Dar received Fatwa Al-Masryah asked the question: What is the effect of swallowing food scraps between the teeth on fasting? There is a man who intended to fast, and after he had suhoor, he found a few remnants of food between his teeth, so he washed his mouth and teeth as much as he could, but a small amount of those remnants remained between his teeth, and during the day they decomposed and ran out with the saliva without him intending to swallow them. Will this invalidate his fast?
The fatwa answered the question by saying: The fasting person does not break his fast by eating small leftover food in his saliva that he cannot be careful of and expel it from his mouth such that it enters his stomach without intending to do so. This is due to the general meaning of God’s saying: “God desires ease for you and does not desire hardship for you.” [البقرة: 185]If these leftovers of food are so many that he can take them out of his mouth and not swallow them, then he must do so, and he breaks his fast if he swallows them intentionally. Accordingly, the aforementioned man’s fast is not spoiled by his saliva flowing with a small amount of leftover food without his intention to swallow it.
Facilitating and removing the embarrassment from those who are responsible according to Islamic law
She noted that those who examine Islamic law will find that its foundation is facilitation and removing hardship from those who are responsible, in order to take care of their situation and achieve their interests, and what indicates this is the saying of God Almighty in His Mighty Book: “God desires ease for you, and does not desire hardship for you.” [البقرة: 185]And His Almighty said: “God desires to lighten the burden for you, and man was created weak.” [النساء: 28].
On the authority of Abu Umamah, may God be pleased with him, that the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him and his family, said: “I was sent with the tolerant Hanifiyya.” It was included by the imams: Ahmad and Al-Ruyani in their “Musnads,” and Al-Tabarani in “Al-Mu’jam Al-Kabir.”
One of the manifestations of facilitation and relieving the burden on those who are responsible is that Sharia law follows the path of “pardoning during fasting the things that break the fast from which it is difficult to guard against.”
The effect of a fasting person swallowing leftover food between his teeth on his fast
She pointed out that the leftover food that a fasting person swallows between his teeth does not occur in one of two cases:
The first: It must be very small, such that the fasting person will not be able to scoop it up and expel it from the mouth.
The second: It must be so large that the fasting person can distinguish it and guard against it by scooping it up and expelling it from his mouth.
- But if it is small enough that the fasting person cannot protect himself from it and expel it from his mouth, then it does not break the fast, according to consensus. Because of the difficulty of being careful, God Almighty said: “God does not burden a soul beyond what it can bear.” [البقرة: 286]And he, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him and his family, said: “And when I command you to do a matter, then do as much of it as you are able.” The two sheikhs included it in their “Sahihs” from the hadith of Abu Hurairah, may God be pleased with him.
- But if it is so large that it is possible to scoop it out and expel it from the mouth, then the fasting person must do that. If he does so, his fast is valid, and if he swallows it intentionally, his fast is invalidated, and this is what the majority of Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i and Hanbali jurists have said.
However, the Hanafi school of thought estimated the small amount that cannot be avoided and does not affect the validity of the fast, and the large amount that can be avoided and affects the validity of the fast – with the hamsa. Whatever the amount of the hamsa or more than it is a lot, and what is less than it is a little, and what is relied upon according to the majority is the ability to distinguish and cover it or not, so the small is what cannot be distinguished and covered, and the large amount is what can be distinguished. And his face.
While some Maliki jurists – such as the two imams: Ibn Habib and Ibn Al-Majishun – held that the fast of one who swallows what is between his teeth, even intentionally, is not invalidated as long as this swallow remains in his mouth before abstaining from fasting. This is a view according to the Shafi’is, and according to the Shafi’is there is a third opinion, which is that if he does what he can to expel what is between his teeth – with a toothpick or something like that, such as a toothbrush – as usual, it does not break the fast. He did not break his fast.
What is required of the fatwa is that the fasting person breaks his fast by swallowing the food that remains in his mouth if he is able to distinguish it and recognize it. Because “he swallowed food that he could pronounce voluntarily, remembering his fast, and he broke his fast with it, as if he had started eating,” as in “Al-Mughni” by Imam Muwaffaq al-Din Ibn Qudamah (3/126).
She explained based on that and in the context of the question: The fasting person does not break his fast by having a small amount of food left in his saliva that he cannot guard against and expel it from his mouth such that it enters his stomach without intending to do so. If these food remains are large and he can expel them from his mouth and not swallow them, then that is obligatory for him, and he breaks his fast when he swallows them intentionally. Therefore, the fast of the aforementioned man is not invalidated by a small amount of food remnants flowing in his saliva without his intention. To swallow it.
