There are three groups of narrations relevant to this topic, the first two of
which I will cover in this blog.
Group 1 – advise against immersing your head in water whilst fasting
·
Sahih
narration of Hariz from Abu Abdullah (AS): “He said – ‘the person fasting and
the person in ihram does not immerse their head into water’” (Wasa`il, volume 8,
page 24; chapters on what someone who is fasting should abstain from, chapter
3, hadith 8)
·
Sahih
narration of al-Halabi from him (AS): “He said: ‘a person who is fasting can
soak himself in water (يستنقع) but does not immerse his head.” (Wasa`il, volume 8, page 24; chapters on what someone who is fasting
should abstain from, chapter 3, hadith 7)
The implication of these narrations in advising
against doing it, but are not clear in implying they are haram in and of
themselves rather they imply that these should not be done whilst fasting.
And therefore, from these narrations alone, one
cannot infer that immersing one’s head breaks the fast, only that it is not
allowed whilst fasting [note that this would only be the understanding if there
were no other narrations on the topic].
Group 2 – imply that immersing your head in water breaks the fast
but is not forbidden
Marfu’ narration in Saduq’s al-Khusal from Abu Abdullah (AS): “He
said: ‘5 things break the fast: eating, drinking, intercourse, immersing into
water and lying against Allah, the Prophet and the Imams (AS).” (al-Khusal of
al-Saduq, page 286, hadith 39) – however, the chain of narration is weak due to
it being marfu’.
There are some narrations that are good enough to use (mu’tabar)
which are close to being clear about implying immersing your head in water
breaks the fast e.g.:
·
Sahih
narration of Muhammad ibn Muslim:
“I heard Abu Ja’far (AS) say: the one who is fasting is not affected by what
occurs if he avoids three things: eating and drinking, women and immersing
[one’s head?] in water.” (Wasa`il, volume 8, page 18;
chapters on what someone who is fasting should abstain from, chapter 1, hadith
1)
Here it is clear that “is not affected” is because of the fast, not
because of the person fasting himself – and this must mean it results in the
fast not counting.
One might say that the apparent meaning of the narration is that you
should avoid these things in general when fasting (even for non-wajib fasts) – but
for non-wajib fasts, it cannot be haram to dip one’s head in water so
therefore “is not affected” must be with regards to it invalidating the fast,
not that it is haram taklifi.
If there was nothing other than these two sets of narrations, one
might conclude that immersing one’s head in water would invalidate the fast.
However, there is another narration that suggests the opposite, which will be
discussed in the next post.
