2309 — “Whoever wishes to fast should eat something for the pre-dawn meal.”

Aḥmad recorded it (3/367 and 379) from Sharīk, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAqīl, from Jābir, attributed to the Prophet. I say: This chain is weak because of Sharīk’s poor retention; he is Sharīk ibn ʿAbd Allāh, the judge. However, the hadith is authentic, having many well-known corroborating narrations. See al-Targhīb (2/93–94) concerning it, if you wish. Al-Ḍiyāʾ also narrated the hadith from Jābir, as stated in al-Jāmiʿ.

2310 — “Whoever wishes to know his standing with Allah, mighty and majestic is He, should consider the place Allah occupies in his life.”

It has been narrated on the authority of Anas, Abū Hurayrah, and Samurah ibn Jundub.

1. As for the hadith of Anas: Abū al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ṣalt recorded it in Ḥadīth Ḥamzah ibn al-Qāsim ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Hāshimī. He said (75/2): “Ḥamzah related to us: our master Abū Muqātil, Suwayd ibn Hilāl ibn Suwayd, related to us; ʿAbd al-Razzāq related to us; Maʿmar related to us from al-Zuhrī, from Anas ibn Mālik,” attributed to the Prophet. I say: The narrators in this chain are reliable, apart from Suwayd ibn Hilāl, for I have not found any biographical entry for him. As for Ḥamzah al-Hāshimī, he has a good biographical entry in Tārīkh Baghdād (8/181). Al-Suyūṭī attributed this hadith, on the authority of Anas, to al-Dāraquṭnī in al-Afrād, and it is most likely that he narrated it through this route.

2. As for the hadith of Abū Hurayrah, it is narrated by al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā al-Aylī: “ʿĀṣim ibn Muhajja related to us; Ṣāliḥ al-Murrī related to us, from Hishām ibn Ḥassān, from Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, from him.”