Using non-nutritive antibiotic eye ...

Egypt's Dar Al-Ifta

Using non-nutritive antibiotic eye drops and contact lenses solution while fasting

Question

What is the ruling on using non-nutritive antibiotic eye drops and contact lenses solution (antibacterial and cleansing) while fasting?

Answer

Scholars have differed over the ruling for using eye drops while fasting. The dominant opinion of the Hanafis and the apparent position of the Shafi'is is that eye drops do not vitiate fasting. According to them, the reason is because eye drops are not inconsistent with fasting which means abstaining from food and drink. They do not invalidate fasting even if the eye drops can be tasted in the throat because, according to them, the eyes are not an open body orifice.

Maliki and Hanbali scholars maintained that eye drops nullify fasting if the drops reach the throat because, according to them, the eye is an orifice, although not a usual one.
Since the eyes are not considered an open orifice, we opine that anything that enters the eyes, solutions or medicine, does not nullify fasting even if it reaches the throat. The taste of the eye drops in the throat does not mean that the eyes are orifices; rather, they reach the throat through the skin.

And God Almighty knows best.

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