—have taken the reward.” [Al-Bukhari 2733; Muslim 1119]

Benefits:

1. This Sacred Law has been revealed with rulings that are gentle and easy. Allah says, “He has not placed any hardship upon you in the religion” (22:78), and He says, “Allah intends ease for you and does not intend hardship for you” (2:185). Because travel usually involves some difficulty, the Lawgiver lightened it by allowing the traveler to break the fast during the daylight hours of Ramadan. It is recommended to make use of this concession, for it is one of Allah’s allowances, granted out of His bounty and kindness to His creation, and He loves that His concessions be accepted.

2. It is recommended for the traveler to break the fast in Ramadan. As for fasting on the Day of ʿArafah or on ʿĀshūrāʾ while traveling, Imam Aḥmad explicitly said it is recommended to fast, and this was also the view of several early scholars. The likely distinction is that any missed days of Ramadan can be made up later, whereas ʿArafah and ʿĀshūrāʾ cannot be made up if one misses fasting on those specific days.

3. The author states that someone whose profession involves continual travel—such as a courier, a pack-animal driver, or a sailor—may break the fast so long as he has a home town to which he returns. Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Bāz adds: If the traveler keeps his family with him, or has no family at all, then fasting remains obligatory because his travel is effectively uninterrupted. However, if he has a family but does not take them with him, he may choose between fasting and breaking the fast.