Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:185
The month of Ramadhan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur'an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. So whoever sights [the new moon of] the month, let him fast it; and whoever is ill or on a journey - then an equal number of other days. Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship and [wants] for you to complete the period and to glorify Allah for that [to] which He has guided you; and perhaps you will be grateful.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The month of Ramaḍān
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: شهر رمضان (the month of Ramaḍān). Abū Jaʿfar said: The word "shahr" (month), according to what has been said, is in its origin derived from "shuhra" (notoriety, making conspicuous). One says of it: "So-and-so brandished his sword" (shahara sayfahu) when he draws it from its sheath and points it at whomever he wishes to strike; he brandishes it, brandishing (sharhan). And likewise: "the month became conspicuous" (shahara al-shahru) when its new moon appears; and "we entered the month" (ashharnā) when we have entered the month. As for Ramaḍān: some of the experts in the language of the Arabs claimed that it was so named because of the intensity of the heat that used to occur in it, to such a degree that the young camels were scorched by the hot ground (tarmaḍu fīhi al-fiṣāl) — just as one speaks of the month in which the pilgrimage is performed as "Dhū al-Ḥijja," and of the month in which one encamps in the spring as "Rabīʿ al-Awwal" and "Rabīʿ al-Ākhir." Mujāhid, however, disliked that one should say "Ramaḍān," and said: "Perhaps it is one of the names of Allah."
2304 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid, that he disliked that one should say "Ramaḍān," and said: "Perhaps it is one of the names of Allah; but we say it just as Allah has said: شهر رمضان (the month of Ramaḍān)."
I have already explained in what preceded that "shahr" stands in the nominative (marfūʿ) in relation to His saying: أياما معدودات (a number of fixed days) — these being the month of Ramaḍān. It is also permissible that the nominative carries the meaning of "that is the month of Ramaḍān," and the meaning of "the month of Ramaḍān has been prescribed for you." Some reciters have read شهر رمضان (the month of Ramaḍān) in the accusative (naṣb), with the meaning: "fasting has been prescribed for you, namely that you fast the month of Ramaḍān." Others have read it in the accusative with the meaning: "that you fast the month of Ramaḍān is better for you, if you only knew." It is also permissible to place it in the accusative by way of a command to fast it, as though it were said: "the month of Ramaḍān, so fast it." And it is permissible to place it in the accusative as an adverbial specification of time, as though it were said: "fasting has been prescribed for you in the month of Ramaḍān."
In which the Qurʾān was sent down
As for His saying: الذي أنزل فيه القرآن (in which the Qurʾān was sent down) — concerning it, it has been reported that it was sent down on the Night of Decree (laylat al-qadr) from the Well-Preserved Tablet (al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ) to the lowest heaven, on the Night of Decree of the month of Ramaḍān, and was subsequently sent down to Muḥammad ﷺ according to how Allah willed its sending down to him. As in:
2305 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ḥassān ibn Abī al-Ashras, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: "The Qurʾān was sent down in its entirety from the Remembrance (al-dhikr) on the twenty-fourth night of Ramaḍān, and was placed in the House of Might (bayt al-ʿizza)." Abū Kurayb said: "Abū Bakr — and that is what al-Suddī also said."
2306 — ʿĪsā ibn ʿUthmān related to me, saying: Yaḥyā ibn ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Ḥassān, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: "The Qurʾān was sent down as a single whole on the Night of Decree in the month of Ramaḍān, and was placed in the lowest heaven."
2307 — Aḥmad ibn Manṣūr related to us, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Rajāʾ related to us, saying: ʿImrān al-Qaṭṭān related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Ibn Abī al-Malīḥ, on the authority of Wāthila, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, who said: "The scrolls of Ibrāhīm were sent down on the first night of the month of Ramaḍān; the Tawrāh was sent down when six [nights] of Ramaḍān had passed; the Injīl was sent down when thirteen had passed; and the Qurʾān was sent down when twenty-four of Ramaḍān had passed."
2308 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: شهر رمضان الذي أنزل فيه القرآن (the month of Ramaḍān in which the Qurʾān was sent down) — as for the sending down of the Qurʾān in it: Ibn ʿAbbās said: "The month of Ramaḍān, and the blessed night: that is the Night of Decree; for the Night of Decree is the blessed night, and it belongs to Ramaḍān. The Qurʾān was sent down as a single whole from the scriptures (al-zubur) to the much-frequented House (al-bayt al-maʿmūr) — and these are the places where the stars set (mawāqiʿ al-nujūm) — in the lowest heaven, where the Qurʾān came down. Then it was sent down to Muḥammad ﷺ thereafter, concerning command and prohibition and concerning the wars, part after part."
2309 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: "Allah sent the Qurʾān down to the lowest heaven on the Night of Decree; and when Allah willed to reveal something of it, He revealed it. That is His saying: إنا أنزلناه في ليلة القدر (Verily, We sent it down on the Night of Decree) (97:1)."
2310 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — and he mentioned something similar, and added to it: "And between its beginning and its end lay twenty years."
2311 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Dāwūd related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: "The entire Qurʾān was sent down as a single whole on the Night of Decree in Ramaḍān to the lowest heaven; and when Allah willed to bring about something on earth, He sent down something of it, until He gathered it [in full]."
2312 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Ḥuṣayn informed us, on the authority of Ḥakīm ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: "The Qurʾān was sent down on the Night of Decree from the highest heaven to the [lowest] heaven, as a single whole, and thereafter dispersed in parts over the course of the years." He said: And Ibn ʿAbbās recited this verse: فلا أقسم بمواقع النجوم (I swear by the places where the stars set) (56:75), and said: "It was sent down in parts."
2313 — Yaʿqūb related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, who said: "It has reached us that the Qurʾān was sent down as a single whole to the lowest heaven."
2314 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us — Ibn Jurayj recited it concerning His saying: شهر رمضان الذي أنزل فيه القرآن (the month of Ramaḍān in which the Qurʾān was sent down). He said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: "The Qurʾān was sent down as a single whole to Jibrīl on the Night of Decree, and thereafter nothing of it was sent down except by command." Ibn Jurayj said: "On the Night of Decree there used to be sent down of the Qurʾān all of it that was to be sent down of the Qurʾān in that year; that was sent down from the seventh heaven to Jibrīl in the lowest heaven, and Jibrīl sent down of it to Muḥammad only that which his Lord commanded him. And an example of that is: إنا أنزلناه في ليلة القدر (Verily, We sent it down on the Night of Decree) (97:1), and: إنا أنزلناه في ليلة مباركة (Verily, We sent it down on a blessed night) (44:3)."
2315 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿUbaydallāh ibn Mūsā related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Mujālid, on the authority of Miqsam, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that a man said to him: "Doubt has fallen into my heart concerning His saying: شهر رمضان الذي أنزل فيه القرآن (the month of Ramaḍān in which the Qurʾān was sent down), and His saying: إنا أنزلناه في ليلة مباركة (Verily, We sent it down on a blessed night), and His saying: إنا أنزلناه في ليلة القدر (Verily, We sent it down on the Night of Decree) — whereas Allah indeed sent down [revelations] in Shawwāl and Dhū al-Qaʿda and other [months]." He said: "It was only in Ramaḍān, on the Night of Decree and the blessed night, that it was sent down as a single whole, and thereafter it was sent down according to the places where the stars set, part after part, throughout the months and the days."
A guidance for mankind
As for His saying: هدى للناس (a guidance for mankind) — by it He means: a guide for mankind to the path of truth and the goal of the right way.
And clear proofs of guidance
As for His saying: وبينات (and clear proofs) — by it He means: and clear [signs] of guidance, that is to say: of the exposition that points to the limits of Allah (ḥudūd Allāh) and His obligations and what He has made permitted and forbidden.
And the criterion
And His saying: والفرقان (and the criterion) — by it He means: and the separation between truth and falsehood. As in:
2316 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: As for وبينات من الهدى والفرقان (and clear proofs of guidance and the criterion): these are clear proofs concerning the permitted and the forbidden.
So whoever among you witnesses the month, let him fast it
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: فمن شهد منكم الشهر فليصمه (so whoever among you witnesses the month, let him fast it). The scholars of exegesis differed over the meaning of "witnessing" (shuhūd) the month. Some said: that is the residence of him who resides at home. They said: whoever the month of Ramaḍān reaches while he is residing in his dwelling place, upon him rests the fasting of the entire month, whether he is thereafter absent as a traveler or remains without departing. Mention of who said that:
2317 — Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd and Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā al-Dāmaghānī related to me, both of them saying: Ibn al-Mubārak related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: فمن شهد منكم الشهر فليصمه (so whoever among you witnesses the month, let him fast it). He said: "That is the appearance of the new moon while he is in his dwelling place." He means: when the new moon appears while he is resident.
2318 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Ḥuṣayn informed us, on the authority of one who related it to him, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he said concerning His saying: فمن شهد منكم الشهر فليصمه (so whoever among you witnesses the month, let him fast it): "When he witnesses it while resident, then upon him rests the fasting, whether he remains or travels; and if he witnesses it while on a journey, then he fasts if he wishes and breaks the fast if he wishes."
2319 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb, on the authority of Muḥammad, on the authority of ʿAbīda, concerning the man whom Ramaḍān overtakes and who then sets out on a journey. He said: "When you witness its beginning, then fast its end. Do you not see that He says: فمن شهد منكم الشهر فليصمه (so whoever among you witnesses the month, let him fast it)?"
* — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Hishām al-Qurdūsī, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, who said: "I asked ʿAbīda about a man whom Ramaḍān overtakes while he is resident." He said: "Whoever fasts the beginning of the month, let him fast its end. Do you not see that He says: فمن شهد منكم الشهر فليصمه (so whoever among you witnesses the month, let him fast it)?"
2320 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: As for فمن شهد منكم الشهر فليصمه (so whoever among you witnesses the month, let him fast it): whoever Ramaḍān reaches while he is resident with his family, let him fast it; and if he sets out during [that month], let him [still] fast it, for it began for him while he was with his family.
2321 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, saying: Qatāda informed us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of ʿAbīda al-Salmānī, on the authority of ʿAlī — according to what Ḥammād thinks. He said: "Whoever Ramaḍān reaches while he is resident and does not depart, upon him rests the fasting, for Allah says: فمن شهد منكم الشهر فليصمه (so whoever among you witnesses the month, let him fast it)."
* — Hannād ibn al-Sarī related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Muslim, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn, who said: "I asked ʿAbīda al-Salmānī about the saying of Allah: فمن شهد منكم الشهر فليصم (so whoever among you witnesses the month, let him fast)." He said: "Whoever is resident, let him fast it; and whoever witnesses it and then sets out on a journey thereafter, let him [still] fast it."
* — Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAwn, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of ʿAbīda, who said: "Whoever witnesses the beginning of Ramaḍān, let him fast its end."
* — Hannād related to us, saying: ʿAbda related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūba, on the authority of Qatāda, that ʿAlī used to say: "When Ramaḍān overtakes him while he is resident and he then sets out on a journey, then upon him rests the fasting."
2322 — Hannād related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥīm related to us, on the authority of ʿAbīda al-Ḍabbī, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, who said — he used to say: "When Ramaḍān overtakes you, then do not set out on a journey during it; and if you fast a day or two of it and then set out on a journey, then do not break the fast, but fast it."
2323 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Murra, on the authority of Abī al-Bakhtarī, who said: "We were with ʿAbīda, and he recited this verse: فمن شهد منكم الشهر فليصمه (so whoever among you witnesses the month, let him fast it)." He said: "Whoever fasts something of it in the town, let him fast the rest of it when he sets out on a journey." He said: And Ibn ʿAbbās used to say: "If he wishes he fasts, and if he wishes he breaks the fast."
2324 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us; and Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us — both of them saying: Ayyūb related to us, on the authority of Abī Yazīd, on the authority of Umm Durra, who said: "I came to ʿĀʾisha in Ramaḍān." She said: "From where do you come?" I said: "From my brother Ḥunayn." She said: "What is with him?" I said: "I have bidden him farewell, he wishes to set out on a journey." She said: "Convey to him my greeting and charge him to remain; for if Ramaḍān were to overtake me while I was on the road, I would [remain] resident for its sake."
2325 — Hannād related to us, saying: Isḥāq ibn ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Aflaḥ, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, who said: "Ibrāhīm ibn Ṭalḥa came to ʿĀʾisha to greet her." She said: "And where do you wish [to go]?" He said: "I wish to perform the ʿumra." She said: "Then remain seated, and when the month begins for you, set out during it." He said: "My baggage has already departed." She said: "Remain seated, and when you break the fast, then set out" — by that she meant the month of Ramaḍān.
Others said: the meaning of it is: whoever among you witnesses the month, let him fast as much of it as he witnesses. Mention of who said that:
2326 — Hannād ibn al-Sarī related to us, saying: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Abī Isḥāq: that Abū Maysara set out in Ramaḍān until, when he reached the bridge, he asked for water and drank.
2327 — Hannād related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, who said: "Abū Maysara set out in Ramaḍān as a traveler, and passed the Euphrates while he was fasting; he took a handful of it, drank it, and broke the fast."
2328 — Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Abī Isḥāq, on the authority of Marthad: that Abū Maysara set out on a journey in Ramaḍān and broke the fast at the gate of the bridge. — Thus Hannād said "on the authority of Marthad," but it is in reality Abū Marthad.
* — Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra al-Asadī related to me, saying: ʿUbaydallāh ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl informed us, on the authority of Abī Isḥāq, on the authority of Marthad: that he set out with Abū Maysara in Ramaḍān, and when he reached the bridge, broke the fast.
2329 — Hannād and Abū Hishām related to us, both of them saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of al-Masʿūdī, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Saʿd, on the authority of his father, who said: "I was with ʿAlī at an estate of his three [miles] from Medina; we set out heading for Medina in the month of Ramaḍān, while ʿAlī was mounted and I went on foot." He said: "He fasted" — Hannād said: "and I broke the fast" — Abū Hishām said: "and he commanded me, and I broke the fast."
* — Hannād related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿUtba related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Saʿd, on the authority of his father, who said: "I was with ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and he came from a land of his; he fasted and commanded me, and I broke the fast; he entered Medina by night, and he was mounted and I went on foot."
2330 — Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us; and Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ibn Mahdī related to us — both of them saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā ibn Abī ʿAzza, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī: that he set out on a journey in the month of Ramaḍān and broke the fast at the gate of the bridge.
2331 — Ibn Bashshār related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān said to me: "It is more pleasing to me that you complete it [in full]."
2332 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, who said: "I asked al-Ḥakam and Ḥammād, as I wished to set out on a journey in Ramaḍān, and both of them said to me: 'Set out.'" And Ḥammād said: Ibrāhīm said: "But when it is the [last] ten [days], then it is more pleasing to me that he remain resident."
2333 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū al-Walīd related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan and Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, who both said: "Whoever Ramaḍān's fasting reaches while he is resident and who then sets out on a journey" — both of them said: "if he wishes, he breaks the fast."
Others said: فمن شهد منكم الشهر فليصمه (so whoever among you witnesses the month, let him fast it) means: whoever witnesses it as a sane, mature, legally responsible person (mukallaf), let him fast it. Among those who said that are Abū Ḥanīfa and his companions; they used to say: whoever the month of Ramaḍān reaches while he is healthy, sane, and mature, upon him rests its fasting. And if he becomes insane after it has begun for him, while he was in the condition we have described, and then recovers after its passing, then upon him rests the making up of the days of the month in which he was deprived of his reason, because he belonged to those who witnessed it and belonged to those upon whom the obligation rested. They said: and likewise, if the month of Ramaḍān begins for him while he is insane — but he belongs to those for whom, had he been of sound mind, the fasting would have rested upon him — and the month does not pass before he becomes sound and recovers or comes to before the passing of the month, by a day or more, then upon him rests the making up of the fasting of the entire month, except for the day that he fasted after his recovery, because he belongs to those who witnessed the month. They said: and if the month of Ramaḍān begins for him while he is insane and he does not come to until the entire month has passed and he then comes to, then upon him rests the making up of nothing of it, because he did not belong to those who witnessed it as one for whom its fasting was obligatory.
This is an interpretation that has no [valid] meaning, for if the insanity of him who suffers from it causes the obligation of fasting to lapse on account of the fact that the affected person lost his reason throughout the entire month, then the same must necessarily apply to everyone who lost his reason throughout the entire fasting month. Now, all are agreed that whoever lost his reason throughout the entire fasting month through unconsciousness or through delirium (birsām) and then comes to after the passing of the month, upon him rests the making up of the entire month; and no one has contradicted that in a manner with which the community (umma) could be refuted. And if it is a consensus (ijmāʿ), then it necessarily follows that the case of everyone who lost his reason throughout the entire fasting month is the same as the case of the unconscious person. And if that is so, then it is known that the interpretation of the verse is something other than what the proponents of this statement ascribed to it, namely that it concerns the witnessing of the month or a part of it as one for whom its fasting is obligatory.
And if that is invalid, then the interpretation of the interpreter who claimed that the meaning is: "whoever witnesses its beginning as a resident, present person, upon him rests the fasting of the entire month," is [likewise] invalid and untenable, on account of the abundance of the reports about the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that in the year of the Conquest (ʿām al-fatḥ) he departed from Medina in the month of Ramaḍān, after he had fasted a part of it, and broke the fast and commanded his companions to break the fast.
2334 — Hannād related to us, saying: Abū al-Aḥwaṣ related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ traveled in Ramaḍān from Medina to Mecca; and when he reached ʿUsfān, he halted there, asked for a vessel, placed it on his hand so that the people would see it, and then drank."
* — Ibn Ḥumayd and Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both of them saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ṭāwūs, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, something similar.
* — Hannād related to us: ʿAbīda related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ṭāwūs, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, something similar.
2335 — Hannād and Abū Kurayb related to us, both of them saying: Yūnus ibn Bukayr related to us, saying: Ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: al-Zuhrī related to me, on the authority of ʿUbaydallāh ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿUtba, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ proceeded on his journey in the year of the Conquest when ten [days] of Ramaḍān had passed; the Messenger of Allah ﷺ fasted and the people fasted with him, until he reached al-Kadīd — between ʿUsfān and Amaj — and broke the fast."
* — Hannād and Abū Kurayb related to us, both of them saying: ʿAbda related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿUbaydallāh ibn ʿAbdallāh, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ departed when ten or twenty [days] of Ramaḍān had passed, in the year of the Conquest; he fasted until, when he was at al-Kadīd, he broke the fast."
2336 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Sālim ibn Nūḥ related to us, saying: ʿUmar ibn ʿĀmir related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Abī Naḍra, on the authority of Abī Saʿīd al-Khudrī, who said: "We set out with the Prophet ﷺ when eighteen [days] of Ramaḍān had passed; among us was the faster and among us was he who broke the fast, and the non-faster did not blame the faster, nor the faster the non-faster."
Since these two interpretations are untenable, on the basis of what we have demonstrated concerning their untenability, it has become evident that the correct interpretation is the third, namely the statement of those who said: فمن شهد منكم الشهر فليصمه (so whoever among you witnesses the month, let him fast it) — all of it that he witnesses as a resident; and whoever is ill or on a journey, for him there is a number of other days.
And whoever is ill or on a journey, for him there is a number of other days
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: ومن كان مريضا أو على سفر فعدة من أيام أخر (and whoever is ill or on a journey, for him there is a number of other days). The Exalted means by it: whoever is ill or on a journey during the month and on that account breaks the fast, upon him rests the fasting of the number of days that he broke, on days other than the days of the month of Ramaḍān. Then the people of knowledge differed over the illness in which Allah permitted the breaking of the fast and for which He imposed a number of other days. Some said: that is the illness in which the affected person is unable to perform his prayer standing. Mention of who said that:
2337 — Muʿādh ibn Shuʿba al-Baṣrī related to us, saying: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, and [on the authority of] Ismāʿīl ibn Muslim, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, that he said: "When the ill person is unable to pray standing, he breaks the fast."
2338 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Mughīra or ʿAbīda, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning the ill person when he is unable to pray standing: "let him break the fast" — that is, in Ramaḍān.
2339 — Hannād related to us, saying: Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, who said: "I asked al-Ḥasan: when does the faster break the fast?" He said: "When the fasting exhausts him." He said: "When he is unable to perform the obligatory prayers as he is commanded."
And some said: it is every illness in which the predominant case is that the affected person would, through fasting, suffer an unbearable worsening of his ailment. That is the statement of Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī; al-Rabīʿ related that to us on his authority.
And others said: it is [every] illness that is called an illness. Mention of who said that:
2340 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: al-Ḥasan ibn Khālid al-Rabaʿī related to us, saying: Ṭarīf ibn Tammām al-ʿUṭāridī related to us, that he entered upon Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn in Ramaḍān while he was eating; he asked him nothing, and when he had finished, he said: "This finger of mine was hurting."
The correct view concerning that, according to us, is that the illness in which Allah the Exalted has permitted the breaking of the fast in the month of Ramaḍān is [that] of him whom fasting exhausts in an unbearable manner. Everyone who is thus, for him there is the breaking of the fast and the making up of a number of other days. That is because, when the matter reaches that point, he — were the breaking of the fast not permitted to him — would be burdened with hardship and the ease would be denied him; and that is something other than what Allah has informed concerning what He willed for His creatures with His saying: يريد الله بكم اليسر ولا يريد بكم العسر (Allah desires for you ease and does not desire for you hardship). As for him whom fasting does not exhaust, he has the status of the healthy person who can bear fasting, and upon him rests the performance of his obligation.
As for His saying: فعدة من أيام أخر (a number of other days) — the meaning of it is: a number of counted days besides these days. As for "al-ukhar" (other): it is the plural of "ukhrā," just as they make "al-kubrā" into "al-kubar" and "al-qurbā" into "al-qurab" as a plural. If someone says: "Is 'al-ukhar' not an attributive qualification of 'the days'?" It is answered: Yes indeed. And if he says: "Is the singular of 'the days' not 'yawm,' and that is masculine?" It is answered: Yes indeed. And if he says: "How then can the singular of 'al-ukhar' be 'ukhrā,' while it is an attributive qualification of the day and it [was not] 'ākhar'?" It is answered: The singular of "the days" is indeed, when it is qualified by the singular of "al-ukhar," "ākhar"; but the days, in the plural, become feminine, and so their attributes and qualifications take on the form of feminine qualifications, as one says: "the days have all passed" (maḍat al-ayyām jumaʿ), and one does not say "ajmaʿūn," nor "ayyām ākharūn."
And if someone says to us: "Allah the Exalted has said: فمن كان منكم مريضا أو على سفر فعدة من أيام أخر (so whoever among you is ill or on a journey, for him there is a number of other days), and the meaning of it, according to you, is: upon him rests a number of other days, as you described in what preceded. Now, if that is its interpretation, what then is your statement concerning him who was ill or on a journey and [yet] fasted the month, while he belongs to those for whom the breaking of the fast is permitted — does that suffice him in place of the fasting of a number of other days, or does it not suffice him, and does the obligation of fasting a number of other days remain incumbent upon him in full, even though he has fasted the entire month? And is it permitted for him who was ill or on a journey to fast the month of Ramaḍān, or is that forbidden to him and not permitted to him to fast it, and is the obligatory thing for him the breaking of the fast during it, until this [traveler] becomes resident and that [ill person] recovers?" It is answered: The people of knowledge have differed over all of this, and we shall mention their disagreement concerning it and report on which of it is most in accord with the correct view, if Allah wills.
Some said: the breaking of the fast in illness is a binding obligation (ʿazma) from Allah, and not a concession (tarkhīṣ). Mention of who said that:
2341 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us; and Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us — both on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Jābir ibn Zayd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: "The breaking of the fast on a journey is a binding obligation (ʿazma)."
2342 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Wahb ibn Jarīr related to us, saying: Saʿīd informed us, on the authority of Yaʿlā, on the authority of Yūsuf ibn al-Ḥakam, who said: "I asked Ibn ʿUmar" — or: he was asked — "about fasting on a journey." He said: "What do you think, if you were to give a man charity and he were to give it back to you, would you not become angry? Now, it is a charity from Allah that He has given to you."
2343 — Naṣr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Azdī related to us, saying: al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Ḥumayd, who said: Abū Jaʿfar said: "My father used not to fast on a journey and forbade it."
2344 — And Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: ʿUbayd related to us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: that he disapproved of fasting on a journey.
And the adherents of this statement said: whoever fasts on a journey, upon him rests the making up when he becomes resident. Mention of who said that:
2345 — Naṣr ibn ʿAlī al-Khathʿamī related to us, saying: Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: Rabīʿa ibn Kulthūm related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of a man: that ʿUmar commanded him who had fasted on a journey to repeat the [fasting].
* — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿAdī related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, on the authority of a man of the Banū Tamīm, on the authority of his father, who said: "ʿUmar commanded a man who had fasted on a journey to repeat his fasting."
2346 — Ibn Ḥumayd al-Ḥimṣī related to me, saying: ʿAlī ibn Maʿbad related to us, on the authority of ʿUbaydallāh ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Karīm, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of al-Muḥarrar ibn Abī Hurayra, who said: "I was with my father on a journey in Ramaḍān; I fasted and he broke the fast, and my father said to me: 'Verily, when you become resident, you will make up.'"
2347 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, the mawlā of Qarība, who said: "I heard ʿUrwa command a man who had fasted on a journey to make up."
* — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, the mawlā of Qarība: that a man fasted on a journey, and ʿUrwa commanded him to make up.
2348 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Ṣubayḥ related to us, saying: Rabīʿa ibn Kulthūm related to us, on the authority of his father Kulthūm: that a group of people came to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb who had fasted Ramaḍān on a journey, and he said to them: "By Allah, it is as though you were fasting!" They said: "By Allah, O Commander of the Believers, we have indeed fasted." He said: "And were you able to bear it?" They said: "Yes." He said: "Then make it up, then make it up, then make it up."
And the argument of him who made this statement is that Allah the Exalted, with His saying: فمن شهد منكم الشهر فليصمه (so whoever among you witnesses the month, let him fast it), made obligatory the fasting of the month of Ramaḍān for him who witnesses it as a resident, non-traveling person, and for him who is ill or traveling He established the fasting of a number of other days, on days other than the days of the month of Ramaḍān, with His saying: ومن كان مريضا أو على سفر فعدة من أيام أخر (and whoever is ill or on a journey, for him there is a number of other days). They said: just as it is not permitted for the resident person [not] to fast the days of the month of Ramaḍān and to fast a number of other days in their place — because that which Allah has imposed upon him through his witnessing the month is the fasting of the month itself and nothing else — so likewise it is not permitted for the traveler who did not witness it as a resident to fast it, because that which Allah has imposed upon him is a number of other days. And they relied also on the report with what:
2349 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn Saʿīd al-Wāsiṭī related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb ibn Muḥammad al-Zuhrī related to us, saying: ʿUbaydallāh ibn Mūsā related to us, on the authority of Usāma ibn Zayd, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Abī Salama ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "The faster on a journey is like the non-faster in residence."
* — Muḥammad ibn ʿUbaydallāh ibn Saʿīd related to me, saying: Yazīd ibn ʿIyāḍ related to us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Abī Salama ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of his father, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "The faster on a journey is like the non-faster in residence."
And others said: the concession to break the fast on a journey is a mercy from Allah the Exalted that He has granted His servants as an alleviation, while the obligation [in itself] is fasting. So whoever fasts has fulfilled his obligation, and whoever breaks the fast has broken it by virtue of the concession of Allah to him. They said: and if he fasts on a journey, then upon him rests no making up when he becomes resident. Mention of who said that:
2350 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb related to us, saying: Ayyūb related to us, saying: ʿUrwa and Sālim related to us, that the two of them were with ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, when he was governor over Medina, and they discussed fasting on a journey. Sālim said: "Ibn ʿUmar used not to fast on a journey." And ʿUrwa said: "ʿĀʾisha used to fast." Sālim said: "I have taken it [only] from Ibn ʿUmar." And ʿUrwa said: "I have taken it [only] from ʿĀʾisha," until their voices were raised. Then ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz said: "O Allah, forgiveness! When it is ease, then fast; and when it is hardship, then break the fast."
* — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb, he said: a man related to me, saying: fasting on a journey was brought up before ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz — and then he mentioned something similar to the narration of Ibn Bashshār.
2351 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq; and Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, Ibn Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Sālim ibn ʿAbdallāh, who said: "ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb set out on one of his journeys when [a few] nights of Ramaḍān still remained, and said: 'The month has already dwindled' — Abū Kurayb said in his narration: 'or: has receded' (tasaʿsaʿa), while Yaʿqūb did not doubt — 'so let us fast!' And he fasted and the people fasted with him. Then he once returned, coming back, until, when he was at al-Rawḥāʾ, he saw the new moon of the month of Ramaḍān appear, and said: 'Allah has completed the journey; so let us fast and not impair our month!' He said: And he fasted and the people fasted with him."
2352 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: al-Ḥakam ibn Bashīr related to us, saying: my father related to me; and Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿUbaydallāh informed us, saying: Bashīr ibn Salmān informed us, on the authority of Khaythama, who said: "I asked Anas ibn Mālik about fasting on a journey." He said: "I commanded my servant to fast, but he refused." I said: "But where [does that leave] this verse: ومن كان مريضا أو على سفر فعدة من أيام أخر (and whoever is ill or on a journey, for him there is a number of other days)?" He said: "It was sent down while in those days we used to set out hungry and halt without satiety; but nowadays we set out satiated and halt satiated."
* — Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Bashīr ibn Salmān, on the authority of Khaythama, on the authority of Anas, something similar.
2353 — Hannād and Abū al-Sāʾib related to us, both of them saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Anas, that he was asked about fasting on a journey. He said: "Whoever breaks the fast, [does so] by virtue of the concession of Allah; and whoever fasts, fasting is more excellent."
2354 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ, who said: "The breaking of the fast on a journey is a concession, and fasting is more excellent."
2355 — Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: Abū al-Fayḍ related to us, who said: "ʿAlī was commander over us in al-Shām, and he forbade us fasting on a journey. I asked Abū Qirṣāfa, a man of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ of the Banū Layth" — ʿAbd al-Ṣamad said: "I heard a man of his people say that it was Wāthila ibn al-Asqaʿ" — "he said: 'If I were to fast on a journey, I would not make up.'"
2356 — Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Basṭām ibn Muslim, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, who said: "If you fast, it suffices you; and if you break the fast, then it is a concession."
2357 — Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Kahmas, who said: "I asked Sālim ibn ʿAbdallāh about fasting on a journey." He said: "If you fast, it suffices you; and if you break the fast, then it is a concession."
* — Hannād related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥīm related to us, on the authority of Ṭalḥa ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, who said: "Whoever fasts has fulfilled an obligation; and whoever breaks the fast, [does so] by virtue of a concession that he has availed himself of."
2358 — Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: "The breaking of the fast on a journey is a concession, and fasting is more excellent."
2359 — Hannād related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of Ḥajjāj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, who said: "It is an instruction (taʿlīm), and not a binding obligation (ʿazm)" — by that he means the saying of Allah: ومن كان مريضا أو على سفر فعدة من أيام أخر (and whoever is ill or on a journey, for him there is a number of other days): "if he wishes he fasts, and if he wishes he does not fast."
2360 — Hannād related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Hishām, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning the man who sets out on a journey in Ramaḍān. He said: "If he wishes he fasts, and if he wishes he breaks the fast."
2361 — Ḥumayd ibn Masʿada related to us, saying: Sufyān ibn Ḥabīb related to us, saying: al-ʿAwwām ibn Ḥawshab related to us, who said: "I said to Mujāhid: fasting on a journey?" He said: "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used sometimes to fast during it and [sometimes] to break it." I said: "And which of the two is more pleasing to you?" He said: "It is only a concession, but that you fast Ramaḍān is more pleasing to me."
2362 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr and Ibrāhīm and Mujāhid, that they said concerning fasting on a journey: "If he wishes he fasts, and if he wishes he breaks the fast" — and fasting was more pleasing to them.
2363 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abī Isḥāq, who said: Mujāhid said to me concerning fasting on a journey — that is, the fasting of Ramaḍān: "By Allah, there is of neither anything but that the fasting and the breaking of it are permitted; and Allah intended by the breaking of the fast nothing but the alleviation for His servants."
2364 — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of al-Ashʿath ibn Sulaym, who said: "I accompanied my father and al-Aswad ibn Yazīd and ʿAmr ibn Maymūn and Abū Wāʾil to Mecca, and they used to fast Ramaḍān and other [months] on a journey."
* — ʿAlī ibn Ḥasan al-Azdī related to us, saying: Muʿāfā ibn ʿImrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ḥammād, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: "The breaking of the fast on a journey is a concession, and fasting is more excellent."
2365 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn Saʿīd al-Wāsiṭī related to me, saying: Yaʿqūb related to us, saying: Ṣāliḥ ibn Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, on the authority of his father, who said: "I said to al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad: we travel in the winter in Ramaḍān; if I then fast during it, that is lighter for me than that I should make it up in the heat." He said: "Allah has said: يريد الله بكم اليسر ولا يريد بكم العسر (Allah desires for you ease and does not desire for you hardship); whatever is lightest for you, do that."
This statement is, according to us, the most in accord with the correct view, on account of the consensus of all that an ill person, if he fasts the month of Ramaḍān while he belongs to those for whom the breaking of the fast is permitted on account of his illness, then his fasting suffices him, and upon him rests no making up of a number of other days when he recovers from his illness. By that it is known that the ruling for the traveler is equal to his ruling, namely that upon him rests no making up if he fasts it on his journey, because that which has been established for the traveler as the breaking of the fast, and which he has been commanded to make up as a number of other days, is equal to that which has been established of it for the ill person and which he has been commanded to make up.
Then there is in the indication of the verse enough [proof] to render superfluous the seeking of another witness to its correctness, namely the saying of Allah the Exalted: يريد الله بكم اليسر ولا يريد بكم العسر (Allah desires for you ease and does not desire for you hardship); and there is no greater hardship than that there should be imposed upon him who has fasted it on his journey a number of other days, while he has already burdened himself with the performance of his obligation in the most difficult of the two conditions for him, until he made it up and fulfilled it. And if a fool imagines that what he fasted was not his due obligation, then there is in the saying of Allah the Exalted: يا أيها الذين آمنوا كتب عليكم الصيام (O you who believe, fasting has been prescribed for you), شهر رمضان الذي أنزل فيه القرآن (the month of Ramaḍān in which the Qurʾān was sent down), [enough] to indicate that the month whose fasting is prescribed for every believer is the month of Ramaḍān, whether he is traveling or resident — on account of the fact that Allah the Exalted addressed the believers thereby in general with His saying: يا أيها الذين آمنوا كتب عليكم الصيام (O you who believe, fasting has been prescribed for you), شهر رمضان (the month of Ramaḍān) — and that His saying: ومن كان مريضا أو على سفر فعدة من أيام أخر (and whoever is ill or on a journey, for him there is a number of other days) has as its meaning: and whoever was ill or on a journey and broke the fast by virtue of the concession of Allah, upon him rests the fasting of a number of other days in place of the days that he broke on his journey or in his illness.
Then there is in the abundance of the reports about the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with his saying, when he was asked about fasting on a journey: "If you wish, fast; and if you wish, break the fast," the sufficient [proof] that renders superfluous the bringing of another proof for the correctness of what we have said concerning it.
2366 — Hannād related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥīm and Wakīʿ and ʿAbda related to us, on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha: that Ḥamza asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about fasting on a journey — and he used to perform fasting continuously — and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "If you wish, fast; and if you wish, break the fast."
2367 — Abū Kurayb and ʿUbayd ibn Ismāʿīl al-Habbārī related to us, both of them saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: Hishām ibn ʿUrwa related to us, on the authority of his father, that Ḥamza asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — and he mentioned something similar.
2368 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam related to me, saying: Abū Zurʿa Wahballāh ibn Rāshid related to us, saying: Ḥaywa ibn Shurayḥ informed us, saying: Abū al-Aswad informed us, that he heard ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr relating on the authority of Abī Murāwiḥ, on the authority of Ḥamza al-Aslamī, the companion of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that he said: "O Messenger of Allah, I perform fasting continuously; shall I fast on a journey?" The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "It is only a concession from Allah for His servants; whoever avails himself of it, that is good and fine, and whoever leaves it, upon him rests no blame." And Ḥamza used to fast continually, and he fasted on a journey and in residence; and ʿUrwa ibn al-Zubayr used to fast continually, and he fasted on a journey and in residence, to such a degree that, even when he was ill, he did not break the fast; and Abū Murāwiḥ used to fast continually, and he fasted on a journey and in residence.
In this [report], together with its like among the reports whose full enumeration would make the book too long, lies the indication that points to the correctness of what we have said, namely that the breaking of the fast is a concession and not a binding obligation, and the clear exposition of the correctness of what we have said in the interpretation of His saying: ومن كان مريضا أو على سفر فعدة من أيام أخر (and whoever is ill or on a journey, for him there is a number of other days).
And if someone says: "The reports with what you have said are indeed abundant, but abundant also are the reports with his saying: 'It is not of piety to fast on a journey' (laysa min al-birr al-ṣiyām fī al-safar)?" It is answered: That applies only when it concerns a fasting in a condition such as that in which the report about the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has come, that he said that to him who said [something] to him.
2369 — Al-Ḥusayn ibn Yazīd al-Sabīʿī related to us, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥasan, on the authority of Jābir: that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saw on his journey a man over whom shade had been spread, and around whom a crowd stood, and he said: "Who is this?" They said: "A faster." He said: "It is not of piety to fast on a journey." Abū Jaʿfar said: I fear that this old man has erred, and that between Ibn Idrīs and Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān there is [the transmitter] Shuʿba.
* — Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Saʿd ibn Zurāra al-Anṣārī, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī, on the authority of Jābir ibn ʿAbdallāh, who said: "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ saw a man around whom the people had gathered and over whom shade had been spread, and they said: 'This is a fasting man.' Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: 'It is not of piety that you fast on a journey.'"
Whoever has had his fast broken to such a degree as he to whom the Prophet ﷺ said that, his fasting is not of piety; for Allah the Exalted has forbidden everyone to expose himself to that in which lies his ruin, while he has a way to his deliverance. Piety is sought only by means of that to which Allah has urged and incited in deeds, not by means of that which He has forbidden. And as for the reports that have been transmitted about him ﷺ with his saying: "The faster on a journey is like the non-faster in residence" — it is possible that this was said to him whose fasting was broken to such a degree as this man over whom shade was spread, if it [really] is so; but it is not admissible that it be ascribed to the Prophet ﷺ that he said that, because the reports that have come with it about the Messenger of Allah ﷺ have weak chains of transmission (asānīd), with which it is not admissible to argue in religion.
And if someone says: "How is 'the ill person' — which is a noun — joined to His saying: أو على سفر (or on a journey), while 'ʿalā' (on) is an adverbial expression and not a noun?" It is answered: It was permissible to join "ʿalā" to "the ill person," because it has the meaning of a verb, and the interpretation of it is: "or traveling" (musāfiran), just as the Exalted said: دعانا لجنبه أو قاعدا أو قائما (he calls upon Us, lying on his side, or sitting, or standing) (10:12); He joined "the sitting one" and "the standing one" to the "lām" that is in "li-janbihi" (on his side), because its meaning is a verb, as though He had said: "he calls upon Us, lying down, or sitting, or standing."
Allah desires for you ease and does not desire for you hardship
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: يريد الله بكم اليسر ولا يريد بكم العسر (Allah desires for you ease and does not desire for you hardship). The Exalted means by it: Allah desires for you, O believers, by His concession to you in the condition of your illness and your journey to break the fast, and [by] the making up of a number of other days in place of the days that you broke, after your becoming resident and after your recovery from your illness — the alleviation for you and the facilitation for you, on account of His knowledge of the hardship of that for you in these circumstances. ولا يريد بكم العسر (and does not desire for you hardship) — He says: and He does not desire for you the severity and the hardship upon you, that He should impose upon you the fasting of the month in these circumstances, while He knows the severity of that for you and the hardship of the burden of it upon you, were He to impose upon you its fasting. As in:
2370 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: يريد الله بكم اليسر ولا يريد بكم العسر (Allah desires for you ease and does not desire for you hardship). He said: "The ease: the breaking of the fast on a journey; and the hardship: fasting on a journey."
2371 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abī Ḥamza, who said: "I asked Ibn ʿAbbās about fasting on a journey." He said: "Ease and hardship; so take the ease of Allah."
2372 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Shibl, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the saying of Allah: يريد الله بكم اليسر (Allah desires for you ease). He said: "That is the breaking of the fast on a journey, and He has established a number of other days; ولا يريد بكم العسر (and does not desire for you hardship)."
2373 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, [concerning] His saying: يريد الله بكم اليسر ولا يريد بكم العسر (Allah desires for you ease and does not desire for you hardship): "Desire then for yourselves that which Allah has desired for you."
2374 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Ibn ʿUyayna, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Jazarī, on the authority of Ṭāwūs, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: "Blame neither him who fasts, nor him who breaks the fast" — that is, on a journey in Ramaḍān; يريد الله بكم اليسر ولا يريد بكم العسر (Allah desires for you ease and does not desire for you hardship).
2375 — It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, saying: al-Fuḍayl ibn Khālid related to us, saying: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim concerning His saying: يريد الله بكم اليسر (Allah desires for you ease): "the breaking of the fast on a journey"; ولا يريد بكم العسر (and does not desire for you hardship): "fasting on a journey."
And that you complete the number
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: ولتكملوا العدة (and that you complete the number). The Exalted means by it: ولتكملوا العدة (and that you complete the number) — the number [of days] that you broke, on other days that He has imposed upon you as an obligation to make up, a number of other days, after your recovery from your illness or your becoming resident after your journey. As in:
2376 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His saying: ولتكملوا العدة (and that you complete the number). He said: "The number [of days] that the ill person and the traveler broke."
2377 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: ولتكملوا العدة (and that you complete the number): "The completing of the number is that he fasts that which he broke of Ramaḍān on a journey or in illness, until he completes it; and when he has completed it, then he has completed the number."
And if someone says: "To what is this 'wāw' that is in His saying ولتكملوا العدة (and that you complete the number) joined?" It is answered: The grammarians have differed over that. Some said: it is joined to what precedes it, as though it were said: "and He desires that you complete the number and that you magnify Allah." And some of the grammarians of Kūfa said: this "lām" that is in His saying ولتكملوا (and that you complete) is the "lām" of purpose (lām kay); if it were omitted, that would be correct. He said: and the Arabs insert it in their speech with an implied verb after it, and it is not a condition for the verb that precedes it when the "wāw" is with it. Do you not see that you say: "I came to you that you might do good to me" (jiʾtuka li-tuḥsina ilayya), and you do not say: "I came to you and that you might do good to me" (jiʾtuka wa-li-tuḥsina ilayya)? And if you [do] say it, then you mean: "and that you might do good to me I came to you." He said: and this occurs frequently in the Qurʾān, including His saying: ولتصغى إليه أفئدة (and that the hearts might incline toward it) (6:113), and His saying: وكذلك نري إبراهيم ملكوت السموات والأرض وليكون من الموقنين (and thus We showed Ibrāhīm the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and that he might be among those who are certain) (6:75). And if the "wāw" had not been with it, it would have been a condition according to your manner of saying: "We showed him the kingdom of the heavens and the earth that he might be"; but when the "wāw" is [indeed] with it, then it has an implied verb after it, and "that he might be among those who are certain" [means]: "[for that] We showed it to him." And this statement is in Arabic the most in accord with the correct view, because His saying ولتكملوا العدة (and that you complete the number) is not preceded by a "lām" with the same meaning as the one in His saying ولتكملوا العدة (and that you complete the number), to which one [could then] join His saying ولتكملوا العدة (and that you complete the number); and the entry of the "wāw" with it indicates that it is a condition for a verb after it, since it, were the "wāw" to be omitted, would be a condition for the verb that precedes it.
And that you magnify Allah for that to which He has guided you
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: ولتكبروا الله على ما هداكم (and that you magnify Allah for that to which He has guided you). The Exalted means: and that you exalt Allah by the remembrance of Him on account of that with which He has favored you of the guidance, which He has withheld from others than you among the adherents of the [other] religious communities, to whom the fasting of the month of Ramaḍān had been prescribed just as it has been prescribed for you concerning it, yet they strayed from it through Allah's leading them astray, while He distinguished you with His honoring and guided you to it, and enabled you to fulfill what Allah prescribed for you of its fasting — and that you thank Him for that through the worship of Him. And the remembrance with which Allah distinguished them in His exaltation is the takbīr on the day of the Feast of Breaking the Fast (yawm al-fiṭr), according to the interpretation of a group of the people of exegesis. Mention of who said that:
2378 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Qays, who said: "I heard Zayd ibn Aslam say: ولتكبروا الله على ما هداكم (and that you magnify Allah for that to which He has guided you)." He said: "That is when one sees the new moon; the takbīr [lasts] then from the moment one sees the new moon until the imam withdraws — on the way and in the mosque — except that, when the imam is present, one ceases and does not pronounce the takbīr except with his takbīr."
2379 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, saying: I heard Sufyān say: ولتكبروا الله على ما هداكم (and that you magnify Allah for that to which He has guided you). He said: "It has reached us that it is the takbīr on the day of the Feast of Breaking the Fast."
2380 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: Ibn ʿAbbās used to say: "It is a right upon the Muslims that, when they look at the new moon of Shawwāl, they pronounce the takbīr to Allah until they end their feast; for Allah the Exalted says: ولتكملوا العدة ولتكبروا الله على ما هداكم (and that you complete the number and that you magnify Allah for that to which He has guided you)." Ibn Zayd said: "It behooves them, when they go in the morning to the place of prayer (muṣallā), to pronounce the takbīr; and when they sit, to pronounce the takbīr; and when the imam comes, to be silent; and when the imam pronounces the takbīr, to pronounce the takbīr; and they pronounce, when the imam comes, the takbīr only with his takbīr, until, when he has finished and the prayer is ended, [it is established that] the feast is ended." Yūnus said: Ibn Wahb said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Zayd said: "And the general practice with us is that one goes in the morning to the place of prayer with the takbīr."
And that you may perhaps be grateful
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: ولعلكم تشكرون (and that you may perhaps be grateful). The Exalted means by it: and that you may thank Allah for that with which He has favored you of the guidance and the bestowal, and the facilitation of that which, had He willed, He would have made heavy for you. And "laʿalla" (perhaps) has in this place the meaning of "kay" (that); and that is why it is joined to His saying: ولتكملوا العدة ولتكبروا الله على ما هداكم ولعلكم تشكرون (and that you complete the number and that you magnify Allah for that to which He has guided you, and that you may perhaps be grateful).
