Does Bleeding Intentionally Break My Fast?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Ustadh Sufyan Qufi
Question
Does bleeding due to picking on a wound or part of the body (whilst knowing it could bleed) invalidate the fast?
For instance, when on a fast, I plucked at my toe nail and cut off half of it from the root (the nail had previously been split in half by my own ignorance a while earlier). Some blood came out, but not a lot. Does this bleeding make the fast invalid?
Answer
In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,
I pray this finds you in the best of states.
No, bleeding intentionally or not won’t invalidate your fast. [Shurunbulali, Nur al-Idah]
The reason for this ruling is that you are still abstaining from eating, drinking, and having intercourse. Thus you are still fasting. [Ibid.]
Allah, Most High, says: “Complete the fast (sawm) until nightfall.” [Quran, 2:187]
Scholars explain that fasting (sawm) in the Arabic language refers to abstaining oneself from drinking, eating, and having sexual relations even for one moment. Allah, Most High, asked us to fast from true dawn until sunset. The only element to add to the linguistic definition of fasting to understand its usage in the Quran is the intention to worship Allah along with this abstaining. [Marghinani, Hidaya]
And Allah knows best.
Wassalam
[Ustadh] Sufyan Qufi
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Ustadh Sufyan Qufi is an advanced seeker of knowledge, originally from Algeria, who grew up in France. He began searching far and wide for answers to the fundamental questions of life and was disappointed at the answers he found. Then he connected with various traditional teachers and gradually connected with SeekersGuidance. He embarked on his journey of learning through the various teachers at SeekersGuidance, including his mentor Shaykh Faraz Rabbani. He studied numerous texts in Islamic Law, Theology, Hadith, and other areas with Shaykh Faraz Rabbani and other teachers, including Shaykh Abdurrahman al-Sha‘ar, Shaykh Ali Hani, and others. He is an active instructor at SeekersGuidance and answers questions through the SeekersGuidance Answers Service.
