Question:
- What is the ruling of getting a blood test while one is fasting? Does it break their fast?
Answer:
- Getting blood taken to be examined does not break ones fast. The doctor may need to take the blood from a sick person to test it. This does not break a persons fast because it is a little bit of blood. It does not effect the body as does when someone gets cupped (hijamah), therefore it is not something that breaks a persons fast. The underlined principle is that a person remains in his state of fasting, and it is known that we can not say that his fast is broken except by a legislated proof. There is no proof that this little bit of blood being extracted breaks a persons fast.
- Now as when we talk about taking a lot of blood from the fasting person for something like a blood transfusion or something, that is a different story. Then now we are talking about a nice bit of blood being taken what will effect the body the same way cupping effects it, and we know that this breaks a persons fast. So now we understand that if the fast is an obligatory fast, then it is not permissible to give blood in a large amount to anyone. This is of course, unless the person that needed the blood was in a dire emergency and can not wait until after time to break the fast. After getting opinions from some doctors that the blood of this fasting person will help the other individual and remove the danger from him, then in this situation there is no problem with giving blood while one is fasting. He breaks his fast, eats and drinks until he returns to his normal strength and just makes up this day that he missed. And Allah knows best.
[Taken from Fatawah Arkan al Islam by Sheikh Uthaimeen]
[Translated by Abu Abdillah Abdul Lateef]
