Ask Ali: Solutions to the quirks of fasting during Ramadan

Dear Ali: Do you ever eat or drink by mistake during Ramadan? Does it happen to people, and, if it does, would that break your fast? And does swallowing your saliva break your fast? JY, Kuwait

Dear JY: This brings back a lot of memories from when I was a child, when I would actually wish to find myself drinking water by mistake, so that I would be able to fast for the rest of the day without feeling so thirsty and tired.

To answer your question, in short, yes – many people who fast can sometimes find themselves, by mistake, opening the fridge and getting a bottle of water or something to eat – but since it is not done on purpose and it just happened because that person forgot that he or she was fasting, then it’s totally fine. We should quickly get the food or the beverage out of our mouths before it hits our throats. The rule is that eating or drinking by mistake does not break the fast.

Swallowing your saliva doesn’t break your fast; neither do other things that could get into your mouth unintentionally, such as street dust or toothpaste while brushing your teeth. Some might unintentionally swallow water while bathing; this is also fine.

We should always remember that in Islam, when someone unintentionally does any of these acts, it will never be held against them by God or anyone else in society – because we are all aware that we are human beings and it’s possible for a person to forget by mistake.

Dear Ali: During fasting in Ramadan, are you allowed to pick a day or two to rest if you feel like you're going to die? BV, Abu Dhabi

Dear BV: God forbid, if someone really felt that they were dying from fasting then they should know that no one is asked to fast if he or she really feels like it’s just too difficult to bear. At the same time, if a person is feeling fit and healthy, he or she should fast, unless they have a very good reason not to – because feeling tired doesn’t really count as a good reason to take a few days of rest or to break your fast.

One of the main points of fasting is to experience how all the hungry people out there in this world feel, many of whom suffer to even find a piece of bread. Fasting is all about sacrificing to achieve the ultimate deed of appreciating what almighty God has blessed us with.

Dear Ali: If you're living in some places in the northern and southern hemispheres, daytime can last for up to 24 hours. So I'm wondering how people fast there? What is the time to break one's fast in such places? MV, Abu Dhabi

Dear MV: You’ve reminded me of the days when I used to fast in Scandinavia – we had months where we fasted for more than 19 hours, before breaking the fast at 11pm and then starting fasting again at dawn at about 2am. That was an interesting experience, but there are many solutions to such situations.

The general opinion, which is respected and accepted by many Islamic scholars, explains that Muslims who live in such places have a couple of options: either to follow the times for breaking fast and imsak in Mecca or Medina (Saudi Arabian time) or to follow the times of the nearest countries – for example, Canada or the United States for the northern hemisphere, and New Zealand or Australia for the southern hemisphere. Likewise, there are choices for those fasting during the long summer days, where the sun sets at almost 10pm and there’s no twilight.

Those who are against this opinion would argue that there will be a time when you fast for as little as four hours during the whole day because the nights are so long – what do you do then? These are all good ways of giving people more options to choose from, depending on what fits them best.

Ali Al Saloom is a cultural adviser and public speaker from the UAE. Follow @AskAli on Twitter, and visit www.ask-ali.com to ask him a question.

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