Whilst I was praying Fajr, I caught a little bit of skin on my lips with my teeth and brought it inside my mouth, and after taking off this bit of skin, I remembered that I was fasting, so I tried to find this bit of skin with my tongue, but could not. So I swallowed my saliva so that no saliva would come out of my mouth whilst I was praying. Is my fast valid? Should I have interrupted my prayer and rinsed my mouth out?
Praise
be to Allah
If someone
removes a bit of skin from his lip whilst fasting, he must spit it out.
If he swallows
it by mistake (because he forgot), or he could not find it, or it is too
difficult for him to take it out of his mouth, so he swallows it with his
saliva, his fast is valid and he does not have to do anything, because even
if we assume that it was still there and he swallowed it, he swallowed it
without meaning to.
It says in
Sharh Muntaha al-Iraadaat (1/483):
If he wakes up
and finds a bit of food in his mouth, and he spits it out, or it is too
difficult for him to spit it out, so he swallows it with his saliva without
meaning to, that does not invalidate his fast, because it is too difficult
for him to avoid that.
But if it can be
distinguished from his saliva, and he swallows it deliberately, then he does
break the fast. This was stated by Imam Ahmad. End quote.
So long as you
did not deliberately swallow this bit of skin, then there is no blame on
you, and you did not have to exit your prayer and rinse out your mouth;
rather it is haraam to exit the prayer for that purpose; rather what you
should do is remove it from your mouth with your finger or a handkerchief
and the like.
And Allah knows
best.
