Breaking the Fast with Fruit Sold in the Market

Question

In our city it has become the custom that mangoes, guavas, jujubes and the like are mostly sold before the blossom and the fruit have appeared. Is eating fruit of this kind haram or makruh? It became known about Hazrat Thanawi ﵀ that he did not eat fruit of this kind, but the majority of the ‘ulama, the righteous and the God-fearing of the present age do not refrain from such food at all, with the result that the common people eat it without hesitation and do not even consider it impermissible.

Answer

This sale is void (batil). Fruit about which it is firmly known that its sale was void may not be eaten — neither at iftar nor outside Ramadan. About Hazrat Thanawi ﵋ it is certain that he did not partake of such fruit, but it is also not correct that he did not partake of fruit at all. If the cultivated land is taken on lease (ijara)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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