Does a Cotton Swab in the Ear Invalidate the Fast?

Question:
As salaamu aliykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu,
I was recently taking a course on the fiqh of fasting according to the Shafi’i school. I thought I had known my fiqh of fasting well, however the ustadh stated something that I was previously unaware of.  He stated that if one sticks a q-tip into one’s ear past the part that one can see, then one has broken one’s fast.  This seems difficult for me to believe but then again I am only a student.  Is this correct?  If I stick a q-tip in, does that break my fast?

Country: United States

Answer:

Wa alaykum salam wa rahmatuLlahi wa barakatuHu,

According to the relied-upon opinion, what reaches the jawf [cavity] through the ear will invalidate the fast. (Tuhfat al-Muhtaj v. 3, p. 402; al-Minhaj al-Qawim v. 2, p. 175)

Now, regarding the extent to which something must be inserted to invalidate the fast, there appears to be two approaches:

1) In al-Fatawa al-Kubra v. 2, p. 85, Ibn Hajar explained that when something reaches the portion of the ear considered jawf, then the fast is invalidated. And the outer-ear would not be considered jawf; thus, what reaches there would not invalidate it. Ibn Hajar noted that he did not find the As-hab defining the extent that something must enter the ear; except that what enters the jawf invalidates it. Ibn Hajar concluded that what goes past the “muntabiq” would invalidate the fast.

2) Also, there is an opinion that what goes past where it is obligatory to wash when purifying from a state of major ritual impurity will invalidate the fast. In I’anat al-Talibin v. 2, p. 259, Dimyati maintains the view. Jurdani also relates it in Fath al-‘Allam.

Neither view is expressly measured as, “…into one’s ear past the part that one can see….” Perhaps this evaluation aligns better with the second view; nonetheless, according to our School’s principles, the fatwa would rest with Ibn Hajar. (See: Fatawa v. 2, p. 85; Tuhfat al-Muhtaj v. 3, p. 402)

On this topic, Sayyid Ahmad Bey al-Husayni presented research in an article under the title Dalil al-Musafir p. 58-59. There, he notes that the fuqaha considered something that enters into a jawf via a manfadh maftuh [open orifice] to invalidate the fast. Yet, according to anatomy experts, the ear is not an open orifice. The ear is divided into three parts: 1) the outer-ear, 2) the middle-ear, and 3) the inner-ear. Between the outer-ear and the middle-ear is the eardrum. Something passing beyond the eardrum through the middle-ear into the inner-ear is not possible; except for in rare cases, like if it is punctured or abnormal. The following image illustrates the ear’s anatomy:

Thus, the eardrum prevents substances from reaching the inner-ear. By way of example, if one was to pour water in the ear, and lay on one’s side, the water would stay in the ear. It would not go beyond the eardrum, thus never reaching the inner-ear. Similarly, if one was to stick a cotton swab into the ear, it would eventually reach the eardrum which would block it from going any deeper.

Husayni criticizes the way in which the issue is presented in various hawashy writings as unsound. Then, he goes on to explain that what the anatomy experts agree upon here conforms to what the early scholars’ writings maintain: the ear is a kind of orifice leading to the cranium [qihf al-ra’s]. And this he says is sound and acceptable.

The source of the confusion is found in a difference between how the early and later scholars worded the issue; specifically, where the word “qihf,” [cranium] has been omitted by some of the later scholars. The early ones considered the “qihf al-ra’s,” cranium to be the inner [batin].

In both Tuhfah and his Fatawa, Ibn Hajar stated that what goes beyond the “muntabiq” invalidates the fast. In considering the research presented by Sayyid Ahmad Bey, it seems that what Ibn Hajar stated would be what is beyond the eardrum, through the middle-ear into the inner. Accordingly, only that which penetrates beyond the eardrum would invalidate the fast.

And Allah knows best.

Shafiifiqh.com Fatwa Dept.