Breaking Your Fast While Traveling: What's Actually Allowed?
Fasting While Traveling or Ill: Scholarly Differences and the Sunnah of Compassion
Summary
This lecture discusses scholarly differences of opinion (ikhtilaf) in Islamic jurisprudence, specifically focusing on whether a fasting person who is traveling or ill should fast or break their fast during Ramadan. The speaker clarifies that approximately 85-90% of Islamic rulings are unanimously agreed upon, with differences occurring primarily in details and matters of what is better or preferable rather than fundamental disagreements on halal and haram. Using the example of hand placement during prayer, the speaker demonstrates how scholarly differences are nuanced rather than contradictory.
The lecture cites a hadith from Sahih Muslim narrated by Abu Daud describing how companions traveling with the Prophet during Ramadan to battles would both fast and break their fast, with neither group judging the other. The speaker contrasts this compassionate approach with contemporary Muslim communities where social pressure and public shaming discourage people from utilizing permissible allowances while traveling. He criticizes this extremism and hypocrisy, arguing that such judgmental attitudes harm the Muslim community and that proper Islamic education should begin within families and local mosques to cultivate a culture based on the Sunnah.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
Awesome.
[Silence]
My hand was Muhammad.
[Silence]
Are in the chap. But really one is preferred if you are traveling or if a person is ill and they are able to fast. Which is preferred? And and this as we've mentioned before is where the majority of differing takes place. When we look at the differing the differing amongst the scholars of Islam to an untrained eye, you might open a book of fick or you might open a book regarding the differences of opinion or even many fatawa and a lot of fatawa are not written for the general public. They are very localized and they are written for a very specific u set of people. most fatawa are written for students of knowledge explaining details. But when you look at these fatawa, you look at these books and you see all this differing of opinion. The scholars differ on this and the scholars differ on that. An untrained eye might confuse this to mean that most of the rulings of Islam are differed upon and that is very far from the truth. We mentioned before that roughly 85 maybe even 90% of the legislations of Islam alhamdulillah are agreed upon. Where does the differing happen? in the details. And a lot of the differing doesn't even happen in one saying yes and the other saying no or one opinion saying halal and the other saying haram or one saying and the other saying must. This is extremely rare. This is called differing that is in direct conflict of each other. actually most differing between the scholars is which is better which is worse which is preferred right I'll give a good example for instance when you look at the mahib and the placement of one's hands in salah okay in bkari the companions mentioned that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would place his right hand over his left and Bkari left it at that. There are more detailed narrations but he left it at that narration. Now when you look at the madib where does the differing come in? Is it some say the left should be over the right? Never. You'll never find that opinion. Rather what you find is some say on the chest, some say between the chest and the stomach, some say on the navl, some say above the navl, some say below the navl. And so the issue is that the right on the left, right? And the issue beyond that is an issue is more minutia, right? whether a person puts their hands above or below or on or what have you. The narrations in this mention all of that all of the above which tells us that the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam often placed his hands in different positions in his salah. The point is is that there is no differing really on the essence. The essence is agreed upon. The differing occurs where which is better, which is best. Is this better or is this a little better? Or if something is haram, which is worse, is this worse or is this or is this something that reaches the level of obligatory or is it something that is merely preferable? Is this something that reaches the level of haram or is it merely mak or discouraged? Right? This is where the differing happens which in itself is a miracle because how many rulings are there in Islam? Thousands. Thousands upon thousands. And the prophet Muhammad sallall.aii wasallam never sat down and wrote a book from A to Z. But his life and his words are the most studied words of any human being to ever walk the earth. And for that reason, Allah has blessed us as well with the best of companions to that prophet, the best of companions to those companions and the best and most honorable scholars and the brightest minds that the earth have that humanity has ever produced. And so we have without having a centralized head figure, right? We we should have a Khalifa, but even in absence of a generalized Khalifa, we don't have a pope, right? We don't have a a person, one figure head. Yet in spite of that, it is the least differing ummah from amongst all the nations that were given a book of any follower of any prophet. And so the differing is not inal and haram. The differing is usually in what? The details. Here we have one of those details and that is that the author says with respect to the the ill person who is ill or the person who is traveling which is better for a person to break his fast and take the allowance or for a person to go ahead and fast if they're able to. The author says The author says, and remember this is mostly the opinions of as this book is really a summary of and an authentication. It's a it's a little different than a summary. He says that if the person who is ill or traveling does not find it difficult, does not find it overwhelming to fast, then fasting is better. But if a person finds it to be difficult, unbearable, strongly, very uncomfortable, right? then breaking one's fast is better for this person person who is ill or the person who is traveling. So we might say well where does that come from? Of course in the month of Ramadan the blessing of fasting during that time is going to be superior than outside of that time. Second of all, fasting with the people that are fasting as a unit is going to be much easier and better than fasting alone. Third of all, delaying any good deed is not preferred if a person is able to do it sooner or earlier. For these reasons, these general reasons and for the evidences that he will cite, he arrived at the conclusion that he did. What is that conclusion? If a person is traveling or ill, if they don't find it overly difficult, then to fast is better than to break one's fast even though a person has an allowance. Now again breaking one's fast is agreed upon to be permissible amongst all the scholars. It's in the Quran clearly. However, which is better? This is where our discussion is today. He says Ramadan for.
[Silence]
Muslim im Muslim. him collected a narration in his authentic compilation on the authority of alud. He said, "We used to travel with the messenger of Allah. Wasam to battles during the month of Ramadan. And of us, those amongst us, there were those who were fasting and those who had broken their fast. This is in Ramadan. They're traveling. Abu says, "And so of us were those who were fasting and those who were not." And those who were fasting would not hold it against those who were not. Nor were those who were break had broken their fast would hold it against those who were fasting. The companions were of the opinion, a generalized opinion, that whoever felt the ability and had the strength to fast and fasted, then that is good. And whoever felt some kind of weakness or need to break his fast and broke his fast would and that is good as well. This is how the companions were. So we see that they would travel in Ramadan to go to jihad. I mean imagine if you or I were going right now to battle in Ramadan. Would most of us break our fast? You might die. These might be your last days on earth, right? Many of us would probably fast. However, even under these circumstances, going to battle in Ramadan with the messenger of Allah sallall.aii wasallam. Of the companions were those fasting, and of them were those who were not fasting. And neither would hold it against the other, nor would any view himself superior to the other. It's an allowance. now this is the companions of the messenger of Allah. Fast forward to today. Especially us guys, you young strong back man gets on a plane with his Muslim brothers to go to in Ramadan and the stewardist comes down the aisle with breakfast. And then everybody is sitting staring forward. Nobody wants to say anything. Everybody is looking at the corner of their eye. Right? There are those who want to break their fast. There are those who have broken their fast, but they wouldn't dare do that in public. Why? Because you will be mocked and yelled at and insulted and accused. How dare you break your fast in Ramadan? I'm traveling. What kind of travel is this? This isn't traveling. This is comfortable. In the prophet's time, travel was difficult. You had to carry the camel on your back and you had to trek through the desert and you had to This is nothing but ignorance and it is what is killing us as Muslim. This kind of extremism on that. Yet those same people, if you were to follow them back to their homes, they deal in ribba, they deal in pork, they deal in alcohol, they deal in smoke shops, they deal drugs, they But don't break your fast in Ramadan if you're traveling. That's a big no no. See, and this is what is killing us as an ignorance and shaming one another in a constant manner. Not with the sense of I want to help my brother rise to my level. In the sense of I want to step on my brother's head and prove my superiority at every turn. This is something that we have to stomp out of our communities. How do we do that? Well, we don't start with across the water or down the street or up the road. We start right here in our own home. We teach each other and we learn a culture of the sunnah right here. Right here in our little masid, we start to learn a culture of the sunnah. A culture of the sunnah to where our children grow up not knowing any other way. Right? This is how Islam is reinstated and knowledge is reinstated.
[Silence]
[Arabic recitation]
At 6 tomorrow.
[Arabic recitation]
Tomorrow morning will be at 6 and we'll announce it a few more times but starting tomorrow will be at 6. So if you come at 6:15 you will catch us saying.