I say: This chain of transmission is good, as al-Ḥāfiẓ stated immediately afterward in al-Gharāʾib al-Multaqaṭah. Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Sakhāwī likewise endorsed this in al-Maqāṣid al-Ḥasanah (p. 138). Its final clause has many corroborating reports, mentioned in al-Maqāṣid; some of them have already been traced, together with a similar wording of the preceding clause, under no. 401.

Note: Some imams have become accustomed, when worshippers line up for prayer, to instruct them with some of the words found in this hadith, such as: “Pray the prayer of one bidding farewell.” In my view, there is no harm in this occasionally. As for making it a regular practice, it is a newly introduced practice and a blameworthy innovation.

2840 — “He would break his fast with fresh dates before praying. If fresh dates were unavailable, then with dried dates; and if there were no dried dates, he would take a few sips of water.”

Imam Aḥmad and other compilers of the Sunan narrated it with a good chain of transmission from Anas ibn Mālik, may Allah be pleased with him. Al-Tirmidhī graded it good, while al-Ḥākim, al-Dhahabī, and al-Ḍiyāʾ authenticated it in al-Mukhtārah. I have documented it in detail in al-Irwāʾ (4/45–51) and Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd (2040).

My purpose in mentioning this hadith, despite the brevity of its documentation, is simply to remind readers of this sunnah, which most people who fast have neglected—especially at public invitations, where every delicious food and drink is prepared, yet fresh dates, or at least dried dates, are nowhere to be found. More objectionable still is their neglect of breaking the fast with a few sips of water! Blessed, then, are those “who listen to what is said and follow the best of it. They are the ones Allah has guided, and they are people of understanding.” (al-Zumar 39:18)