This website is under review. Do not rely on it for final rulings.
Question
Some patients who have difficulty breathing need to breathe artificial oxygen whilst fasting. Does this have any effect on the fast?.
Answer
Praise be to Allah, and blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah:
The oxygen that is given to some patients does not invalidate the fast, because nothing else is added to this oxygen, so it comes under the same ruling as breathing natural air.
Hence in a statement of the Islamic Fiqh Council it says:
The following things are not regarded as things that break the fast: … oxygen. End quote.
See: Majallat Majma’ al-Fiqh al-Islami (10/2/96, 454), Muftiraat al-Siyaam al-Mu’aasir, by Dr. Ahmad Khaleel, p. 50.
More fatwas from our library on the same topic