Overall meaning:
The Companions were travelling with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Some of them were fasting while others had broken the fast, and the Prophet ﷺ approved each group’s choice. They halted on an intensely hot day to rest from the fatigue of the journey and the blazing midday sun. The Companions ﵃ lived simply; most of them had nothing with which to shade themselves except to place a hand over the head or drape a cloak over a stick or a tree.
When they stopped during that scorching midday heat, the fasting men collapsed from thirst and could no longer work. Those who had broken the fast rose to their feet, pitched the tents and shelters, watered the camels, and served their fasting brothers. When the Prophet ﷺ saw their actions and the service they had rendered to the army, he encouraged them, highlighted their virtue, and said, “Today, the ones who broke their fast have taken the reward.”
Lessons derived from the ḥadith:
- It is permissible either to fast or to break the fast while travelling, for the Prophet ﷺ affirmed both practices.
- The Companions ﵃ lived with very limited worldly means, yet their straitened circumstances did not prevent them from undertaking the hardships of striving in the path of Allah Most High.
- Serving one’s brothers and family members is a meritorious act of religion and true manliness, a quality in which the elite of this ummah excelled—unlike many who nowadays see such service as beneath them.
- Breaking the fast during travel is preferable, especially when it brings a tangible benefit such as strengthening oneself against an enemy. The benefit of fasting is confined to the individual, whereas the benefit of breaking the fast on such a day extends to others; hence it takes precedence.
- Islam urges productivity and condemns laziness, granting the working person a large share of reward and ranking him above one who withdraws from action for worship alone. How far this is from the cries of those who claim that Islam hinders work, progress, or advancement—may Allah disgrace them, for they speak of what they do not know.
Hadith 6
ʿĀʾishah (Allah be pleased with her) said, “I would still have fasts to make up from Ramadan and could not fulfil them except in Shaʿbān.” (1)