Search for answers or browse our knowledge base.
This opinion, which is that of Imam ibn Hazm, states that in the following hadith, a special allowance was given to the traveler and the pregnant or nursing woman, in which the obligation of fasting was dropped and was not replaced with any other act of worship:
Narrated by Abu Dawood, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasaa’i, and ibn Maajah:
The Prophet (pbuh) said: “Allah has relieved the traveler of half the prayer and of the duty to fast, and He has relieved pregnant and nursing mothers (of the duty to fast).”
Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh abi Dawood
The rebuttal from the majority of the scholars is that this hadith needs to be combined with the verses on fasting in the Qur’an in order to make the ruling. It cannot be taken on its own, extracted from this hadith alone and isolated from other evidence, to build a major ruling like this.