546 – Sahl ibn Saʿd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “People will remain in a good state so long as they hasten to break the fast.” Agreed upon. (1)

547 – Al-Tirmidhī records, on the authority of Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Allah, majestic and exalted, said: ‘The dearest of My servants to Me are those who are quickest to break the fast.’” (2)

Status of the ḥadith:
This ḥadith is ḥasan (good).

Shaykh Aḥmad Shākir, in his commentary on al-Tirmidhī, wrote concerning the wording “The dearest of My servants to Me are those who are quickest to break the fast”: none of the authors of the six canonical collections included it except al-Tirmidhī.

The editor—may Allah pardon him—adds: Al-Tirmidhī’s additional wording is cited here by the author and also appears in his Talkhīṣ; he offered no critique of it, which indicates that he accepted it, and its meaning accords with the authentic reports in this chapter.

In the chain of this ḥadith appears Murrah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Maghāzī. Imām Aḥmad judged him munkar al-ḥadīth (his narrations are objectionable), while Ibn ʿAdī said “there is no harm in him,” Ibn Ḥibbān declared him reliable, and al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar described him as ṣadūq (truthful) though he has some unusual narrations.

Al-Tirmidhī graded the ḥadith ḥasan, and it was declared ṣaḥīḥ (authentic) by Ibn Khuzaymah and Ibn Ḥibbān.

Vocabulary:
– lā yazāl: derived from zāla–yazūlu–zawālan; with hamzah or gemination the verb becomes transitive. Zāla belongs to the group of verbs that