Ibrāhīm ibn Ḥamzah also narrates it—from al-Darāwardī, from Zayd ibn Aslam, with his full chain—in which I said to him, “Is this a sunnah?” He replied, “No,” and then he mounted.
This chain is stronger than that transmitted by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar. Consequently we have two sound routes: in one the wording is uncertain, while in the other it states the very opposite. Al-Ṭabarānī construed the report in a sense unconnected to breaking the fast for travel, which shows that the version declaring the act to be sunnah is weak. Allah knows best.
The jurists have differed on this issue, holding several opinions:
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The view adopted by the majority of scholars is that whoever begins the day fasting and then travels is not permitted to break the fast that day at all—neither before setting out nor afterwards. This is the position of Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī, al-Zuhrī, Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Anṣārī, al-Awzāʿī, Abū Ḥanīfah and his colleagues, Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Abū Thawr.
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The second view is that he may break his fast once he has left and passed beyond the houses of the town. This is the opinion of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, and it is also related from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar and al-Shaʿbī.