Acts considered Odious during fasting

Q.1: What injunction is there for lying and backbiting during fasting?A. Telling lie, tale-bearing, back-biting, abusing, committing indecent acts or hurting others is forbidden and unlawful even in normal course of life and commission of such acts during fasting is even more unlawful and disgusting.Q.2: Why does lie etc. arouse disgust during fasting?A. Observance of fast does not simply mean to avoid food, drink and sex but instead the cardinal objective of it as enshrined in the Shari’ah is to keep one’s ears, eyes, tongue, hand, foot and every limb of the body away from sin. Non-achievement of this objective during fasting will be as if one observed no fast or if did at all then it was the fast of the body not of the soul. There is in a Hadees that “Allah does not like one’s avoidance of food and drink who does not give up bad acts,works during fasting”. Another Hadees says: “the real fast is to eschew bad and indecent things, acts”.Q.3: Can a fasting man taste something or not?A. Tasting or mastication of something during fasting without a valid reason is an odious act (Makrooh). Tasting means to place something on one’s tongue just to check its taste and then spit it out without any of its ingridients reaching the throat.Q.4: Eating a little amount of something is also considered to be a tasting. What injunction is there to this effect?A. Tasting does not mean to eat a little amount of something to check the taste thereof as is idiomatically considered. If done so during fasting, the fast will be spoilt and Kaffaarah will also become due if the conditions of the atonement of fast are found in it.Q.5: Is there any excuse for tasting a thing?A. There are some excuses for tasting a thing, for example, a woman whose husband is peevish and bad-tempered can check the taste of curry,soup during fasting to avert any unpleasant happening or there is too small a child in the family to eat the bread of wheat and there is no soft food available to feed him and also there is no unfasting person in the family like menstruating woman who could soften the bread of wheat by masticating it to feed the child, in such case his fasting mother can do it for the child. Likewise, there is no harm in checking the taste of a commodity, while purchasing, whose tasting is necessary to avoid any loss otherwise not.Q.6: What about kissing and touching a woman?A. It is Makrooh (undesirable act) to kiss, hug and touch one’s wife (a woman) during fasting when there is a likelihood of discharge or indulgence in sex. The religious scholars have declared sucking the lips or tongue quite an odious act provided that the spittle if entered the mouth of either party does not reach the throat. If happened so then the fast would be spoilt and if done deliberately with relish then Kaffaarah will also become due.Q.7: Is it Makrooh or not to smell a rose etc. during fasting?A. It is not Makrooh to smell a rose or musk etc. or to anoint the beard or moustache or to apply antimony to the eyes. However, it is Makrooh to apply antimony to the eyes for adornment or to anoint the beard with the intention of growing it further although it is already according to the standard set by the Shari’ah (fistful) in normal course of life and during fasting is even more Makrooh.Q.8: How is that for brushing the teeth with “Miswaak”?A. Brushing the teeth with “Miswaak” (soft-stick,tooth-stick) during fasting is not Makrooh. It is as much Sunnat and commendable act during fasting as is in normal course of life. It can be used any time during fasting irrespective of before or after “Zawaal” (decline of the sun) dry or fresh or it may be wetted by soaking in the water.There is no rhyme or reason in the notion that a fasting man can not brush his teeth with Miswaak after the noon. It is against our (Hanafi) creed.Q 9: Is it Makrooh or not to use tooth power during fasting?A. Though it is not forbidden or unlawful to use tooth powder or dentifrice during fasting provided that no ingridient of it reaches the throat yet it is not a desirable act if done without a valid reason.Q10: What about rinsing the mouth and sniffing water into the nostrils during fasting?A. It is Makrooh to do “Mubaalaghah” (to do a work thoroughly) in rinsing the mouth and sniffing water into the nostrils during fasting i.e. to rinse the mouth taking mouthful of water and sniff the water into the nostrils to such an extent that water reaches the soft portion of the nose every time but not Makrooh to simply rinse the mouth or to simply sniff the water into nostrils or to take bath or to put a water-soaked piece of cloth or sheet round the body to refresh oneself (in the summer) during fasting. However, it is Makrooh if one puts a wet sheet round his body to show botheration, for, it ill-behoves a believer to do so in worship.Q11: When and how should a fasting man take “Ghusl-e-Janaabat”?A. If one becomes ” Junub” (polluted) due to discharge during sleep or having sex (in the night), he should take bath before the dawn of Fajr so that he could start his fast in the state of purity. If one can not do so because of any reason then he should at least gargle and sniff the water into nostrils upto the soft portion of the nose before the dawn of Fajr as these things can not be done during fasting. It may be noted that delaying bath so much so that the Fajr prayer is missed is sinful even in normal course of life and doing so in Ramadaan is even worse, for, it strips the fast of its essence, light.Q12: How is that for breaking wind in the water?A. Breaking wind in the water while taking bath in a pond or canal does not affect the fast but doing so is Makrooh.Q13: Is it Makrooh or not to do “Mubaalaghah” in abstersion during fasting?A. It is Makrooh to do “Mubaalaghah” (to do a work more than needed) in abstersion during fasting meaning one should sit for relieving oneself with legs wide apart in the normal days and wipe the orifice clean with clods stressing the breath downwards and then wash it well. But during fasting such things can not be done.Q14: Is it permissible or not to do laborious work during fasting?A. It is not permissible to do such a laborious work in Ramadaan that weakens the fasting man thereby forcing him to break the fast before time. Those who do strenuous work like baker, mason and labourer etc. should cut their work short if they feel weakness so that they could fulfill the obligation of fasting. The moral of this Islamic advice is that the believers should not abandone fasting on the excuse of weakness and not to incur the anger of Allah Almighty by blatantly violating the Divine command.