Nafkh (blowing)

Nafkh, in the lexicon, is sending out air; one blows into a horn to make it sound. ¹ Nafas is wider than nafkh, and tajashshu (belching) is narrower. ^{1 2}

Food and drink: most jurists dislike blowing into them, on the hadith forbidding breathing into a vessel; Abu Yusuf dislikes it only if it makes a sound; al-Mardawi sees no dislike when eating needs it. ^{1 2} In prayer: deliberate blowing invalidates it in general. The Hanafis require it to be audible; the Malikis treat blowing from the mouth as invalidating; the sounder Shafi'i view requires two letters to appear with knowledge of the ruling; the Hanbalis dislike it without two letters and invalidate it with them. ^{2 3} Ensoulment: from the time the spirit is breathed into the foetus it is a person for inheritance, the ghurra compensation and the prohibition of abortion. ³ The trumpet: blowing it is a matter of belief, as the Qur'an states (cited by surah and aya only). ^{3 4} Instruments of entertainment: some jurists allow blowing them in particular cases, others forbid it. ⁴