✿ A Voluntary Fast May Be Broken Whenever One Wishes ✿
✍ Written by: Imran Ayyub Lahori
❖ A Person May End a Nafl Fast at Any Time
It is permissible for one observing a voluntary (nafl) fast to break it at any time, without sin or expiation.
❖ ➊ The Practice of the Prophet ﷺ
ʿĀ’ishah رضي الله عنها narrated:
One day the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to me and asked, “Do you have anything (to eat)?”
We replied, “No.”
He ﷺ said, “Then I am fasting.”
On another day, he ﷺ came to us, and I said, “O Messenger of Allah ﷺ! We have been gifted some halwah (a sweet dish).”
He ﷺ said, “Show it to me. I woke up fasting, but now I will eat it.”
📘 [Muslim: 1154, Kitāb al-Ṣiyām: Bāb Jawāz Ṣawm al-Nāfilah bi-Niyyah min al-Nahār; Aḥmad: 6/207; Abū Dāwūd: 2455; Tirmidhī: 734; Nasāʾī: 4/194; Dāraqutnī: 2/172; Bayhaqī: 4/275; ʿAbd al-Razzāq: 7793]
➡ This clearly indicates that a voluntary fast can be started even after sunrise, and can be ended without completing it.
❖ ➋ The Case of Abū al-Dardāʾ رضي الله عنه and Salmān رضي الله عنه
Salmān رضي الله عنه once said to Abū al-Dardāʾ رضي الله عنه, “Break your fast.”
At the end of that incident, when this was mentioned to the Prophet ﷺ, he ﷺ said:
صدق سلمان
“Salmān has spoken the truth.”
📘 [Bukhārī: 1968, 6139, Kitāb al-Ṣiyām: Bāb Man Aqsama ʿalā Akhīhi Liyufṭir fī al-Taṭawwuʿ; Tirmidhī: 2413]
➡ This shows the permissibility of breaking a nafl fast due to genuine reasons or even mutual consideration.
