Islamic Fiqh > Fasting > The white days: 3 fasting days a month
Fasting 3 days each month, the white days (13th, 14th, 15th): the whole year's reward and the Companions' practice.
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Updated on 06 October 2026 at 10:50 PM
The fuqaha agree: fasting 3 days of each month is a sunna. Abu Hurayra reports: "My intimate friend (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) counseled me 3 things: to fast 3 days of every month..." (al-Bukhari 1124, Muslim 721).
The majority (Hanafis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis) prefers that these 3 days be the white days: the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth of each Arabic month, so called because the moon lights them from the month's beginning to its end. Abu Dharr reports that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "If you fast 3 days of the month, fast the thirteenth, the fourteenth and the fifteenth" (at-Tirmidhi 761, sahih hadith). And Jarir reports: "Fasting 3 days of every month is the fast of the whole year: the white days are the thirteenth, the fourteenth and the fifteenth" (an-Nasa'i 2420, hasan hadith).
Fasting 3 days of each month equals fasting the whole year, for the good deed is multiplied by 10: 3 days become 30, the whole year. Qatada ibn Malhan reports that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) ordered fasting the white days and said: "They are like the figure of the whole year."
Yet fixing the date is not a condition: Mu'adha asked Aisha whether the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) fasted 3 days a month, and which days; she answered: "He did not care which days of the month he fasted" (Muslim 1160). an-Nawawi concludes that the authentic hadiths recommend the 3 days without fixing their date, and that the virtue is gained as soon as they are fasted.
The Malikis dislike targeting the white days specifically, out of caution before the choice of a fixed time: the ignorant might believe these days obligatory. This reservation applies only if one targets precisely these 3 days believing the reward comes only through them; targeting them simply as 3 days of the month entails no dislike. Ibn Rushd (reported by al-Mawaq) explains that Malik disliked them because of how quickly people follow his word; Malik himself fasted them and urged al-Rashid to do so.
The most widespread usage: fasting the 13th, 14th and 15th of the Hijri month, with the night intention. Whoever misses them may fast 3 other days, the underlying virtue resting on the 3 days of the month, not on the precise calendar.