Does Inhaling Steam Break My Fast?

Answered by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad

Question

1) If someone was pouring out water from hot rice and steam was coming out, and then one took a deep inhale, (but not fully aware and forgot that one was fasting for a second-cooking as routinely as one does)- does this break the fast? 

2) What if one was cooking chicken, took one chicken out to smell the flavor, and forgot that inhaling smoke invalidates the fast. She took a very tiny whiff (not sure if the smoke even entered the nostrils), and then immediately took it away when remembering inhaling smoke breaks the fast. She also is not sure if she inhaled the side where the perceptible smoke was coming out. 

Does this break the fast because she forgot that inhaling deliberately while fasting breaks it- though she did do it deliberately to smell the flavor?

Answer

Thank you for your question.

Shaykh Jamir tells us in the Absolute Essentials course for Shafi`i fiqh that smell, taste, or smoke does not nullify the fast even if one opens one mouth to take it in. This was the case when you were smelling the chicken and had steam in your face from the hot water.

Accidentally Inhaling Perfume While Fasting

Will My Fast Break by Inhaling Incidentally the Steam From a Shower? Up to Where Should I Wash My Mouth and Nose During Ghusl?

[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad 
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria, for two years, where she studied Aqidah, Fiqh, Tajweed, Tafseer, and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Master’s in Arabic. Afterward, she moved to Amman, Jordan, where she studied Fiqh, Arabic, and other sciences. She recently moved back to Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her family.