Does applying cream and powder on the body and face break one’s fast? Can one apply topical medications such as Retin-A that are absorbed by the skin?
No, applying cream and powder to the body does not break one’s fast. The fast is invalidated by things entering the body cavity itself. This is why even injections do not invalidate the fast.
Applying cream to the surface of the body, whether to the breast or any other part, does not nullify fasting because it is not food or drink and does not resemble food and drink. Majmoo‘ Fataawa of Shaykh Ibn Baaz may Allaah have mercy upon him (15-260) reads: “As regards beautifying the face with soap or cream or other items which pertains to the surface of the skin, like henna and makeup, then all this does not affect one’s fast…” [End of quote].
“There is no text in the Quran or the Sunnah, or consensus, or evident analogy indicating that whoever applies cream to his/her skin and perceives its taste or scent, his/her fasting will be broken, nor is it similar to the things that break the fast mentioned in the Sharee’ah texts. Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah may Allaah have mercy upon him said in his book “The Reality of Fasting”, p51, while talking about breaking the fast with kohl: ‘Had this been among the things that break the fast, the Prophet , would have clarified it, as he did with other things that break the fast. Since he did not clarify that, we come to know that it can be classified under perfume, incense and oil. Incense may go through the nose and enter the head, and turn into a solid substance; and oil is absorbed by the skin and enters inside it, thereby man gets strength by it in the same way as he gets strength by means of perfume. Since the fasting person has not been forbidden from these things, then this proves that it is permissible for him to use perfume, incense, oil and kohl.” [End of quote].
In the Hanafi school, such medication would not affect your fast in anyways. In fact, even injections do not break the fast.
But applying cream and powder to increase your beauty is against Islam. if one is to use harmless medicines to treat a defect in the body that may cause harm to the wife or the husband, then this is permissible so long as there is a necessity or need for it, and it is not considered a change in the creation of Allaah The Almighty. Thus, what you wish to do is permissible.
Allaah Knows best.
Also Read: Significance Of “Tarawih” In Ramadan
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