ibn Maymūn, who said:
“I asked ʿĀʾishah about a man who kisses his wife while he is fasting. She answered, ‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to kiss while he was fasting.’ ”

I say: Its chain is authentic. Shaybān is Shaybān ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Tamīmī al-Baṣrī, and he meets Muslim’s criteria. Muslim recorded the report in his Ṣaḥīḥ (3/136) through other routes from Ziyād, omitting the question and adding the phrase “during Ramadan”; this is also the wording of Aḥmad (6/130).

Aḥmad likewise relates another version (6/292) by way of ʿIkrimah from her:
“The Prophet ﷺ used to kiss while he was fasting, and in the Messenger of Allah you have a good example.”
Its chain is authentic. ʿIkrimah is al-Barbarī, the freedman of Ibn ʿAbbās, and he did hear from ʿĀʾishah. Aḥmad (6/291) also narrated from Umm Salamah a report identical to ʿĀʾishah’s first narration, and its chain is sound as corroboration.

This ḥadīth proves that it is permissible for a fasting man to kiss his wife during Ramadan. The scholars have held more than four views on the issue; the strongest is permissibility, provided one considers the condition of the kisser. If he is a young man who fears that he may fall into intercourse—which would invalidate his fast—he should refrain. ʿĀʾishah, may Allah be pleased with her, alluded to this in the forthcoming report: “…and which of you can control his desire?” She even stated it explicitly, for al-Ṭaḥāwī (1/346) transmitted—through Ḥurayth ibn ʿAmr, from al-Shaʿbī, from Masrūq, from her—that she said: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ would sometimes kiss me and fondle me while he was fasting; as for you, it is allowable only for an elderly, weak man.” Ḥurayth was listed by Ibn Abī Ḥātim (2/2/263) without any judgment of criticism or commendation. Moreover, this meaning has been reported as a marfūʿ ḥadīth through several chains from the Prophet ﷺ that strengthen one another, some of them from