Summary
Smelling vapour rubs or balms does not invalidate the fast.
Answer:
Smelling vapour rubs/balms does not invalidate the fast. In order to invalidate the fast, a person must inhale something that has substance and form (jawhar) whereby this substance enters through an orifice (nose and mouth) and travels to the stomach or brain via a direct passage (manfadh) in the body.
Vapour rubs and balms are solid items that do not emit any type of substance (jawhar) such as smoke or powder. It is merely the strong scent of the balm or vapour rub that a person inhales. Therefore, simply smelling such balms or vapour rubs is tantamount to smelling a fragrant flower, which does not invalidate the fast.
It is mentioned in Radd al-Muhtar:
It is not disliked for the one fasting to smell the fragrance of musk and rose, and other such things that do not have connected substance (jawhar) like smoke [3/397].[1]لَا يُكْرَهُ لِلصَّائِمِ شَمُّ رَائِحَةِ الْمِسْكِ وَالْوَرْدِ وَنَحْوِهِ مِمَّا لَا يَكُونُ جَوْهَرًا … Continue reading
It is also mentioned elsewhere in Radd al-Muhtar and in Maraqi al-Falah:
Do not assume that [inhaling smoke] is just like smelling a rose or rosewater, or that it is just like smelling musk due to the clear difference between air that contains the fragrance of musk and similar scents, and the substance (jawhar) of smoke that travels to the stomach by his own action [Radd al-Muhtar 3/366].[2]وَلَا يُتَوَهَّمُ أَنَّهُ كَشَمِّ الْوَرْدِ وَمَائِهِ وَالْمِسْكِ لِوُضُوحِ الْفَرْقِ بَيْنَ هَوَاءٍ … Continue reading
And Allah Almighty knows best.
Muhammad Kalim
14 Ramadan 1443 H.
| ↑1 | لَا يُكْرَهُ لِلصَّائِمِ شَمُّ رَائِحَةِ الْمِسْكِ وَالْوَرْدِ وَنَحْوِهِ مِمَّا لَا يَكُونُ جَوْهَرًا مُتَّصِلًا كَالدُّخَانِ |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | وَلَا يُتَوَهَّمُ أَنَّهُ كَشَمِّ الْوَرْدِ وَمَائِهِ وَالْمِسْكِ لِوُضُوحِ الْفَرْقِ بَيْنَ هَوَاءٍ تَطَيَّبَ بِرِيحِ الْمِسْكِ وَشِبْهِهِ وَبَيْنَ جَوْهَرِ دُخَانٍ وَصَلَ إلَى جَوْفِهِ بِفِعْلِهِ |
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