Question: Does tasting the dish break the fast? Please explain with evidences.
What breaks the fast is eating, drinking and sexual intercourse. Allah commands:
“(…) Eat and drink, until the white streak (of light) in the direction of the red streak of light (fajr) is clearly distinguishable by you from the black streak (of land in that direction). Then, complete the fast till nightfall. Do not have intercourse with your wives while you continue to seclude yourselves in the places of prostration to God. These are the bounds set by God; do not approach them! Thus, God explains His verses to the people so that they may protect themselves.” (Al-Baqarah 2:187)
Tasting the dish without swallowing it is none of eating or drinking. So it does not break the fast, but it is wrong to do without a reason, because the almighty God decrees that we should not approach the bounds set by Him. Tasting the dish without any reason would be approaching these bounds. On the other hand, if there is a possibility of bad meal to cause disturbance at home, then it is considered as a “Necessity” in terms of Islamic jurisprudence, and this makes tasting permissible.
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