God mentions in the Qur’an the actions that invalidate fasting, namely eating, drinking and sexual intercourse. He says: “You may now lie with them and seek what God has ordained for you. Eat and drink until you can see the white streak of dawn against the darkness of the night. Resume the fast till nightfall.” (2: 187) In a sacred, or Qudsi Hadith, the Prophet quotes God’s words in reference to a fasting person: “He abandons his food, drink and desire for My sake.” (Related by Al-Bukhari and Muslim on Abu Hurayrah’s authority).
In books of Fiqh, or Islamic jurisprudence, reference is made to the ‘internal cavity,’ or jawf, stating that anything that reaches it invalidates fasting.
We do not find in the Qur’an any reference to such cavity, except for the use of the same Arabic word, jawf, in the Qur’anic verse that may be translated as: “Never has God endowed any person with two hearts within him.” (33: 4) Here jawf is translated as ‘within’ the person, which means that it has nothing to do with the cavity scholars speak about.
Similarly, the word jawf occurs in the Hadith, but with no connection whatsoever with either fasting or non-fasting. Indeed it occurs in ways that are incompatible with the concept of an internal cavity mentioned by scholars. In one Hadith, the Prophet replies to a question about what causes a person to be thrown in hell, saying: ‘The two organs with jawf or cavity: the mouth and the genital.’ The same applies to other uses of the word jawf, indicating the depth of the night, the bottom of one’s luggage, the inner corner of one’s home. Other Hadiths using the same word say: “It is better for any one of you that his inside should be full of puss than it should be full of poetry.”
“A person who has no portion of the Qur’an within him…” “Just like one who has learnt it and he lies down and it is within him.” “Satan laughs from his depth.” “Blessed are the insides that contain this.” “Nothing truly fills up a human being’s inside except dust.”
Medical doctors do not know anything that may be described as ‘the internal cavity,’ used with the definite article. They define several cavities in different parts of the body, such as the chest cavity which houses the lungs, the heart and the arteries, the abdominal cavity with the stomach, the intestines, the liver and the spleen, etc., the nasal cavity, the mouth cavity, the stomach cavity, etc.
Nor did doctors of the past speak of ‘the internal cavity,’ except for what Ibn Sina mentions in his famous book, Al-Qanoon, of the upper and lower cavities, which mean the chest cavity with the heart and the lungs, and the abdominal cavity which includes the stomach, intestines, etc.
Had the term jawf been used to denote some specific organ, which is not the case, then it would be relevant to determine what it would have signified in today’s medical terminology. It certainly does not refer to the digestive system which begins with the mouth and ends with the anus. Rinsing one’s mouth certainly does not invalidate fasting. A Hadith reported by Umar ibn Al-Khattab runs as follows: “I was in a pleasant mood and I kissed my wife when I was fasting. I said to the Prophet: “Messenger of God! I have perpetrated something serious today: I kissed when I was fasting!” He said: “What would you say to rinsing your mouth when fasting?” I replied: “There is no harm in that.” He said: “Then what!”
The only remaining explanation is that the jawf or internal cavity is a name given specifically to the stomach. This is the nearest explanation, because what we eat and drink goes into the stomach. When it is digested and it moves on, it is a substance that is totally different from food and drink. Thus, there is no medical argument to justify the view expressed by some people saying that fasting is invalidated by what goes through the anus, vagina, or penis, such as enema, or suppository, or a doctor’s or midwife’s finger in medical examination, or a catheter, or an anoscope, colposcope, urethroscope, or radiopaque material, or medicine or dialytic solution. Nor could fasting be invalidated by ear drops or any ear-cleansing solution. Nothing of all this can ever reach the stomach cavity.
It appears on the basis of the texts we have that if only a little amount gets into the stomach, it is overlooked. There is no doubt that a person who rinses his mouth retains some of the water which becomes mixed with his saliva. He will inevitably swallow it, and it does not invalidate his fasting, according to the Hadith we have already quoted.
If a person rinses his mouth with water bearing some radioactive material, we will soon find this radioactive material in his stomach. This confirms that Islamic legislation overlooks such little amounts that find their way to the stomach. The little that goes in after mouth rinsing is certainly more than what may find its way, if any, to the oesophagus from a mouth inhaler used by asthmatic patients, or from a nasal inhaler or nasal drops, or from a tablet placed under one’s tongue which is used in the treatment of angina, or from ear drops when the ear drum has been pierced. Hence, there is no justification for disallowing the use of any such medication in Ramadan on the assumption that they invalidate fasting. What may reach the stomach cavity through them is much less than the small amount that is normally overlooked.
The same could be said about what reaches the stomach when one rinses his nose thoroughly. The Prophet says to one of his companions, Laqeet ibn Sabrah, in a Hadith related by Abu Dawood: “Rinse your nose thoroughly, unless you are fasting.” It is clear that this Hadith waives the order of thorough rinsing in the case of fasting. It is not an order preventing or prohibiting such rinsing.
Nor do we have any indication that it invalidates fasting, particularly since this waiver is stated after an order. As this is established as true and authentic, then all things described as invalidating fasting on the basis of analogy with what this Hadith mentions are certainly irrelevant.
We will continue to discuss other types that are claimed to invalidate fasting next week, God willing.
