Cupping vessels are glass jars fitted with a narrow tube which the cupper sucks. He keeps a piece of cotton in his mouth, and after sucking the tube, he seals it with this cotton. When he sucks it, the air is evacuated; and once the air has been evacuated, it necessarily draws the blood. When it draws the blood, the vessel fills up and then falls off; so long as it has not filled, it remains in place.

When the underlying wisdom is not precisely defined, the general scope of the ruling is applied. Hence, he said: If a person performs cupping using separate instruments that do not require sucking, this does not invalidate his fast.

Those, however, who maintain that the effective cause is purely a matter of devotional prescription say: The cupper’s fast is invalidated even if he performs cupping with separate instruments, because of the general wording of the hadith.

What appears correct to me—and Allah knows best—is that the view adopted by Shaykh al-Islam is more sound. Thus, if cupping is performed indirectly, without any need for sucking, there is no basis for saying that it invalidates the fast, for legal rulings are considered in light of their legally recognized effective causes.

If it is said: “When an effective cause nullifies the import of the text itself, this indicates that the proposed cause is unsound; and this applies to Shaykh al-Islam’s view when a person performs cupping with separate instruments,”

then the answer is: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was speaking about a practice commonly known in his time. Thus, the definite article in “the cupper” refers to the cupper understood and recognized by them.

The view that cupping invalidates the fast is the position of Imam Ahmad