FEEDING A FASTING PERSON
“The Reward Of Feeding The Fasting Person”
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“Whoever gives iftar to one who is fasting will have a reward like his, without that detracting from the reward of the fasting person in the slightest,” said by our beloved Prophet Mohamed (Peace Be Upon Him). [Tirmidhi, 807; Ibn Majah, 1746. Classed as saheeh by Ibn Hiban, 8/216 and in Sahih al-Jami, 6415.]
The pious predecessors were keen to provide food for others. They thought that this was one of the best of righteous deeds. Many of the pious predecessors used to give up their iftar for others, such as:
- Abdullahi Ibn Umar (May Allah be pleased with him),
- Dawod Taa’i, Malik Ibn Dinar,
- and as well as Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
In fact, Ibn Umar used only to break his fast with orphans and the poor and needy. There were among the pious predecessors those who used to offer food to their brothers whilst fasting. They would sit and serve them, such as Hasan and Ibn Mubarak.
Abu Siwaar Al-`Adawi said:
- “Men from the tribe of Banu ‘Adiyy used to pray in this mosque. Not one of them would break his fast on his own;
- if they found someone to join them they would eat with him,
- Otherwise they would take their food out to the mosque and eat with the people, and the people would eat with them.”
From the ‘ibadah (worship) of providing food for people stem many other acts of worship such as:
- Creating love and Friendship towards those who are given the food,
- which is a means of entering Paradise, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
“You will not enter Paradise until you truly believe, and you will not truly believe until you love one another.” [Muslim, 54]. It also fosters the practice of sitting with righteous people and seeking reward by helping them to do acts of worship for which they gain strength by eating your food.
