Applying Kohl during the Daytime of Ramadan

Question: Does applying kohl or using eye-drops affect the fasting person? What are the things a fasting person must avoid so that his fast is not affected? Please advise us; may Allah bless you.

Answer: Whatever is placed in the eye—whether liquid drops or solid kohl—breaks the fast, according to many scholars, if its taste is later felt in the throat. The eye is a point of entry; so when the substance, be it liquid or solid, reaches the throat and the person notices its taste, and he had deliberately applied it, his fast is thereby affected. This is analogous to eating or drinking something that reaches the throat. A Muslim, therefore, should not be lax in this matter. If he is accustomed to applying kohl or needs to medicate his eyes, he should do so at night; during the daytime of the fast he must avoid such things in order to safeguard his fast from anything that would invalidate it.

A fasting person must stay away from many matters. Some of them invalidate the fast completely, while others merely reduce its reward or even cancel it without actually nullifying the fast itself. In the case of whatever does invalidate the fast, he must make up that day later.

Among the things that invalidate the fast and from which one must refrain are: deliberately eating or drinking, sexual intercourse, and anything that falls under the same ruling as eating and drinking. This includes taking medicines or injections that reach the stomach and circulate through the veins, for these are treated like food and drink and thus break the fast. The same ruling applies to deliberately inducing vomiting.