Ruling on Eating Hail while Fasting

Anas bin Maalik (may Allaah be pleased with him) said, “We were showered with hail while Aboo Talhah was fasting. So he started eating from it. It was said to him: “Are you eating while you are fasting? Thereupon he said, “This is blessing [from Allaah].” Recorded by al-Bazzaar (3/279) and others. The chain is saheeh as stated by Ibn Hazm in Ihkaam al-Ahkaam (6/83) and Shaykh al-Albaanee agreed with him in Silsilah ad-Da’eefah (1/154). Al-Bazzaar said in his Musnad (1/481): “We do not know of this action except from Aboo Talhah.”

Shaykh al-Albaanee commented in ad-Da’eefah (1/155): This mawqoof hadeeth is one of the proofs indicating the futility of the hadeeth which states that the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) said: “My Companions are like stars; whoever of them you follow, you be rightly guided.”  If this hadeeth were to be authentic, it would mean that eating hail in Ramadaan does not nullify fast, following the example of Aboo Talhah (may Allaah be pleased with him). This is something that I believe a Muslim will not say today.”

Source: Ahkaam ash-Shitaa fee As-Sunnah al-Mutahharah, p. 120 by Shaykh ‘Alee Hasan al-Halabee.