Nicotine pouches will break your fast because, as a Muslim, you cannot eat or drink anything from dawn to dusk. While you don't chew or swallow a nicotine pouch, putting it in your mouth is still considered eating. This is because nicotine pouches diffuse nicotine into your body,including other flavorings and additives.
Alternatively, people are now fasting intermittently for the health benefits. Nicotine pouch use does not affect intermittent fasting because of the low calories. Nicotine pouches and modern intermittent fasting make a pretty good combo.
Here's what we'll cover:
- Islamic fasting and nicotine pouches in the first section
- Intermittent fasting purely for health benefits in the second section
TLDR: Nicotine Pouches Break Traditional Fasts
The long and the short of it is that nicotine pouches break Islamic and traditional religious fasts. They do not break modern intermittent fasts because they have close to zero calories. Furthermore, nicotine pouches are great for weight loss diets, which amplifies the effect of intermittent fasts.
Why Do Nicotine Pouches Break Fast? (Islamic)
Nicotine pouches break fast because they contain a variety of flavors and copious amounts of nicotine. These ingredients enter your mouth, bloodstream, throat, and stomach. According to Shariah, anything that enters your mouth, throat, or stomach during a fast is prohibited.
This applies to all types of oral nicotine products, including nicotine pouches like ZYN, VELO, and LOOP. All types of nicotine are stimulants that might affect your mood and ability to pray.
Fatwas on Nicotine Pouches
According to the Jurists of the four leading, using nicotine pouches is considered makrooh and breaks the fast. While we didn't find a direct answer on official forums, we did find leads on Reddit. Here's an excerpt from Reddit:
According to a majority of the users, using products like ZYN pouches will break your fast. Alternatively, the spirit of Ramadan is about abstaining from addictions. Nicotine is very addictive, and using it is generally frowned upon.
While the ruling on nicotine pouches is not very clear, there is a consensus that you should avoid anything that has negative health effects. The ruling stems from the Quranic Verse:
“Don't throw yourself into danger by your own hands...” (Al Baqarah 2:195).
Scholars agree that nicotine pouches may be permissible if used to quit cigarettes. Tobacco-free nicotine pouches don't contain harmful toxins and often help users quit smoking. In cases like these, users can use ZYNs to quit smoking.
Do Nicotine Pouches Break Intermittent Fasts? (Modern)
Nicotine pouches do not break intermittent fasts because they have close to zero calories. These pouches do not contain any extra harmful regents that might adversely affect your fast. Brands like ZYN are keto-friendly, which makes them perfect for intermittent fasting.
Nicotine pouches increase the resting metabolism rate and suppress hunger. These two effects combined make ZYN nicotine pouches a popular weight loss option, with some hailing it as the $5 Ozempic. Nevertheless, these pouches do not contain extra elements that could break your intermittent fast.
How Does Modern Fasting Work?
Modern fasting is a new trend that most people follow for its health benefits. This includes fasting during certain times of the day and limiting specific food intake or water. There are three types of modern fasting:
| Types of Fasting | Can You Drink | Can You Eat | Time Period |
| Intermittent Fasting | No | No | Any specific time frame, for example, 7 hours allowed for eating and 18 hours of fasting. You can eat and drink during the fixed periods, for example, a one-hour time frame between 1 and 2 PM. |
| Water Fasting | Yes | No | You can drink throughout the fast but avoid all solid foods, usually for 17 to 22 hours. It's gaining popularity amongst people who want to lose weight. |
| Dry Fasting | No | No | Like Intermittent fasting, you do not eat anything during the fasting period. You have to fast continuously like a religious fast. |
Benefits of Modern Fasting
Modern fasting has multiple benefits, including:
- Weight Loss: The biggest benefit of fasting is that your body starts burning stored fats. Research in the NIH states that intermittent fasting helped patients reduce body weight and glucose levels more readily.
- Increases Insulin Sensitivity: Research shows that intermittent fasting for a few days per month can increase insulin sensitivity. However, prolonged and continuous fasting can reduce insuling sensitivity due to "starvation diabetes."
- Reduces Inflammation: The continuous intake of processed foods and contaminants can cause inflammation. Research shows that fasting reduces the concentration of inflammation markers like C-Reactive Protein. This reduces the risk of chronic cardiac and liver problems.
- Enhances Hearth Health: Intermittent fasting reduces triglyceride levels, cholesterol, and blood pressure. These keep your heart healthy and your body safe.
- Promotes Growth Hormones: Alternate-day fasting can increase basal Human Growth Hormone (HGH) concentrations. These are vital for promoting growth, weight loss, muscle strengthening, and more.
Do Other Forms of Nicotine Break Your Fast?
Most forms of nicotine break traditional fasts except nicotine patches. This happens mainly because nicotine enters the bloodstream and alters your mood. We'll look at the specific types of nicotine products and their permissibility:
1. Do Cigarettes Break Fast?
Yes, cigarettes break your fast because any kind of harmful chemical inhalant is prohibited during the fast. When you smoke cigarettes, you inhale 7000+ toxins and nicotine. As we've established, the consumption of any sort of additive that enters your throat or stomach is prohibited.
According to the Islamic councils of Malaysia and Saudi Arabia and leading scholars of the four main sects, smoking cigarettes breaks the fast. Naturally, we would advise smokers to quit smoking during the month of Ramadan or whenever they're fasting.
Sheikh Ibn Uthaymin said the following about cigarettes:
"Rather, smoking is a kind of drinking; in Arabic, they say that one “drinks” a cigarette. Moreover, there is no doubt that smoking reaches the stomach and the inside of the body, and everything that reaches the stomach and the inside of the body invalidates the fast..."
Since cigarettes are considered makrooh by most scholars, you might want to quit them altogether. Cigarettes also have a negative impact on modern fasts.
2. Does Snus Break Fast?
Yes, snus and all other smokeless tobacco products can break your fast. The main reason for this is the diffusion of flavor and additional materials, which eventually reach the back of your throat. Nicotine is also a stimulant that can affect your mood and other functionalities, which breaks your fast.
The Islamic Standing Committee said the following about snus and fasts:
"Smokeless tobacco is an evil substance because it is composed of an evil, haraam substance. If it is used by one who is fasting, in addition to it being sinful, it also breaks his fast, the same as any other substance that breaks the fast."
Overall, all forms of smokeless tobacco, including snus, dipping, and chewing tobacco breaks traditional fasts. You can not use these products whenever you're fasting, even if the snus is for some very specific health condition. These products do not affect modern fasting for benefits.
3. Does Nicotine Gum Break Fast?
Yes, nicotine gum contains flavors, nutrients, and other flavors. While nicotine gum is less harmful compared to snus and cigarettes, using them will still break your fast. When you use nicotine gum, it releases nicotine and flavor that travels through your body and compromises your fast.
According to Islam Question & Answers query number 38206:
"Chewing this kind of gum(flavored) leads to breaking the fast because the sugars and flavorings dissolve in the saliva and enter the stomach."
The nicotine from these gums enters your bloodstream through the mucosa. The flavors and chewing motion create saliva that enters your throat and stomach. Naturally, nicotine gum or any other flavored chewing gum breaks your traditional fast.
4. Do Nicotine Patches Break Fast?
Nicotine patches do not break your fast because you do not use them orally. When Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymin was asked about the viability of nicotine patches during fasts, he replied with the following words:
“He is not breaking the fast in Ramadan, and he may use them. It may be obligatory for him to use them if this is a way of stopping smoking. There is nothing wrong with a person giving up something haram gradually because when Allah wanted to forbid alcohol, He did not forbid it outright in one go. Rather, He did it gradually."
According to the Islamic Fiqh Council:
“The following things are not regarded as breaking the fast … among which they listed:
Whatever enters the body through the skin, such as creams, ointments, and skin patches containing medicines or chemicals.”
These are medicated, transdermal pouches that help relieve the symptoms of nicotine addiction. You apply these pouches to your skin to relieve the symptoms of nicotine addiction. Naturally, the scholars are more tolerant towards the use of patches that contain nicotine compared to cigarettes and snus.
Can I Use Nicotine Pouches After Fasting?
Yes, you can use nicotine pouches after fasting. The periods of eating and fasting range from dawn to dusk. You start fasting at dawn with the call to prayers. You can use nicotine pouches after you break your fast at dusk.
Furthermore, Muslims fast on certain days of the month apart from the 29 to 30 days of Ramadan. The same rules apply when fasting on days outside Ramadan.
FAQs on Nicotine and Fasting
1. Are nicotine pouches haram?
According to the current Islamic rulings, nicotine pouches are makrooh, not haram. However, according to Islamic teachings, you shouldn't use anything that puts your health at risk. Naturally, nicotine pouches are frowned upon in Islamic circles.
2. Do nicotine pouches break wudu?
Yes, nicotine pouches might break your wudu. While there are no specific rulings on nicotine pouches, they might break your wudu. It is better to perform ablution after using nicotine pouches to avoid any problems.
3. Can nicotine break a fast?
Nicotine of any form or type will break any Islamic or religious fast. However, nicotine has close to no effect on modern intermittent fasting. These assessments apply to all forms of nicotine, including cigarettes, snus, hookah, vapes, e-cigs, nicotine pouches, nicotine gum, and lozenges.
Conclusion: Nicotine Pouches Break Islamic Fasts But Not Intermittent Fasting
Using nicotine pouches can break Islamic fasts because the flavor and saliva may enter your throat and stomach. Intermittent fasting is centered more around the benefits. Using nicotine replacement therapy while fasting intermittently does not break it.
While you can't use nicotine pouches during a traditional fast, you can use them after dusk. With non-Islamic intermittent fasting, you can use a nicotine pouch whenever you like. Nicotine pouches have almost no calories and work well with weight loss diets.
