prohibited. Hence, the mouth being the regular passage has no effect on the ruling. That is to say, if water and the like enter (the throat or the stomach) through the nose, it will take the same ruling as entering through the mouth. Furthermore, in some cases it is used as a nourishing passage, and consequently it is the same as the mouth. In conclusion, the opinion that seems correct is that inhaling the medicine in question does not break Sawm because, as is mentioned above, it does not fall under the same ruling as food or drink in any aspect.

Source: Asthmatics using spray inhalers

Answer 2

I hope my answer be useful. I think they are similar.

According to Jafari Fiqh:

Q16: If a percentage of the pressurized gas taken orally by an asthma patient reaches his stomach, will it invalidate his fast?

A: It does not invalidate his fast, unless it contains a liquid medicine which he knows that some particles of it will reach his stomach.

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Reference:

• Official website of Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Mohamed Saeed Alhakeem.

Answer 3

With all due respect, from what I can tell, Ventolin is a form of liquid (after doing some research on it) so whether it gets to the stomach or not, it is still entering the body, and it is also medication, thus indicating that a person is not healthy enough to fast.

Also, to validate my point, if you notice, just like many other medications, once a person takes Ventolin (or salbutamol, another name for it), they do experience many side effects. So to me, taking Ventolin or any other form of medication that either goes through the nose or the mouth does nullify the fast. In fact, one should not keep fast because it can cause more complications. A fast should only be kept by a healthy person. Whenever I have fasted, I've made sure I don't take my asthma pumps.

Answer 4

I don't have much study of Islam, thus I cant refer Quran and Hadith. But as a prudent man I think Ventolin will not break the fasting since it is related with life saving aspect. Moreover, it affects the lungs only and provided that it does not have any liquid particles which can go up to the stomach.

But caution for people that they should not misinterpret and take smoking as a benefit of doubt because it is injurious to health and it leads us to death through cancer or by different diseases. So smoking is life threatening and not a life saver!