What should I break my fast with?

Question

At home I normally break my fast with dates or something sweet, but at my local mosque we mainly had fried food, and this seems unusual to me.

How should I break my fast? I know it is sunnah to eat dates, but is it ok not to?

Answer 1

It is the practice of Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu-Alaihi-Wa-Sallam) to break fast with fresh dates. So, it is sunnah. If dates aren't available, then the second preferred way to break fast is by drinking water.

The quotation from the Hadith is given below:

Anas bin Malik narrated: "The Messenger of Allah would break the fast with fresh dates before performing Salat. If there were no fresh dates then (he would) break the fast) with dried dates, and if there were no dried dates then he would take a few sips of water." (Hasan)

^{source: This hadith from Tirmidhi}