❖ Question:
What is the ruling if water enters the throat unintentionally while rinsing the mouth or nose during fasting?❖ Answer:
If a fasting person rinses the mouth or inserts water into the nose, and water unintentionally reaches the stomach, then the fast is not invalidated. This is because the act occurred without deliberate intention.Allah ﷻ says:
وَلَـكِنْ مَا تَعَمَّدَتْ قُلُوبُكُمْ
"But what your hearts have intended—that is what counts as sin."
[Al-Aḥzāb: 5]
Shaykh Ibn ʿUthaymīn رحمه الله stated the same ruling.
However, during fasting, one must avoid exaggeration while rinsing the mouth or inserting water into the nose so that there's no risk of water reaching the throat. This is in accordance with the instruction of Luqayṭ ibn Ṣabrah رضي الله عنه, who narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
"Complete the ablution, pass water between the fingers, and exaggerate in rinsing the nose—unless you are fasting."
[Authentic: Ṣaḥīḥ Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Book of Purification 1, Chapter on Rinsing the Nose 55, Ḥadīth 142; Ṣaḥīḥ Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Book of Fasting 6, Chapter on Dislike of Exaggeration While Rinsing for a Fasting Person 69, Ḥadīth 788; Ṣaḥīḥ Sunan al-Nasāʾī, Book of Purification 1, Chapter on Exaggeration in Rinsing 71, Ḥadīth 87; Ṣaḥīḥ Sunan Ibn Mājah, Book of Purification 1, Chapter on Exaggeration in Rinsing and Sniffing Water 44, Ḥadīth 328 & 40]
In Summary:✔ If water unintentionally reaches the throat while rinsing or cleaning the nose, the fast remains valid.
✔ But one should avoid exaggeration in such acts while fasting, as a precaution.
