The Prophet's Hadiths on the Merits of Feeding the Fasting

Abstract

This research addresses the merits of feeding the fasting, the hadiths mentioned in the Prophetic Sunnah, and the evaluation and assessment of these hadiths. It then discusses the issue of what is considered to be breaking the fast of a fasting person, and with what type of food does the provider of the fast-breaking food receive the reward mentioned in the hadith. Then, the hadiths that mention the virtue of the provision of fast breaking food for a fasting person are listed, totaling five hadiths, four of which are traceable to the Prophet, and one is narrated by Abu Hurairah, considered as a discontinued hadith, but is widely accepted as traceable. The researcher studied the hadiths' chains and methods of narration, and assessed them, accordingly. It is concluded that all these hadiths revealed weakness in terms of their chain of narration, either due to the weak linkages of a narrator, or the lack of solid connection between narrators. In general, no hadith has been proven regarding the virtue of providing fast-breaking food for a fasting person, except that it falls under the virtue of food provision irrespective of the receiver, i.e. including the rich and the poor, the fasting and the non-fasting.