VACCINE JAB DOES NOT BREAK FAST, TURKISH RELIGIOUS BODY SAYS

Sat 03 April 2021:

Turkey’s top religious body said Friday that taking the COVID-19 jab will not break the Ramadan fast.

Ahead of the Muslim holy month, Idris Bozkurt, a top official of the Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet), told Anadolu Agency: “There is no nutritious vitamin or food substance in any vaccine, including the COVID-19 vaccine. Injecting such a thing into the body does not break the fast.”

However, if one wants to exercise caution, they can get the vaccine after iftar (fast-breaking meal) or before sahur (pre-dawn meal), he added.

He encouraged those who get a vaccination appointment during fasting hours to take the jab.

“Vaccination is an important measure to protect health, stay healthy and prevent transmission [of infection]. Therefore, we have to be vaccinated in order to prevent this [disease]. I would like to remind people who have to get this vaccine that fasting is not an obstacle,” Bozkurt added.

He also called upon people to stay away from behaviors that might endanger public health.

“Whatever protective measures are, we have to abide by them,” he said.

UK

Faith leaders and health professionals in UK are urging muslims to continue getting their Covid-19 vaccination during Ramadan.

Shahida Siddique, the Chair of the Faith Covid Group, said it it ”absolutely okay and allowed” from a religious perspective ahead of Ramadan, which is due to begin later this month. ITV reported.

Last month, British Islamic medical groups said after concerns were raised ahead of the holy month, Al Arabiya reported

“Taking the COVID-19 vaccines currently licensed in the UK does not invalidate the fast, as per the opinion of Islamic scholars. Individuals should not delay their COVID vaccinations on the account of Ramadan,” the British Islamic Medical Association said in a statement.

Over the past few months, many mosques have opened as vaccination centres across Yorkshire to increase the vaccine uptake of those of Black, asian, and ethnic minority backgrounds.

With #Ramadan starting soon, the @BritishIMA have provided useful guidance for #Muslim communities confirming that #Covid19 #vaccines do not invalidate the fast. ⁰⁰See below for more info #CareShareProtect @NTyneCCG @TyneHealth @HWNTyneside @NTynesideVODA @NTCouncilTeam pic.twitter.com/nIyd6rrkkU

— Community Health Champions (@ChampionsNT) February 26, 2021

“Subcutaneous, subdermal, intramuscular, interosseous, or intra-articular injections for non-nutritional purposes whilst fasting does not invalidate the fast, regardless of the injected content entering the blood circulation. These routes are not classed as entry sites that would invalidate the fast.

Receiving the COVID-19 vaccine as an intramuscular injection, the only route for the vaccines currently available, therefore does not invalidate the fast,” the medical association added in its statement.

US

The executive director of the Islamic Society of North America, Basharat Saleem, said that numerous scholars of Islamic law had been consulted on the matter, New york Times reported.

“The answer is no,” he said. “It does not break the fast.”

The group joined with dozens of others last year in organizing a National Muslim Task Force on Covid-19, which has taken advisement from Muslim jurists. They were in general agreement, Mr. Saleem said, that getting a Covid-19 vaccine was acceptable during Ramadan or at any other time. A shot “will not invalidate the fast because it has no nutritional value and it is injected into the muscle,” the task force announced, a ruling that in the past has covered flu shots and other vaccinations.

Ramadan is the holiest month in the Islamic calendar and is expected to run from April 12 until May 12 this year. More than 1.5 billion Muslims around the world will mark the month, during which believers abstain from eating, drinking, smoking, and having marital relations from dawn until sunset. They also try to avoid evil thoughts and deeds.

Fasting during the month of Ramadan is also one of the five pillars of Islam. It is followed by the Eid al-Fitr holiday.