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What is the ruling on placing chewing gum on the roof of the mouth during prayer, and does it invalidate it?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A Muslim must glorify Allah, show reverence towards Him, and be humble in prayer. Placing gum (luban) in the mouth during prayer contradicts this and causes excessive movement. Ibn Qudamah mentioned that if one leaves something dissolvable in their mouth, such as sugar, and swallows some of it, their prayer is invalidated because they have eaten. It is disliked to place anything in the mouth that does not prevent recitation because it distracts the mind. If what is in the mouth dissolves and one swallows its dissolved part, the prayer becomes void, especially if swallowed intentionally while knowing it is forbidden. Prayer also becomes void due to excessive chewing, even if nothing reaches the stomach. Swallowing what has dissolved in the mouth, such as sugar and the like, is considered eating.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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