Things Permitted to the Faster as Un-avoidable
Things that are a part of daily living, such as swallowing sa-
liva, mucus, street dust, or mill dust (for workers at the mill),
are unavoidable, and they do not nullify the fast. Also, tasting
of foods by cooks or tasting it with intention to buy, provided
the food is not swallowed, but spit out. Nor is the fast affected
by smelling a perfume or using it on the body or cloth. But in-
tentionally sniffing any particles that might travel through the
nose to the belly would spoil the fast.
The faster is allowed to eat and drink and have sexual inter-
course from sundown until the break of dawn. When dawn
breaks and there is food in the mouth, it should be spit out and
one should cease from ejaculation. If one swallows the food or
continues to have sex, his fast in nullified. In a hadith by Mus-
lim and Bukhari (raa) reported by ‘Aisha (raa) the Messenger of
Allah (saas) said:
“When Bilal calls adhan at night eat and drink until Ibn
Umm Maktum calls.”
The hadith indicates there used to be two adhans; the first one
was announced by Bilal Ibn Rabah (raa). The purpose of which
was two fold: to wake the believers up for sahuur and to indi-
cate the period of sahuur, and Abdullah Ibn Umm-Maktum’s to
announce the time to stop eating and prepare for morning
prayer.
For women, bleeding as a result of menstruation, or post child-
birth, if the blood stops, may delay their bathing (ghusl) until
daybreak and may they wake up fasting, but they should
cleanse themselves, before performing prayer, Salaat.