Does Swallowing Phlegm and Saliva Invalidate the Prayer?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Ustadh Sufyan Qufi
Question
My question is regarding swallowing saliva/mucus that likely has the color of my food. This happened during the prayer, and I forgot to mention that it was likely larger than a dried chickpea. Is my prayer still valid?
Answer
In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,
I pray this finds you in the best of states.
Swallowing saliva or mucus inside the mouth won’t invalidate the prayer, regardless of its amount. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]
This is based on the fact that anything that invalidates the fast will invalidate the prayer, and what won’t invalidate the fast will not invalidate the prayer. [ibid]
Saliva
Swallowing saliva inside your mouth won’t break your fast. [Shurunbulali, Nur al-Idah]
Thus, your prayer won’t be broken by doing so.
Phlegm
Swallowing mucus that has reached one’s mouth through one’s nose or one’s throat does not invalidate one’s fast. [Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah]
Thus, your prayer won’t be broken by doing so.
Legal Reasoning
One of the main reasons for the rulings above is that there is genuine hardship in avoiding those things. And they are excused because Allah, Most High, says:
“[Allah] has laid upon you no hardship in the religion.” [Quran, 22.78]
From this verse (and others), Hanafi scholars established the following legal principle:
“Hardship is legally excused.” [Sarakhsi, Mabsut]
And Allah knows best.
[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 for ways to learn Islam reliably and was disappointed at the answers he found locally.
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.
