The ruling on the fast when smelling frankincense

Question

In the third part of “Bihishti Zewar” (“Heavenly Ornaments”) it is written that if, in the state of fasting, one lights a fumigation of frankincense or the like and smells it, the fast will be lost. Does this ruling apply only to frankincense, or to every smoke such as that of incense sticks and the like? Some gentlemen light incense sticks during the fast and smell them, saying that this is, after all, a fragrant thing, and the fast is not lost by smelling fragrance. Is this correct or incorrect?

Answer

If frankincense or the like — in short, any smoke whatsoever — is smelled for its fragrance and brought to the throat or the brain, the fast will become invalid by it. The fast will not become invalid merely by smelling a fragrance. So it is in al-Tahtawi.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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