We were on a journey with the Messenger of Allah —may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him— and when the sun had set, he said to a man: “Dismount and prepare a drink for me.” The man replied: “O Messenger of Allah, if only you would wait until it becomes evening.” Then he said: “Dismount and prepare a drink.” He replied: “O Messenger of Allah, if only you would wait until it becomes evening; you still have daylight over you.” Then he said: “Dismount and prepare a drink.” So he dismounted and prepared a drink for him on the third command, and the Messenger of Allah —may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him— drank. Then he gestured with his hand toward the east and said: “When you see the night approaching from this side, the fasting person has broken his fast.”

Narrated by al-Bukhārī (no. 5297), and the wording is his, and by Muslim (no. 1101), from the narration of ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Awfā —may Allah be pleased with him.

Brief Explanation of the Hadith

This ḥadīth highlights the Prophet’s —may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him— keenness to teach his Companions the rulings of their religion in all circumstances. Among such instances is what was narrated by ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Awfā —may Allah be pleased with him— that they were with the Prophet —may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him— on a journey during the Conquest of Makkah, while he was fasting. When the sun had set, the Prophet said to a man: “Dismount and prepare for us a drink”— meaning: prepare for us a drink of sawiq (ground barley) stirred with water or milk to break the fast upon. The man, however, thought that the time for Maghrib had not fully set in. He said: “O Messenger of Allah, if only you would wait until evening,” meaning: if you would delay a little until it is certain that the time of night has entered. The Prophet —may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him— repeated the command a second time, while the man kept responding: “Indeed, there is still daytime upon you,” that is, in his view the day had not yet ended, due to the remaining traces of light after the sun had set, so he assumed that daytime was still ongoing. But the Prophet —may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him— gave the command a third time, so the man complied and prepared the drink, from which the Prophet drank. Then he clarified for them a great principle to be relied upon in determining the time of breaking the fast in any place: he pointed with his noble hand towards the east—for further clarity and emphasis—and then said: “When you see the night approaching from this direction, the fasting person has broken his fast.”
And the meaning is: when the darkness of the night advances—for night and day are inseparable; night does not arrive except as day departs, and day does not depart except when the sun has set. In the two Ṣaḥīḥs: “When the night approaches from this direction, and the day retreats from this direction, and the sun has set, then the fasting person has broken his fast.”
This indicates that the criterion for the time of breaking the fast is solely the setting of the sun—not the disappearance of its afterglow, nor the spreading of complete darkness. Rather, as soon as the sun sets and the night approaches from the east, the fasting person has completed his fast in ruling, even if he has not yet eaten or drunk; he is thus considered to have broken his fast according to the Sharīʿah.
Thus, the ḥadīth establishes an important principle: fasting and breaking the fast are tied to clear, outwardly observable Sharʿī boundaries—the rising of dawn as the starting point of abstinence, and the setting of the sun as the time for breaking the fast.
The ḥadīth also indicates: the recommendation of hastening the breaking of the fast once the sun has set; the permissibility of fasting while traveling; a refutation of the People of the Book and others such as the Shīʿah who delay breaking the fast until the appearance of the stars; the permissibility of reminding the scholar of something that may be feared he has forgotten; the undesirability of persisting in disputation with him after repeating the clarification three times; and the permissibility of breaking the fast upon anything that Allah has made lawful.