Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu waRahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
Applying cream to the surface of the body does not nullify fasting because it is not food or drink and does not resemble food and drink.
Answering your question, The Fatwa Center at Islamweb, states:
The late Sheikh Ibn Baz says in his book Majmu Al-Fatawa:
“With regard to beautifying the face with soap or cream or other items which pertain to the surface of the skin, like henna and makeup, then all this does not affect one’s fast…”
According to the opinion we adopt concerning the fasting person who applies cream to his body: “There is no text in the Quran or the Sunnah, or consensus, or evident analogy indicating that whoever applies cream to his/her skin and perceives its taste or scent, his/her fasting will be broken, nor is it similar to the things that break the fast mentioned in the Shari`ah texts.”
Imam Ibn Taymiyyah said in his book The Reality of Fasting while talking about breaking the fast with kohl:
“Had this been among the things that break the fast, the Prophet would have clarified it, as he did with other things that break the fast. Since he did not clarify that, we come to know that it can be classified under perfume, incense, and oil.
Incense may go through the nose and enter the head, and turn into a solid substance, and oil is absorbed by the skin and enters into it, thereby man gets strength by it in the same way as he gets strength by means of perfume. Since the fasting person has not been forbidden from these things, then this proves that it is permissible for him to use perfume, incense, oil and kohl.”
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.