I started to write some things having to do with the month of fasting on my Facebook and Twitter accounts, and I came across two issues that I want to make sure of. I heard that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) encouraged us to eat an odd number of dates when breaking the fast. Is this true? How many should they be? What are the types of food and drink that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) used to regularly consume in sahoor and iftaar during the month of Ramadan? To the best of my knowledge, he used to eat barley and dates, and drink water – what else was there? I hope that you can tell me, with evidence.

Praise
be to Allah

Firstly: 

It is recommended for the fasting person to break his fast
with fresh dates. If they are not available, then he should break his fast
with dried dates, and if they are not available, then with water. 

This is proven from the actions of the Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him). 

Abu Dawood (2356) and at-Tirmidhi (696) narrated that Anas
(may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) used to break his fast with fresh dates before
praying. If no fresh dates were available, he would break his fast with
dried dates, and if none were available, he would break his fast with a few
sips of water.

Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood. 

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

There is a very subtle reason why the Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) would break his fast with fresh dates, or dried
dates, or water, because when one fasts, the stomach becomes devoid of
nourishment, so the liver will not find anything in the stomach that it can
absorb and send to other parts of the body. Sweetness is the quickest to
reach the liver and is what it prefers, especially if it is fresh, so if a
person eats fresh dates, they will be absorbed quickly by the liver, which
will benefit it and other parts of the body. If fresh dates are not
available, then dried dates are the next best thing, because they are sweet
and nourishing. If there are no dates available, then a few sips of water
will extinguish the flame of the stomach and the heat of fasting, thus
preparing the stomach to accept food with ease. 

End quote from Zaad al-Ma‘aad (4/287) 

Secondly: 

There is no proof in the Sunnah that the Messenger of Allah
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) intentionally broke his fast with
an odd number of fresh or dried dates. In order to follow the Sunnah, it is
sufficient for the Muslim to break his fast with fresh or dried dates,
without paying attention to the number or counting them. 

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

It is not obligatory – and in fact it is not Sunnah – to
break the fast with an odd number, three or five or seven or nine, except on
the Day of Eid al-Fitr, as it is proven that the Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him and his family) would not go out for prayer on
the Day of Eid al-Fitr, until he had eaten some dates, an odd number
thereof. Apart from that, the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) did not seek deliberately to eat an odd number of dates.

End quote from Fataawa Noor ‘ala ad-Darb (11/2) 

With regard to the hadith of Anas, who said: The Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) used to like to break his fast by
eating three dates or something that had not been touched by fire – which
was narrated by Abu Ya‘la (3305) – it is a da‘eef (weak) hadith that has not
been proven. See ad-Da‘eefah by al-Albaani (966). 

There are some scholars who regard it as mustahabb to make
everything odd-numbered. Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan (may Allah preserve him)
was asked: 

Should making things odd-numbered be done with regard to all
permissible things, such as drinking coffee and the like, or is it only with
regard to things concerning which a text has been narrated? 

The Shaykh’s answer may be summed up as follows: 

All words and deeds should be made odd-numbered. This is the
Sunnah. End quote. 


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17891559/9959.mp3 

Shaykh ‘Abd al-Kareem al-Khudayr (may Allah preserve him) was
asked: 

Will we be rewarded for making things odd-numbered as an act
of devotion when eating, drinking and so on? 

He replied 

Yes, we will be rewarded for doing that as an act of
devotion. So if a person eats dates, he should eat one, or three or seven,
an odd number, because Allah loves that which is odd-numbered. End quote.


http://shkhudheir.com/fatawa/874254045 

‘Abd ar-Razzaaq (5/498) narrated from Ma‘mar, from Ayyoob,
from Ibn Sireen, from Abu Hurayrah, that the Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) said: “Verily Allah is One and loves that which is
odd-numbered.” Ayyoob said: Ibn Sireen liked that which was odd-numbered in
all things, to the extent that he would eat an odd number of things. This is
a saheeh isnaad. 

This matter is broad in scope, in sha Allah, but it is not
proven, as far as we know, that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) used to intentionally eat an odd number when he broke his fast
eating fresh or dried dates. Rather those scholars who said that said it on
the basis of ijtihaad. 

Thirdly: 

The practice of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) with regard to food – whether he was fasting or not – was
moderate, with no extravagance or waste – as Allah, may He be exalted,
enjoined. Food was never his main focus on any day; rather he would just eat
a few mouthfuls to keep him going. 

When it came to food, he (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) was not set in his ways and did not have specific things that he
always did. Rather what was the case was that if he found food that he
liked, he would eat it, and if he did not find it, he would remain quiet. Or
if he found food that he did not like, he would not eat, and sometimes he
would decide to fast. 

He never criticised any food. 

He would eat meat, bread, olive oil, honey, milk and other
things that were available sometimes. 

Sometimes month after month would pass and his family would
have nothing to eat except dried dates and water. 

Sometimes he would take his guest around to the houses of his
wives, and not find anything but water. 

Rather his main focus (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him), and that of his companions (may Allah be pleased with them), was the
hereafter and matters of religion. 

See the answer to question no. 115801 

Conclusion: 

The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) would
eat whatever was available of his family’s food or things that were given to
him as gifts by his companions and neighbours, without having any particular
type of food or specific practice, except that the first thing he would eat
when breaking his fast would be fresh or dried dates, and if he did not find
any, he would break his fast with water, as mentioned above. 

Similarly, his sahoor (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) was just a few mouthfuls to keep him going, and he did not seek out any
particular food for sahoor, other than dates. The Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) spoke highly of dates and said: “What a good
sahoor for the believer dates are.” Narrated by Abu Dawood (2345); classed
as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood. 

And Allah knows best.