QUESTION:
What do the scholars of the Din and muftis of the Sacred Law state regarding the following issue: Does applying medicine in liquid form, which is quite thin, or massaging it, over a wound invalidate a fast. Likewise, what is the ruling of wearing a transdermal patch/bandage with medicine applied to it?
Questioner: A brother from UK
ANSWER:
بسم اللہ الرحمن الرحیم
الجواب بعون الملک الوھاب اللھم ھدایۃ الحق والصواب
Administering medicine in liquid form or applying a transdermal patch[1]/medicinal bandage over a wound does not invalidate a fast, because even if the medicine enters into the body in said case, it actually enters the body via pores, and it is a principle of Hanafī Fiqh that any medicine or food which enters the body via pores does not nullify a fast, just as it is stated in the credible Hanafī Fiqh book Hāshiyah Tahtāwī,
“والداخل من المسام لا ينافيه“
“Whatever enters via pores is not contrary to fasting.”
[Hāshiyah Tahtāwī, vol 1, pg 659]
Yes, if any medicine or food enters the body via a route/passage, then this will cause the fast to become invalid, just as it is stated in Durr Mukhtār,
“وَالْمُفْطِرُ إنَّمَا هُوَ الدَّاخِلُ مِنْ الْمَنَافِذِ“
“A fast becomes invalid when something enters via routes/passage ways.”
[Radd al-Muhtār, vol 2, pg 396]
For any further proofs, please feel free to read my written legal verdict regarding eyedrops, etc.
[1] A medicated adhesive patch that is placed on the skin to deliver a specific dose of medication through the skin and into the bloodstream.
واللہ تعالی اعلم ورسولہ اعلم صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم
کتبہ ابو الحسن محمد قاسم ضیاء قادری
Answered by Mufti Qasim Zia al-Qadiri
Translated by Haider Ali
Read the original Urdu answer here: [Q-ID0697] Does applying medicine or a medicinal bandage on a wound nullify the Fast?