QUESTION:

As Salaamu Alaikum,

I have been Muslim a few months now and this is my first Ramadan. I’ve been advised to stick a madhab for simplicity so if you could kindly answer based on the Hanafi madhab.

  1. When making ghusl, how far must I sniff water up my nose? I see terms such as hard bone, soft bone but nobody clarifies what they actually mean. If you could please explain it simply i.e., how many centimeters up my nostrils must it travel
  2. Sometimes (even when sniffing gently), some of the water travels up my sinuses and then enters my mouth. I of course spit the water out, but does this movement break my fast?
  3. Sometimes when the above happens, I feel some water touch the back of my throat, again I don’t swallow it. Does this break my fast?

 

ANSWER:

Wa Alaikum As Salaam,

  1. According to the scholars of the Hanafi Madhab, rinsing the nose means to reach water to the soft bone. The soft bone refers to the soft lower part of the nose which is called the cartilage, and it is before the hard bone. What is required while performing ghusl is to rinse the nose at least once, by reaching water up to the inner part of the nose and cleaning it. It does not necessarily mean to sniff it or inhale the water with a breath. It is regarding this, the Fuqaha (Jurist experts) have written, ‘And Al Istinshaq (rinsing the nose) in Shariah means ‘Reaching the water to the nasal cartilage, which is the soft part of the nose’. While explaining the above statement of Maraqi Al Falah, the great Jurist, Imam Al Tahtawi writes, ‘The above definition indicates that sniffing water with the breath of the nose (inhaling water) is not a condition in rinsing the nose’.

(Hashiya Al Tahtawi Ala Maraqi Al Falah. pg. 69. Qadeemi Karachi)   

  1. If the water travels up to your sinuses, then it means that you need to sniff lighter than what you are presently doing. You should not allow the water to go into this area, and then enter the mouth, since in this way, it can easily go down the throat without you having any control over it, and in that case, your fast will be broken.

Based on what you have mentioned that you spit out the water when it reaches your mouth, your fast will not be broken, since you did not allow it to go down the throat.

 

  1. If you feel the water touching the back of your throat, and then you spit it out before it can go down the throat, your fast will not be broken. However, you must avoid sniffing the water into the nose to this extent that the above situation arises.

When you are fasting, all you are required to do is to place water into the nose so that it can reach up to the soft bone (cartilage) and insert the small finger of your left hand to clean each nose and then blow out the water.

 

In this regard, the Prophet (S.A.W) said, ‘Exaggerate when rinsing the mouth and rinsing the nose, except when you are fasting’. (Abu Dawood Hadith No. 2366).

 

It must be understood however, that while this is the way described for rinsing the nose, in Wudhu and Ghusl, a fasting person must not exaggerate in the acts of gargling and rinsing the nose, lest water enters into the throat and nullify the fast. In this regard, the Fuqaha have stated, ‘And it is Sunnah to exaggerate in rinsing the mouth which is to reach the water to the tip of the throat, and to exaggerate in rinsing the nose which is to reach the water above the cartilage of the nose. Both of these are for the one who is not fasting. As for the fasting person, he should not exaggerate in rinsing the mouth and the nose (as described above), fearing that the fast can be broken. This is based on the hadith of the Prophet (S.A.W) in which he said, ‘Exaggerate in rinsing the mouth and rinsing the nose except that you are fasting.’

(Hashiya Tatahwi Ala Maraqi Al Falah page. 70. Qadeemi Karachi)

 

And Allah Knows best

Mufti Waseem Khan

25/02/2026