Chapter on Ruling of the Traveller and the Sick Person Regarding Fasting

And from him, from a number of our companions, from Sahl ibn Ziyad, from Ali ibn Bilal, from al-Hasan ibn Bassam al-Jammal, from a man, who said: I (narrator) was with Abu Abdillah عليه السلام, peace be upon him, between Makkah and al-Madinah in Shaban, while Imam عليه السلام was fasting. Then we saw the crescent of the month of Ramadan, so Imam عليه السلام broke the fast. I (narrator) said to Imam عليه السلام: “May I be made your ransom, yesterday was from Shaban and you were fasting, and today is from the month of Ramadan and you are breaking the fast.” Imam عليه السلام said: “Indeed, that is voluntary, and we may do whatever we wish, but this is obligatory, so we may not do except what we have been commanded.”