hello, i know ramadan is months away but i wanted to ask this before i forget, can we take medication while fasting? without water of course, because i get really bad migraines and i need pills to calm them
Taking medications by mouth is not permitted when fasting. You could try taking the medication before the start of the fast. There are also migraine medications that are injected once a month, those would be permissible since medication injections do not break the fast according to respected sources like the Egyptian Fatwa Authority, Dr. Atiyya Saqr and Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi. However there is a great deal of disagreement on injections. But monthly injections would be the least problematic because it could be done when you are not fasting, and even though it continues to cause medication to reach your bloodstream throughout day and night, it would be similar to eating a meal before the start of the fast (which continues to cause nutrients to reach your bloodstream throughout the fasting day).
Source:
- Fatwa on IslamOnline (Arabic PDF)
- Article on the Fatwa from the Egyptian Fatwa Authority (Arabic PDF)
Best wishes.
That monthly injection recommendation is TERRIBLE. Whether botox or the new medicine not proven to be more effective and costs a thousand dollars a month, who can afford that? AND it barely works. Those medications are only meant to help reduce the number of migraines per month. The average is 2 less days per month, which for someone who has 10 or 15 or MORE migraine days a month isn’t really worth $1,000. I CANNOT believe oral medication isn’t allowed. So, what?? People are just supposed to die? What about oral medications taken by diabetics? What about nitroglycerin for heart failure? That’s outrageous.
Muslims are allowed to not fast if they are dependent on a medication that has to be taken during the daytime.