Thus, in some situations breaking the fast is the better option—when the journey involves hardship, or when abstaining from fasting strengthens one for combat—since Allah loves that His concessions be accepted just as He hates that His prohibitions be violated.
Among the majority who allow fasting while travelling, a further debate arose: which is preferable, to fast or to break the fast?
- The three Imams—Abū Ḥanīfah, Mālik, and al-Shāfiʿī—hold that fasting is superior for anyone who does not find it difficult.
- Imām Aḥmad maintains that breaking the fast in Ramadan is preferable even when no hardship is involved.
Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, al-Awzāʿī, and Isḥāq (ibn Rāhawayh) likewise recommend breaking the fast.
The three Imams argue from several reports, among them the narration recorded by Abū Dāwūd from Salamah ibn al-Muḥabbaq: the Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever owns pack animals that can bring him to a place of plenty should fast Ramadan wherever it overtakes him.”
(The term ḥamūlah—with a ḍammah on the ḥāʾ—refers to the loads with which a traveller journeys.)
The Ḥanbalīs, on the other hand, cite as evidence the ḥadith agreed upon by al-Bukhārī and Muslim: “It is not an act of righteousness to fast while travelling,” and the ḥadith: “Indeed Allah loves that His concessions be taken.”
Benefit:
Scholars have differed over the distance of travel that permits breaking the fast and shortening the prayer. The sound position is that the specific mileages they mention are of no real consequence, for nothing definitive has come from the Lawgiver on this point. The Revealed Law simply used the unrestricted word “travel,” and we should leave it unrestricted. Whatever people customarily regard as travel carries with it the concessions granted to travellers. This has already been discussed in greater detail under “Prayer for Those with Excuses.”
Hadith 5
Anas ibn Mālik (Allah be pleased with him) said: “We were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on a journey; among us were those who were fasting and those who had broken their fast. We halted at a stopping-place on a scorching day, and the only shade any of us had was the cloak some of us carried, while others shielded themselves from the sun with their hands. Those who were fasting collapsed, whereas those who had broken their fast stood up, pitched the tents, and watered the mounts. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then said, ‘Today, the ones who broke their fast have taken the reward.’”