As the holy month of Ramadan approaches, some Muslim groups and organizations in the US have confirmed that receiving COVID-19 vaccine wouldn’t break fasting; this is due to numerous consultations on the matter.
“The answer is no,” the executive director of the Islamic Society of North America, Basharat Saleem, said. “It does not break the fast.”
The announcement came upon the advice given by a National Muslim Task Force on COVID-19 that a vaccine shot “will not invalidate the fast because it has no nutritional value and it is injected into the muscle,” New York Times reported.
📚 Read Also: 7 Things Nullify Your Fasting
The issue has generated a lot of concerns lately among many Muslims, but the preservation of life is one of the highest principles in Islam.
“These decisions are a matter of personal conscience,” said Dr. Hasan Shanawani, the president of American Muslim Health Professionals and a practicing pulmonologist in Michigan.
Declining a vaccine means “potentially putting all of us at risk,” said Dr. Shanawani, who has treated hundreds of Covid-19 patients over the past year. “Take the vaccine that’s available to you. God is the most forgiving.”
A prayer service at the Islamic Center in Sandy, Utah, last year. At least one American mosque is having a popup vaccination event to give members the chance to get two shots before Ramadan begins.Credit…Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune, via Associated Press
Similar Opinion
A similar opinion about vaccine and Ramadan fasting has been shared recently by different Muslim scholars and groups.
In the US, for instance, Dr. Yasir Qadhi, a prominent Muslim scholar, is quoted to have said that vaccines do not break the fast.
Also Shaikh Dr. Ahmad bin Abdul Aziz Al Haddad, Grand Mufti and Head of the Fatwa Department at the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department in Dubai said people can take vaccine during Ramadan.
An earlier statement by the British Islamic Medical Association also confirmed that the vaccines do not break Ramadan fasting.
Ramadan is the 9th month of the Hijri Islamic calendar. It commemorates the first revelation of the Qur’an to Prophet Muhammad.
From dawn until sunset, Muslims refrain from food, drinking liquids, smoking, and engaging in sexual relations).
Ramadan is expected to start from April 13 this year subject to moon sighting.