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724. Abū Hurairah narrated that a man came and said: "O Messenger of Allāh; I am ruined!" He said: "What has ruined you?" He said: "I had sexual relations with my wife during Ramaḍān." He said:
“Are you able to free a slave?” He said, “No.” He said: “Then are you able to fast for two consecutive months?” He said, “No.” He said: “Then are you able to feed sixty needy people?” He said, “No.” He said: “Sit.” So he sat. A big basket full of dates was brought to the Prophet ﷺ, and he said: “Give it in charity.” So he said: “There is no one needier than us between its two mountains.”[1] So the Prophet ﷺ laughed until his pre-molar teeth appeared, and he said: “Then take it to feed your family.” (Sahih)
(He said:) There are narrations on this topic from Ibn ‘Umar, ‘Aishah, and ‘Abdullāh bin ‘Amr.
Abū ‘Eisā said: The Hadīth of Abū Hurairah is a Ḥasan Sahīh Hadīth. This Hadīth is acted upon according to the people of knowledge regarding one who breaks his fast on purpose during Ramaḍān by sexual intercourse. As for one who breaks his fast on purpose by eating or drinking, then the people of knowledge differed over that. Some of them said that he has to make it up and atone for it. They likened eating and drinking to sexual intercourse in this regard. This is the saying of Sufyān Ath-Thawrī, Ibn Al-Mubārak, and Ishāq. Some of them said: He has to make it up, but there is no atonement required of him, because atonement was only
mentioned from the Prophet ﷺ in the case of sexual intercourse, it was not mentioned by him for eating and drinking. And they say that the eating and drinking is not like sexual intercourse. This is the saying of Ash-Shāfi'i and Aḥmad. Ash-Shāfi'i said: "The saying of the Prophet ﷺ to the man who had broken his fast and who he had told to give the charity: 'Take it to feed your family' carries this meaning; it implies that the atonement is required from the one who is capable of it. This man was not capable of the atonement, so when the Prophet ﷺ gave him something and he possessed it, then the man said: 'There is no one that is more in need of it than us.' So the Prophet ﷺ said: 'Take it to feed your family.' Because the atonement can only take place after he has some surplus from his provisions." Ash-Shāfi'i preferred that whoever has a case similar to this, then he is to eat from it and the atonement will be a debt upon him, so whenever he is able to make the atonement, he should make it.
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Footnotes
1
[1] Meaning, Al-Madinah.
Commentary
If a person has sexual intercourse with his wife while he was in state of fasting in the month of Ramaḍān, he will have to carry out the expiation according to the Four A'immaḥ and the majority, of the scholars. He will have to make up this fast according to the majority jurists, this is the right opinion.