Breaking the Fast with Fruit Sold in the Market

Question

In our town it has become the custom that, in most cases, the sale of mangoes, guavas, jujubes and the like is made before the blossoms and the fruit appear. Is eating such fruit haram or makruh? We learned about Hazrat Thanawi ﵀ that he did not eat such fruit, but the majority of the scholars, the righteous and the God-fearing of the present age do not avoid eating it at all, with the result that the common people eat it without hesitation and do not even consider it impermissible.

Answer

This sale is batil (void). Eating fruit about which it is firmly known that its sale was void is not permissible — 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 cultivable land is taken on ijara (lease)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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