Cleric says 'powerful' bidets spoil Ramadan fasting

Cleric says 'powerful' bidets spoil Ramadan fasting
An Islamic cleric has said that using a bidet "too strongly" can invalidate a person's fast during the holy month of Ramadan.

2 min read
13 May, 2019
During Ramadan, Muslims refrain from food and water from sunrise to sunset [Getty]

An Islamic cleric has said that using a bidet "too strongly" can invalidate a person's fast during the holy month of Ramadan, Egyptian media reported on Sunday.

Anas al-Sultan, a graduate of Egypt's top Islamic institution Al-Azhar, appears in a short informative video warning people against using powerful toilet cleaning devices while fasting.

"If the water shoots out of the bidet powerfully and enters inside the body does this invalidate fasting? The answer is yes," Sultan says.

"This is very important and many people are unaware of this. When we use a bidet we should take care to use it gently or just pour water on ourselves from the outside,"

The cleric explains that if water enters the body from any orifice - not just the mouth - then their fast is spoiled.

Other religious scholars have ruled that the water entering the body while cleaning after going to the toilet does not ruin the Ramadan fast.

During Ramadan, Muslims refrain from food and water from sunrise to sunset.

Muslims also abstain from sex, gossip and cursing during the day, and are encouraged to focus on meditative acts like prayer, reading the Quran and charity.

According to Egyptian news website Cairo24, Sultan has previously ruled that eating the traditional food feseekh - smelly fermented fish - is forbidden by Islamic law.

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