The more evident view, however, is that none of these things invalidates the fast. Fasting is part of the Muslims’ religion that learned people and laypeople alike need to understand. If these things were among those that Allah and His Messenger had forbidden during fasting, and if they invalidated the fast, the Messenger would have been obliged to explain this. Had he mentioned it, the Companions would have known it and conveyed it to the Muslim community, just as they conveyed the rest of his teachings. Since no scholar has transmitted anything from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) concerning this—neither an authentic nor a weak hadith, whether with a connected or an interrupted chain—it is known that he mentioned none of these things. The hadith reported concerning kohl is weak. Abū Dāwūd narrated it in his Sunan, and no one else narrated it. It is found neither in Ahmad’s Musnad nor in the other authoritative collections.

Abū Dāwūd said:

Al-Nufaylī narrated to us: ‘Alī ibn Thābit narrated to us: ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn al-Nu‘mān narrated to me: Ma‘bad ibn Hawdhah narrated to us, from his father, from his grandfather, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) instructed people to use perfumed antimony kohl at bedtime and said:

“Those who are fasting should avoid it.”

Abū Dāwūd said: Yahyā ibn Ma‘īn said, “This is a rejected hadith.”

[Al-Mundhirī] (*) said: As for ‘Abd al-Rahmān, Yahyā ibn Ma‘īn declared him weak, while Abū Hātim al-Rāzī described him as truthful. But who knows his father, or his integrity and accuracy in transmission?

Ma‘bad’s hadith has likewise been opposed by another weak hadith, namely the report that al-Tirmidhī narrated through his chain from Anas ibn Mālik, who said:

“A man came to the Prophet