Fatwa ID: 04430
Answered by: Alimah Nasima Umm Hamza
Question
Assalamu Alaikum.
With regards to the famous hadith about the poor villager who had intercourse with his wife in Ramadan and the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam eventually gave him all the dates as leniency, I would like to know:
1) Was this ruling specific to this person?
2) Does the sentence at the end of the Hadith " it is permitted for you and for no other after you" come in the authentic books?
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيْم
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer
Breaking the fast intentionally in Ramadan – by eating, drinking, or intercourse – is haram and requires the person who broke it to make kaffarah (expiation) by fasting 60 consecutive days, and if he is unable then feeding 60 poor people.[1]
The Hadith you mentioned comes in the six authentic books of hadith, with wording similar to the wording mentioned by Imam Bukhari:
Narrated Abu Hurairah:
A man came to the Prophet (SAW) and said, "I had sexual intercourse with my wife in Ramadan while fasting." The Prophet (saw) asked him, "Can you afford to manumit a slave?" He replied in the negative. The Prophet (SAW)asked him, "Can you fast for two successive months?" He replied in the negative. He asked him, "Can you afford to feed sixty poor persons?" He replied in the negative. (Abu Huraira added): Then a basket full of dates was brought to the Prophet (SAW) and he said, "Feed poor people with this by way of atonement." He said, "Should I feed it to poorer people than we? There is no poorer house than ours between its (Medina's) mountains." The Prophet (SAW) said, "Then feed your family with it." (Sahih Bukhari, Hadith Number 1937)
The additional wording of the Hadith "it is permitted for you and for no other after you" is mentioned in Imam Marginani’s book, Al-Hidayah, under the chapter ‘Factors Leading to Qadaa and Kaffarah’.
However, Imam Zayla’i in his book “Kitab Nasab Ar-Raayah”, which includes the chains of narration for all the hadith from al-Hidayah, mentions that he cannot find any chain of narration with this part of the hadith. Regarding the Bedouin being permitted to feed the dates to his own family, Imam Zuhri mentions that this was a concession for this Bedouin specifically.[2]
What we can conclude from this hadith, is that it supports the notion for there being an order to be followed in kaffarah, which is the ordering of zihaar.[3]
The ordering or zihaar has been mentioned in the Quran. Allah (swt) says:
فَمَن لَّمْ يَجِدْ فَصِيَامُ شَهْرَيْنِ مُتَتَابِعَيْنِ مِن قَبْلِ أَن يَتَمَاسَّا ۖ فَمَن لَّمْ يَسْتَطِعْ فَإِطْعَامُ سِتِّينَ مِسْكِينًا ۚ
“And he who does not find a slave – then a fast for two months consecutively before they touch one another; and he who is unable – then the feeding of sixty poor persons..” (Surah al-Mujadilah, Verse 4)
Only Allah knows best
Answered by Alimah Nasima Umm Hamza
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
[1] Al-Hidayah, Imran Nyazee Edition, Volume 1, Page 368
[2] Jamaluddeen Az-Zayla’i, Kitab Nasab ar-Raayah, Volume 2, Page 453
[3] Al-Hidayah, Imran Nyazee Edition, Volume 1, Page 369-370
