On Rushing to Break the Fast During Ramadan

Shehu Uthman Dan Fuduye’ said in his Ihya: “From the
path of the sunna of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace, during Ramadan is it
being highly recommended of hurrying to break the fast
(ta`jeel 'l-fitr).

It is related in the Saheeh of al-Bukhari on the
authority of Sahl ibn Sa`d that the Messenger of
Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace said,

"The people will continue in good as long as they
hurry to break the fast."

Imam Muhammad ibn Abd’r-Rahman said in his Tuhfat
al-Ahwadhi said: “This is what the people of knowledge
from among the Companions of the Prophet, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace, and others chose
regarding it being highly recommended to rush to break
the fast.

This was the opinion of as-Shafi`, Ahmad and Is’haq.”
He also said: “The meaning of his words ‘The people
will continue in good…’, is understood from another
tradition related by Abu Hurayra;

“The religion will remain apparent…” Thus, the
manifestation of the deen necessitates the persistence
of good. This means the people will persist in
manifesting the deen, ‘as long as they hurry to break
the fast’, as the tradition narrates. This means as
long as they persist in establishing the sunna of
rushing to break the fast.”

The scholars of the sunna are agreed that rushing to
break the fast applies when the setting of the sun has
been ascertained by sighting or by the testimony of
two upright men or a single upright man.”

Imam Ibn Hajr said: “The meaning of his words ‘as long
as they hurry to break the fast’, the good is attained
at the time that they do that, following the Sunna,
stopping with its limits without relying on their own
intellects in altering its principles. Abu Hurayra
added in another narration:

“This is because the Jews and Christians postpone
breaking the fast.” Abu Dawud, Ibn Khuzayma, and
others narrated this. The custom of postponing of
breaking the fast of the People of the Book is until
the appearance of the stars.

Ibn Habaan and al-Haakim related a tradition from Sahl
in his words:

“My Umma will remain on my sunna as long as they do
not wait for the appearance of the stars to break the
fast.”

The Mujaddid Ibn Daqeeq al-`Eid said: “This prophetic
tradition is an answer against the sect of the Shia`
who postpone the breaking of the fast until the
appearance of the stars. This is because rushing to
break the fast is the causative factor of the
existence of good, thus by postponing it, one enters
into the actions of those who act contrary to the
Sunna.”

Imam al-Qari said: “Some of the scholars say that when
the breaking of the fast is postponed in order to
discipline the soul or in order to connect the two
evening prayers with superogatory prayers, without
believing in the obligation of postponing the breaking
of the fast, then there is no harm in that. However, I
say that the harm comes from the loss of the sunna of
rushing to break the fast, because breaking the fast
with just water does not negate disciplining the soul
or connecting the two evening prayers with extra acts
of worship. Along with the fact that rushing to break
the fast is a manifestation of one’s innate inability
(`ajaz) with regard to slaveness as well as hastening
to accept the license (rukhsa) from the presence of
Lordship.”

On the Postponing Taking the Pre-Dawn Meal in Ramadan

Shehu Uthman Dan Fuduye’ said in his Ihya: “From the
path of the sunna of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah
bless him and grant him peace, during Ramadan is it
being highly recommended of postponing the dawn meal
(ta'kheer 's-sahuur).

It is related in the Saheeh of al-Bukhari on the
authority of Sahl ibn Sa`d who said, "I used to take
the dawn meal with my family. I would then rush to
catch the prostration with the Messenger of Allah, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace."

Qadi `Iyad said: “Sahl ibn Sa`d intends in this
statement to say that the furthest extent of his
hurrying was because his dawn meal was near to the
appearance of dawn, to the extent that he almost
failed to catch subh prayer with the Messenger of
Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.”

Ibn Muneer said: This tradition means that the
Companions used to take the dawn meal very close to
the time of dawn to the point of shortening it and
rushing out of fear of missing the prayer.”

It is also related in the Saheeh of al-Bukhari on the
authority of Anas on the authority of Zayd ibn Thaabit
who said, "We took the dawn meal with the Prophet, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace and he then stood
to establish the prayer”. I then said, "How long
should it be between the call to prayer and the
pre-dawn meal?" He said, "The space of (time it takes
to recite) fifty verses”.

Ibn Hajr said: “This tradition proves that gathering
in congregation to take the pre-dawn meal is a sunna.
This also establishes that the Messenger of Allah, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace used to postpone
the pre-dawn meal out of compassion to his Umma. He
would do so because if he had not taken the pre-dawn
meal they would have followed him in that, causing the
fast to be difficult for some of them. If he, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace had taken the
pre-dawn meal in the middle of the night, this would
also have been difficult for those who would perhaps
be overcome by sleep to the point where they would end
up missing the subh prayer, or they would be in need
to make spiritual struggle by means of staying awake
all night (sahr).”

Sahl ibn Sa`d determined the time between the pre-dawn
meal and the subh prayer by means of recitation
(qira’at). This is an indication that this time was
normally a time of superogatory worship, which was
filled with the recitation of the Qur’an by the
Companions of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and
grant him peace. For if they were occupied with any
other action at that time, he would have measured and
determined that time using another means of
measurement. However, he measured the time based upon
a particular act of worship, which was a specific
measurement of recitation of Qur’an. This is a proof
that this time was normally a time of recitation.

Which brings us to the next point which is the
increase in recitation of the Quran.

Success is with Allah.