Religious Etiquettes When Breaking the Fast

The Shaykh:
May Allah greet you and bless you.

The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh Salih, at the beginning of this episode of this program, perhaps you could speak about what people consume; are there religious etiquettes when breaking the fast?

The Shaykh:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. Yes, there are religious etiquettes when breaking the fast. First, the Muslim should hasten to break his fast when he is certain of the setting of the sun, either by seeing it or by the adhan of the mu'adhdhins if he is in the city. He should not break his fast until he is certain or it is most likely in his mind that the sun has set, either by seeing the sun and the signs that the Prophet mentioned, or by hearing the mu'adhdhins in the city.
Second, it is recommended for him to break his fast with fresh dates if it is the season of fresh dates, which are the first of the dates, the early dates. If he does not find fresh dates, he breaks his fast with dates, meaning dry dates. If he does not find those, he takes sips of water, meaning he drinks gulps of water, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did. He (peace and blessings be upon him) used to break his fast with fresh dates; if there were none, with dates; if there were none, he would take sips of water.
Then he goes out to pray Maghrib. Among the etiquettes of breaking the fast is that a person should not delay at the table of breaking the fast and eating desirable foods, thereby delaying the Maghrib prayer with the congregation. Rather, he should hasten to the prayer and pray with the congregation. When he returns, he eats what he wants and does not waste the prayer with the congregation. Yes.

The presenter:
May Allah bless you,