Islamic Fiqh > Fasting > Ramadan: fasting, rules and dispensations > The voluntary fasts of the year
Contents
Updated on 27 September 2026 at 3:52 AM
The sheets on this page walk, day by day, through the voluntary fasts (sawm at-tatawwu') the four schools recommend across the year: whether an engaged voluntary fast is binding, Monday and Thursday, three days of each month, the first eight days of Dhul-Hijja, Ashura and Tasu'a, Friday, Saturday, the day of Arafat, the fast of Dawud, and the six days of Shawwal.
Each opinion is reported as the sheet assigns it, school by school and scholar by scholar, with the cited hadiths, their grades as flagged by the sheet, and the works referenced at the end of each point.
The jurists differ over one who engages a voluntary fast: does engaging bind him to complete it, or not?
The Hanafis and the Malikis hold that whoever engages a voluntary fast owes its completion once he has begun, that nullifying it without an excuse is forbidden for him, and that making it up is due if he nullifies it: for that fast is an act of worship, and voiding an act of worship is unlawful, by the word of Allah:
And do not render your deeds void.
Surah Muhammad, 33
What has been performed must therefore be preserved and guarded from nullification: the act has become a right of Allah, and it can only be preserved by holding to what remains of it, so completion becomes a necessity.
They also cite the word of the Prophet:
When one of you is invited, let him respond: if he is fasting, let him make du'a, and if he is not fasting, let him eat.
reported by Muslim (1431)
His words: let him make du'a, that is, let him supplicate. Al-Qurtubi: this is established from the Prophet; had breaking the fast been permitted, the better course would have been to break the fast to answer the invitation, which is a sunna (transmitted by al-Zayla'i in Tabyin al-Haqa'iq, 1/337-338).
The second support is the report of Aisha:
Aisha and Hafsa were fasting; food we desired was set before us and we ate of it. The Messenger of Allah entered, and Hafsa met him, for she was his daughter, and said: Messenger of Allah, we were fasting, food we desired was set before us and we ate of it. He said: make up another day in its place.
weak hadith, reported by at-Tirmidhi (735), an-Nasa'i in al-Kubra (3291) and Ahmad in al-Musnad (6/263)
Abu Umar Ibn Abd al-Barr writes: the argument of Malik and of those who follow his view that making up the fast is due from the voluntary faster who voids his fast, together with the hadith of Ibn Shihab on the episode of Aisha and Hafsa related in this chapter, is the word of Allah quoted above (Surah Muhammad 33), and His word:
Whoever honors the sacred rites of Allah, it is better for him with his Lord.
Surah al-Hajj, 30
Whoever deliberately breaks his voluntary fast after entering it does not honor the sanctity of the fast, and he has nullified the act Allah commanded to be completed and forbade to be voided; the prohibition of a thing implies the command of its opposite, and Allah said:
Then complete the fast until the night.
Surah al-Baqara, 187
This word, in its generality, covers the obligatory and the voluntary, like His word:
And complete the hajj and the 'umra for Allah.
Surah al-Baqara, 196
The scholars agree that one who invalidates a voluntary hajj or 'umra owes making them up: reasoning from this consensus to require making up the fast from one who deliberately voided it is a sound analogy. It is also established from the Prophet:
When one of you is invited to a meal, let him respond: if he is not fasting, let him eat.
sahih hadith, cited above
It has also been reported: if he wishes, let him eat; and if he is fasting, let him make du'a. In another wording: let him make du'a, that is, supplicate; and another adds: if he is fasting, let him not eat.
Had breaking the voluntary fast been good, the best and finest would have been to answer the invitation, which is a prescribed sunna; since it is not so, it is known that breaking the voluntary fast is not permissible. It is also reported from the Prophet:
A woman whose husband is present does not fast a single day outside the month of Ramadan without his permission.
sahih hadith, reported by Abu Dawud (2459) and Ibn Hibban in his Sahih (4/354)
This shows that the voluntary faster does not break his fast, and that no one breaks it for him: had the man the right to void her fast, she would not have needed his permission; and had it been allowed, it would make no sense.
It is further reported that melted butter (samn) and dates were set before the Prophet while he was fasting, and he said:
Return your dates to their vessel and your butter to its jug: I am fasting.
reported by al-Bukhari (1881)
He did not break his fast: he completed it until nightfall, on the apparent sense of the word of Allah quoted above (Surah al-Baqara 187), without restricting completion to the obligatory fast at the expense of the voluntary one. Ibn Abd al-Barr concludes: precaution in deeds of goodness is the safest position here; success is with Allah (at-Tamhid, 12/75, 81).
The Hanafis then specify: if he exits the fast without an excuse, making it up is due from him, and he bears the sin and the punishment of neglecting it; if he exits for an excuse, making it up is due without sin (al-Bada'i' 2/651; Sharh Fath al-Qadir 2/362; al-Mabsut 3/68, 70; Tuhfat al-Fuqaha 1/538-539; Tabyin al-Haqa'iq 1/337).
The Malikis say: if he exits for an excuse, neither making up nor sin is due; if he exits without an excuse, making it up is due from him, along with the sin and the punishment (Hashiyat ad-Dusuqi 1/527; adh-Dhakhira 2/528-529; Bidayat al-Mujtahid 1/426; Sharh az-Zarqani 1/506).
The Shafi'is and the Hanbalis hold that a voluntary fast does not bind the one who engages it: the faster owes no completion once he has begun, he may interrupt it whenever he wishes, with or without an excuse, and that is not unlawful for him; he is merely disliked for interrupting without an excuse, and completion is recommended for him, on the apparent sense of the word of Allah quoted above (Surah Muhammad 33), and to avoid differing with those scholars who require completion. They cite the following.
First, the report of Aisha:
One day the Messenger of Allah said: Aisha, do you have anything? I said: Messenger of Allah, we have nothing. He said: then I am fasting. The Messenger of Allah went out; a gift was brought to us, or visitors came. When he returned I said: Messenger of Allah, a gift was brought to us, or visitors came, and I set something aside for you. He asked: what is it? I said: hays. He said: bring it. I brought it, he ate of it, then said: I had risen this morning fasting.
reported by Muslim (1154)
In another wording: I had indeed risen fasting, and he ate of it, then said:
The fast of the voluntary faster is like the man who takes charity out of his wealth: if he wishes, he gives it; if he wishes, he keeps it.
reported by an-Nasa'i (2322) and al-Bayhaqi in al-Kubra (2/114); al-Albani in al-Irwa' (4/136): its chain is sahih on the condition of Muslim
Second, the report of Umm Hani: the Messenger of Allah entered upon her, she offered him a drink, and he drank. She said: Messenger of Allah, I was fasting. The Messenger of Allah answered:
The voluntary faster is the commander of himself: if he wishes, he fasts; if he wishes, he breaks his fast.
sahih hadith, reported by the imam Ahmad (6/341) and an-Nasa'i in al-Kubra (3302)
Third, the report of Abu Juhayfa:
The Prophet made a pact of brotherhood between Salman and Abu d-Darda. Salman visited Abu d-Darda and saw Umm d-Darda dressed carelessly; he asked her what was the matter. She said: your brother Abu d-Darda has no need of this world. Abu d-Darda came and prepared a meal for Salman, then said: eat. He replied: I am fasting. The other said: I will not eat until you eat. Abu d-Darda ate. When night came, Abu d-Darda rose; Salman said: sleep, and he slept; then he rose again, and Salman said: sleep. Near the end of the night Salman said: rise now; they prayed. Salman told him: your Lord has a right over you, your soul has a right over you, and your family has a right over you: give each holder of a right his due. He went to the Prophet and told him, and the Prophet said: Salman has spoken the truth.
reported by al-Bukhari (1867)
Al-Nawawi finally answers the analogy with hajj and 'umra: the difference is that the pilgrim cannot leave the pilgrimage through its invalidation, since entry into ihram is acquired there with certainty, unlike the fast (al-Majmu' 7/669; Mughni al-Muhtaj 1/448; al-Mughni 4/215; Kashshaf al-Qina' 2/343; al-Insaf 3/352; al-Ifsah 1/428).
The jurists agree on the recommendation of fasting Monday and Thursday of every week (al-Bada'i' 2/590; at-Tahtawi 350; ash-Sharh as-Saghir 1/446; Hashiyat ad-Dusuqi 1/517; Sharh az-Zarqani 4/334; al-Majmu' 7/653; Mughni al-Muhtaj 1/446; Kashshaf al-Qina' 2/337). Usama ibn Zayd reports that the Prophet used to fast Monday and Thursday; asked about it, he said:
The deeds of the servants are presented on Monday and Thursday, and I like my deeds to be presented while I am fasting.
sahih hadith, reported by the imam Ahmad (5/201) and an-Nasa'i (2357)
Abu Qatada reports that the Messenger of Allah was asked about fasting Monday and said:
That is the day I was born, the day I was sent, or the day revelation came down to me.
reported by Muslim (1162)
Aisha said: the Messenger of Allah used to watch for the fast of Monday and Thursday.
The Messenger of Allah used to watch for the fast of Monday and Thursday.
sahih hadith, reported by an-Nasa'i (2361, 2363) and Ibn Majah (1749)
Hafsa, mother of the believers, said:
The Messenger of Allah used to fast Monday and Thursday.
hasan sahih, reported by Ahmad (26504) and an-Nasa'i (2367)
The sheet opens with the pilgrim's case on the day of Arafat, before taking up the eight days: for the pilgrim, fasting that day is a virtue over other days, provided it does not weaken him so as to harm his standing and his du'a, since it joins two acts of devotion; if it weakens him from that, it is disliked: the virtue of this day can be caught up in another year and usually is, while the standing and the du'a cannot usually be caught up for most people except once in a lifetime, in the 'umra; securing them is therefore safer (al-Bada'i' 2/590; Ibn Abidin 2/83; Sharh az-Zarqawi 2/426; Hashiyat ad-Dusuqi 1/515; Mawahib al-Jalil 2/403; ash-Sharh as-Saghir 1/446; al-Majmu' 7/639; Mughni al-Muhtaj 1/446; al-Mughni 4/241; Kashshaf al-Qina' 2/339; Manar as-Sabil 1/268).
Then comes the fast of the eight days from the start of Dhul-Hijja before the day of Arafat: the jurists agree on its recommendation, by the hadith of Ibn Abbas: the Messenger of Allah said:
There are no days in which righteous deed is dearer to Allah than in these days, that is, the ten days. It was said: Messenger of Allah, not even striving in the way of Allah? He said: not even striving in the way of Allah, except for the man who goes out with his person and his wealth and returns with nothing.
sahih hadith, reported by Abu Dawud (2438), at-Tirmidhi (757) and Ibn Majah (1727)
And Hunayda ibn Khalid reports, from his wife, the words of one of the wives of the Prophet:
The Messenger of Allah used to fast the nine days of Dhul-Hijja, the day of Ashura, and three days of each month: the first Monday and Thursday of the month.
sahih hadith, reported by Abu Dawud (2437) and Ahmad (5/271)
Ibn Muflih sets a condition: that the body not be weakened to the point of being unable for what is better, the fulfillment of the rights of Allah and of the obligatory rights of His servants; if one is weakened for any of that, leaving it is better. That is why the Prophet alluded, about the fast of Dawud, to the words: he does not turn away when he meets (the enemy). It is a right of the soul that it be treated gently, so that it leads its owner to the destination (al-Mubdi' 3/50; ar-Rawd al-Murbi' 1/440; al-Bada'i' 2/590; al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya 1/210; Hashiyat at-Tahtawi 1/351; Mawahib al-Jalil 2/443; Mughni al-Muhtaj 1/448; Hashiyat al-Qalyubi 2/94; Kashshaf al-Qina' 2/337; Manar as-Sabil 1/266).
The jurists then agree: fasting three days of each month is a sunna, by the report of Abu Hurayra: my close friend enjoined me three things, among them fasting three days of each month (reported by al-Bukhari (1124) and Muslim (721)).
The majority, Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis, recommend placing them on the white days (ayyam al-bid), the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth of each lunar month, so named because the moon whitens them from their beginning to their end; another explanation is given. Abu Dharr reports that the Messenger of Allah said:
If you fast three days of the month, fast the thirteenth, the fourteenth and the fifteenth.
sahih hadith, reported by at-Tirmidhi (761) and an-Nasa'i (2422)
And Jarir ibn Abdallah reports from the Prophet:
Fasting three days of each month equals fasting the whole year: the white days, the thirteenth, the fourteenth and the fifteenth.
hasan hadith, reported by an-Nasa'i (2420)
Fasting three days of each month thus equals perpetual fasting, in that one gains through them the reward of fasting the entire year, the good deed being multiplied tenfold, by the report of Qatada ibn Milhan al-Qaysi, from his father:
The Messenger of Allah ordered us to fast the white days, the thirteenth, the fourteenth and the fifteenth, and he said: they are like fasting the whole year.
sahih hadith, reported by Abu Dawud (2449)
Al-Nawawi writes (al-Majmu' 7/648): sahih hadiths establish fasting three days of each month without fixing their time; their apparent meaning is that whenever one fasts them, the virtue is gained. It is established in the Sahih of Muslim, from Mu'adha al-Adawiyya, that she asked Aisha whether the Messenger of Allah used to fast three days of each month; she said yes, and when Mu'adha asked which days of the month he fasted, she said:
He did not care which days of the month he fasted.
reported by Muslim (1160)
The Malikis, for their part, dislike fasting the white days, fleeing the fixing of specific days and fearing the common people would believe them obligatory. The dislike applies when one intends to fast those very days, believing the reward comes only through them; if one fasts them as three days of the month, there is no dislike. Al-Mawwaq transmits from Ibn Rushd: Malik disliked them because of the speed with which people adopted his word, lest the ignorant deem them obligatory. It is nevertheless reported that Malik himself fasted them, and Malik also encouraged ar-Rashid to fast them (Mawahib al-Jalil 2/414; Hashiyat ad-Dusuqi 1/517; ash-Sharh as-Saghir 1/447; Bidayat al-Mujtahid 1/422; al-Bada'i' 2/590; Ibn Abidin 2/83; Hashiyat at-Tahtawi 350; al-Majmu' 7/649; Hashiyat al-Qalyubi 2/73; al-Mughni 4/242; Manar as-Sabil 1/266).
The jurists agree on the recommendation of fasting Ashura and Tasu'a, the tenth and the ninth day of Muharram, by the word of the Prophet on fasting Ashura:
I count on Allah to expiate the year that preceded it.
reported by Muslim (1162)
And his word:
If I remain alive until next year, I will surely fast the ninth day. Ibn Abbas comments: the next year had not come before the Messenger of Allah passed away.
reported by Muslim (1134)
The Hanafis state explicitly that fasting the day of Ashura alone, without the ninth or the eleventh, is disliked, as Ibn al-Humam and others write. Al-Kasani specifies in al-Bada'i' (2/590): some of them disliked fasting the day of Ashura alone, on account of the resemblance to the Jews; the body of the Hanafis did not dislike it, for that day is among the virtuous days, and catching up its virtue by fasting is recommended.
Likewise, the Hanbalis declare that singling out Ashura for fasting is not disliked.
Al-Nawawi writes: the scholars of our school and others mentioned several wisdoms behind the recommendation of fasting Tasu'a. The first: opposing the Jews, who restrict themselves to the tenth day, a view narrated from Ibn Abbas. The second: joining the day of Ashura to a fast, just as fasting Friday alone was prohibited, as al-Khattabi and others relate. The third: precaution in fasting the tenth day, for fear of a mistake about the crescent and a faulty count: the ninth by count would then be the tenth in reality (al-Majmu' 7/645).
Hanafis, Malikis and Shafi'is also recommend fasting the eleventh day. Ash-Shirbini writes: ash-Shafi'i stated in al-Umm and in al-Imla' the recommendation of fasting the three days.
Ibn al-Humam, the Hanafi, says: it is recommended to fast one day before and one day after; if he singles out Ashura, it is disliked, by resemblance to the Jews (Sharh Fath al-Qadir 2/349; Ibn Abidin 2/375; Hashiyat at-Tahtawi 350; Sharh az-Zarqani 2/237; Hashiyat ad-Dusuqi 1/516; ash-Sharh as-Saghir 1/446; Mawahib al-Jalil 2/49; al-Majmu' 7/645; Mughni al-Muhtaj 1/446; Kashshaf al-Qina' 2/339). The support is the Prophet's word:
Fast the day of Ashura and differ from the Jews in it: fast a day before it or a day after it.
weak hadith, reported by the imam Ahmad in al-Musnad (2154) and Ibn Khuzayma in his Sahih (2095)
Ibn al-Qayyim then reports the objections and confusions raised about fasting Ashura, and answers them. The Prophet, he writes, sought out this fast before all other days; arriving in Medina, he found the Jews fasting it and venerating it, and said: we have more right to Musa than you; he fasted it and commanded its fasting, before Ramadan was prescribed; when Ramadan was prescribed, he said: whoever wishes may fast it, and whoever wishes may leave it. Some saw difficulties in this. The first: the Messenger of Allah arrived in Medina in the month of Rabi' al-Awwal; how then could Ibn Abbas say he found the Jews fasting the day of Ashura there? The answer: nothing indicates he found them fasting it on the very day of his arrival, for he arrived on a Monday, the twelfth of Rabi' al-Awwal; he learned of it in the episode of the second year after his arrival, not while still in Mecca; and if the count of the People of the Book for this fast follows the solar months, the objection falls entirely: the day on which Allah saved Musa is indeed the tenth of Muharram by the lunar month, but the People of the Book had fixed it in the solar months, and that date coincided with the Prophet's arrival in Medina in Rabi' al-Awwal; the fast of the People of the Book follows the course of the sun, that of the Muslims follows the lunar month, as does their hajj and everything tied to it, obligatory or recommended. He then said: we have more right to Musa than you, and the precedence showed in venerating that day and in fixing it; they had erred in fixing it because that day moves through the solar year, just as the Christians erred in fixing their fast by placing it in a season of the year in which the months vary.
The second objection: Quraysh used to fast Ashura in the pre-Islamic era, and the Messenger of Allah fasted it too. Ibn al-Qayyim answers: Quraysh certainly venerated that day, they clothed the Kaaba on it, and fasting is part of its veneration; they counted by the crescents, so the tenth of Muharram fell for them on that day. When the Prophet arrived in Medina, he found them venerating that day and fasting it; he asked them about it. They said: it is the day on which Allah saved Musa and his people from Pharaoh. He said: we have more right than you to Musa; he fasted it and commanded its fasting, confirming that veneration and endorsing it. He informed that he and his community have more right to Musa than the Jews: if Musa fasted it in gratitude to Allah, we are more entitled than the Jews to follow him, especially if one says the law of those before us is a law for us so long as ours does not contradict it. If asked how one knows Musa fasted it: it is established in the two Sahihs that, when the Prophet asked them, they said: a great day on which Allah saved Musa and his people and drowned Pharaoh and his people. Musa had therefore fasted it in gratitude, and we fast it; the Messenger of Allah said: we have more right and closer title to Musa than you, and he fasted it and commanded its fasting. When he confirmed them in their word without denying it, it was known that Musa had fasted it in gratitude; that degree of merit joined the veneration before the Hijra and strengthened the matter, until the Messenger of Allah was sent announcing its fast through the lands, and the abstinence of whoever had eaten; and it appears he made it binding on them, as will be established below.
The third objection is drawn from the two Sahihs, from the hadith of Aisha: Quraysh used to fast Ashura in the pre-Islamic era, and the Prophet fasted it; when he migrated to Medina he fasted it and commanded its fasting; when the month of Ramadan was prescribed he said: whoever wishes may fast it, and whoever wishes may leave it. There is also the word of al-Ash'ath ibn Qays and Abdullah ibn Mas'ud in the two Sahihs: Ibn Mas'ud, asked to join the midday meal on the day of Ashura, answered that it was a day the Messenger of Allah used to fast before Ramadan was revealed, and that he left it when Ramadan was revealed. Yet Muslim reports from Ibn Abbas that on the day the Prophet fasted Ashura and commanded its fasting, he was told: it is a day the Jews and Christians venerate; he answered: if Allah wills, next year we shall fast the ninth day; and the next year had not come before the Messenger of Allah passed away. This shows his fast and his command took place a year before his death, while the previous report sits at his arrival in Medina; and Ibn Mas'ud reports Ashura was left aside with the revelation of Ramadan, which contradicts the hadith of Ibn Abbas: it cannot be said its obligation was abrogated, for it was never obligatory, as established in the two Sahihs by the hadith of Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan: I heard the Messenger of Allah say on this day of Ashura: Allah has not prescribed the fast of this day upon you in writing, and I am fasting; whoever wishes, let him fast; whoever wishes, let him break his fast. Mu'awiya heard it after the conquest.
Ibn al-Qayyim notes finally: if this fast was obligatory at the start of Islam, why was no making up commanded, seeing the night for forming the intention had passed? And if it was not obligatory, how could he order whoever had eaten to fast the rest of the day, as al-Musnad and the Sunan relate in several ways? That is conceivable only for the obligatory; and how can Ibn Mas'ud's word stand, making Ashura a fast left aside with Ramadan, against the hadith of Ibn Abbas? Likewise, Ibn Abbas placed Ashura on the ninth day and reported the Prophet fasted it so, he who narrated: fast the day of Ashura and differ from the Jews, fast a day before it or a day after it (reported by Ahmad), and: the Messenger of Allah ordered us to fast Ashura, the tenth day (reported by at-Tirmidhi). He answers: Ibn Abbas did not make Ashura the ninth day; he told the questioner: count the days from the crescent of Muharram and be fasting on the ninth, relying on what the questioner already knew, namely that Ashura is the tenth everyone counts; so he steered him to fasting the ninth along with it. As for his report that the Prophet fasted it so, either his fasting of the ninth is the sounder course, or he traced the Prophet's act to the command received and his resolve for the future; the two reports reconcile, and nothing requires taking the isolated ninth as the intended meaning: that comes from a deficient reading of the traditions. The ranks of this fast are three: the most complete, fasting one day before and one day after; then the ninth and tenth together, on which most hadiths rest; then the tenth alone.
Some scholars took another path: the aim is to oppose the People of the Book in this act of worship while performing it, achieved in one of two ways, moving the tenth to the ninth or fasting both together; and his word: next year we shall fast the ninth, bears both meanings; the Messenger of Allah passed away before his meaning was made clear, so the precaution is to fast the two days together (Zad al-Ma'ad, 2/66-67, 77).
The jurists differ over fasting Friday alone, whether it is recommended or disliked, after agreeing that if he joins to it a fast the day before or the day after, it is recommended.
The Malikis,
Abu Hanifa and Muhammad of the Hanafis hold there is no harm in fasting Friday alone; they even say that fast is recommended, like Monday and Thursday, by the report of Ibn Mas'ud: the Messenger of Allah used to fast three days at the start of each month, and he rarely broke his fast on Friday (reported by at-Tirmidhi (742), an-Nasa'i (2368), Ahmad (1/406) and Ibn Majah (1725), a hasan hadith). Malik said: I have not heard anyone of the people of knowledge and fiqh, nor anyone whose example is followed, prohibit fasting Friday; its fasting is good; I saw some men of knowledge fasting it, and I think he used to seek it out (al-Muwatta, 1/311).
The Shafi'is, the Hanbalis and Abu Yusuf of the Hanafis hold that singling out Friday for fasting is disliked; if he joins it to a fast the day before or after, or it falls on his habit, when he fasts a day and breaks a day, there is no dislike, by the report of Abu Hurayra: the Prophet said:
Let none of you fast Friday unless he fasts the day before it or the day after it.
reported by al-Bukhari (1884) and Muslim (1144)
Muhammad ibn Abbad asked Jabir: did the Messenger of Allah prohibit fasting Friday? He answered: yes, by the Lord of this House (reported by al-Bukhari (1883) and Muslim (1143)). Abu Hurayra reports from the Prophet:
Do not single out the night of Friday for night prayer among the nights, and do not single out the day of Friday for fasting among the days, unless it falls within a fast one of you is observing.
reported by Muslim (1144)
And the report of Juwayriyya, mother of the believers: the Prophet entered upon her one Friday while she was fasting; he asked whether she had fasted the day before, she said no; he asked whether she intended to fast the next day, she said no; he said: then break your fast (reported by al-Bukhari (1885)). Ibn Qudama writes: the sunna of the Messenger of Allah deserves to be followed more; this hadith shows the singled-out fast is the disliked part, since his prohibition was reasoned by her having neither fasted yesterday nor fasting tomorrow (al-Mughni, 4/229).
Al-Nawawi explains the wisdom of this dislike: du'a on it is recommended and the most hopeful; that day is a day of du'a, remembrance and worship, from the major ablution (the ghusl), the hastening to the prayer and the waiting, to listening to the sermon and multiplying remembrance after it, by the word of Allah:
When the prayer is ended, disperse in the land, seek of the bounty of Allah, and remember Allah much.
Surah al-Jumu'a, 10
Multiplying the prayers upon the Messenger of Allah and the rest of that day's acts of worship is also recommended on it; breaking the fast is therefore preferred on that day, to be more able for those acts of worship, performing them with vigor and cheer, without weariness or boredom; it is the parallel of the pilgrim at Arafat, for whom breaking the fast is better, for the same reason already given. If objected that, on this view, the dislike would not vanish through fasting the day before or after, since the forbidden meaning remains, the answer is: the fast preceding or following it supplies what compensates any weakness or shortcoming in the duties of Friday caused by his fast; that is the foundation of disliking the singling out of Friday for fasting (al-Majmu' 7/708; Sharh Muslim 8/19; al-Bada'i' 2/590; al-Bahr ar-Ra'iq 2/278; Ibn Abidin 2/83; al-Istidhkar 3/382; Sharh az-Zarqani 2/276; Bidayat al-Mujtahid 1/423; al-Mughni 4/228; al-Insaf 3/347; Zad al-Ma'ad 1/417, 420).
Two early remarks open the debate. Ibn al-Arabi al-Maliki writes: as for Saturday, no hadith on it is sahih; and were it sahih, its meaning would be differing from the People of the Book (al-Qabas, p. 514). Ibn Rushd writes: as for Saturday, the cause of their differing lies in their differing over authenticating what is reported from the Prophet: do not fast Saturday except in what is made obligatory upon you, whose transmitter is Abu Dawud; they say: this hadith is abrogated, abrogated by the hadith of Juwayriyya bint al-Harith: the Prophet entered upon her one Friday while she was fasting and said: did you fast yesterday? She said: no. He said: do you intend to fast tomorrow? She said: no. He said: then break your fast (Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/227).
The jurists differ over the voluntary fast of Saturday alone: is it allowed without dislike, or allowed with dislike? The majority of jurists, Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis, hold that singling out Saturday for fasting is disliked, by the word of the Prophet:
Do not fast Saturday except in what is made obligatory upon you; if one of you finds nothing but a vine twig or the bark of a tree, let him chew it.
sahih hadith, reported by Abu Dawud (2421), at-Tirmidhi (744), ad-Darimi (1749), Ibn Majah (1726), Ibn Khuzayma in his Sahih (2163), Ibn Hibban in his Sahih (3615), al-Hakim (1592) and Ahmad (2720)
Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis ground the dislike in the resemblance to the fast of the Jews. Al-Kasani: fasting Saturday alone is disliked, for it is a resemblance to the Jews (al-Bada'i' 2/79; al-Bahr ar-Ra'iq 2/278). Al-Nawawi: the meaning of the prohibition is not to single that day out for fasting, because the Jews venerate it (al-Majmu', 6/415). Ibn Aqil: it is a day on which the Jews abstain and which they set aside for abstaining, that being ceasing from work; the faster is in the position of one who ceases from work, so his fast becomes a resemblance to them (Iqtida' as-Sirat al-Mustaqim, 1/265).
The jurists of the three schools state the dislike vanishes by one of two means: that Saturday coincides with a day he habitually fasts, or that he fasts it along with another day. Ibn Abidin writes: fasting Saturday alone is disliked, unless it coincides with a day he used to fast, like one who fasts a day and breaks a day, or one who fasts the start of the month and finds Saturday falling on one of those days. His word: alone, indicates fasting Saturday with another day removes the dislike, since the dislike lies in reserving the day for fasting, by way of resemblance. The question of Saturday fasted with Sunday remains debated; it may be said each of the two days is venerated by a faction of the People of the Book, so fasting either alone is a resemblance to one of them; it may also be said fasting the two together is no resemblance, since no faction of them joined in venerating both; and the second answer seems better to me, in that fasting Sunday with Monday also removes the dislike, since none of them venerated those two days together, even though the Christians venerate Sunday; likewise fasting Saturday along with Ashura and a day before or after it, even though the Jews venerate it. It therefore appears that if Ashura falls on a Sunday or a Friday, fasting Saturday with it is not disliked; likewise if a festival day (mihrajan) or Nayruz precedes or follows the Saturday, for the fast is not then deliberately reserved to that day (Hashiyat Ibn Abidin, 2/379).
The Shafi'is and the Hanbalis add a third means of removing the dislike: that the fast be an obligatory one, such as a vow, making up or expiation. Al-Nawawi: singling out Saturday for fasting is disliked; if he fasts the day before or after along with it, there is no dislike; our companions, among them ad-Darimi, al-Baghawi, ar-Rafi'i and others, stated it explicitly (al-Majmu', 6/415). Ash-Shirazi ar-Ramli adds: singling out Saturday, or Sunday, for fasting is the same, given the Jews venerate the first and the Christians the second, and the Lawgiver thereby aimed at differing from them; the rule applies so long as the singling out of each of these three days does not coincide with the faster's habit; otherwise it is like one who fasts a day and breaks a day, or who fasts Ashura or Arafat and finds Saturday on his fasting day. From the resemblance is also drawn that singling out these days by a vow, an expiation or making up is not disliked, and that fasting one of the two with a day before or after removes the dislike, the cause having vanished, for none of them venerates the pair (Nihayat al-Muhtaj, 3/240-241; see an-Najm al-Wahhaj, 3/360-361).
Ibn Qudama cites the hadith of Abdullah ibn Busr: do not fast Saturday except in what is made obligatory upon you, which at-Tirmidhi declared hasan; and the hadith of the sister of Abdullah ibn Busr, as-Sama', reported by Abu Dawud in a wording where the Prophet says: let him chew it. The name of that sister is Hujayma or Juhayma. Al-Athram reports that Abu Abdillah (Ahmad) said, about fasting Saturday alone: the hadith of as-Sama' exists, and Yahya ibn Sa'id used to guard against it; the disliked is singling it out: if he fasts another day with it, there is no dislike, by the hadiths of Abu Hurayra and Juwayriyya; and if it coincides with a fast for someone else, it is not disliked. The companions of Ahmad add: singling out the day of Nayruz and the day of the mihrajan for fasting is disliked, for they are two days the disbelievers venerate: reserving them for fasting to the exclusion of others is following them in their veneration, hence the dislike, as with Saturday; and by analogy, every festival of the disbelievers and every day they set aside for veneration (al-Mughni, 3/52-53).
Al-Mardawi writes: this is the school, and on it stand the companions; the shaykh Taqi ad-Din (Ibn Taymiyya) chose that fasting Saturday alone is not disliked, that this is the view of most scholars, the sense al-Athram understood from his narration, and that the hadith is anomalous (shadh) or abrogated; this is the way of the early companions of the imam Ahmad who kept his company, such as al-Athram and Abu Dawud, and most of their successors understood from Ahmad's words the adoption of the hadith. Al-Ajurri mentioned no dislike except for fasting Friday, so no other day appears disliked with him (al-Insaf, 3/347). Al-Buhuti: deliberately singling out Saturday for fasting is disliked, by the hadith of as-Sama', sister of Abdullah ibn Busr, which Ahmad reported with a good chain, and al-Hakim saying it meets the condition of al-Bukhari; Saturday is moreover the last day of the week; al-Jawhari: it is named Saturday because the days are cut off at it. Unless the Saturday coincides with Friday, or with Arafat or Ashura, when his habit is to fast them: then no dislike, for habit has an effect (Kashshaf al-Qina', 2/395).
Ibn al-Qayyim, after the hadith of as-Sama' entering upon the Prophet, gives the sense: do not fast Saturday, that is, do not intend its fast in particular except in the obligatory; for one intends Saturday in particular only when nothing of the month remains to fast but Saturday, as with the new convert to whom only the Saturday of the month remains: he fasts it alone. Intending Saturday in particular in the obligatory is not disliked, unlike the voluntary; and the dislike is removed only by joining another day or by coincidence with habit. What removes the dislike in the obligatory is its being obligatory, without comparison to another day; in the voluntary, it is joining another day or coincidence with habit. As for the objection drawn from the exception, which would show the prohibition covers all fasting of Saturday: the exception excluded the form of the obligatory from the generality of the prohibition, and the form of Saturday joined to another day was excluded by the evidence already cited; there remain the forms of singling out, which the text covers, with no exclusion raising them out of its generality (Hashiyat Sunan Abi Dawud, 7/51).
The Malikis and the shaykh of Islam Ibn Taymiyya hold that singling out Saturday is allowed without dislike, citing several hadiths all indicating the fast of Saturday, while the hadith prohibiting that fast is weak, not to be relied on, or abrogated. Those hadiths are: that of Juwayriyya cited above, whose words, do you intend to fast tomorrow, aim at Saturday; by the contrary implication, had she combined Friday and Saturday he would have told her to fast, which shows permission. The hadith of Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As: the Messenger of Allah was informed that he had said: by Allah, I will fast the day and stand the night as long as I live; he told him: you cannot do that; fast and break your fast, stand and sleep, and fast three days of the month, the good deed earning ten times its like, which is like fasting the whole year; he said: I can do better; he said: fast one day and break two days; he said: I can do better; he said: fast one day and break one day, that is the fast of Dawud, and it is the best of fasts; he said: I can do better; he said: there is nothing better than that. Abdullah said later, grown old: reaching what the Messenger of Allah commanded me is dearer to me than all the sun rises upon; but I will not abandon an obligation the Messenger of Allah imposed on me, and he used to say: would that I had accepted the Prophet's concession (reported by al-Bukhari (1874, 1875)). This hadith shows not two weeks passed without his fasting a Saturday. The hadith of Abu Hurayra: let none of you fast Friday except a day before it or a day after it, and the day after it is Saturday (reported by al-Bukhari (1884)). And the hadith of Aisha: the Messenger of Allah fasted until we said: he will never break his fast; and he broke his fast until we said: he will never fast; he never completed the fast of a whole month after Ramadan, and he never fasted more days in any month than in Sha'ban; in another wording: he used to fast all of Sha'ban (reported by al-Bukhari (1869) and Muslim (1156)); and Sha'ban contains a Saturday.
These proofs, and many others besides, indicate the permissibility of fasting Saturday without restriction. Ibn Taymiyya adds: he commanded the fast of Muharram, which contains a Saturday; he said: whoever fasts Ramadan then follows it with six days of Shawwal is like one who fasted the whole year, and a Saturday may fall among them; he commanded the white days, and a Saturday may fall among them; and examples of this kind are many. Al-Athram therefore understood from Abu Abdillah's words a hesitation over the hadith and the permission of that fast, he who mentions the hadith on which the dislike rests and relates that the imam, in the defects of hadith, said Yahya ibn Sa'id guarded against it and refused to transmit it: that is the weakening of the hadith. Al-Athram argued from the numerous mass-transmitted texts on fasting Saturday; it cannot be said the prohibition aims only at singling it out: its wording is do not fast Saturday except in what is made obligatory upon you, and the exception is the sign of full coverage, which implies the hadith covers fasting Saturday in all its forms; had only singling out been meant, the obligatory fast would not have needed to be excepted, for it admits no singling out. The hadith is therefore either anomalous, not to be kept, or abrogated, and that is the way of the early companions of Ahmad, such as al-Athram and Abu Dawud. Abu Dawud said: an abrogated hadith; and he reported through his chain from Ibn Shihab: whenever it was mentioned to him that the Prophet had prohibited fasting Saturday, Ibn Shihab said: this is a hadith of Hims; and from al-Awza'i: I kept silent about it until I saw it spreading, meaning the hadith of Ibn Busr on fasting Saturday. Abu Dawud also reports Malik said: this is a lie; and that most people of knowledge hold the absence of dislike. Most of Ahmad's companions, for their part, understood from his words the adoption of the hadith, and interpreted it on singling out: asked about the precise ruling, he answered with the hadith, and answering with the hadith implies following it; those dislike singling out Saturday for fasting, acting on this hadith because of the good quality of its chain, and interpreted it on singling out, like the fast of Friday and of the month of Rajab. Ahmad reported in al-Musnad, from Ibn Lahi'a: Musa ibn Wardan, from Ubayd al-A'raj: my grandmother, that is, as-Sama', entered upon the Messenger of Allah on a Saturday while he was taking his midday meal; he said: come forward, eat; she said: I am fasting; he said: did you fast yesterday? She said: no. He said: eat, for fasting Saturday is neither for you nor against you; this hadith, weak though its chain is, has the support of all the other hadiths.
It is then objected to that last view: Sunday is the festival day of the Christians, as reported in the words: today is our day, tomorrow the Jews', and the day after tomorrow the Christians'; the answer is that, if it is a festival day, differing from them on it is done by fasting, not by breaking the fast. The support is what Kurayb, the freed client of Ibn Abbas, reports from Umm Salama: Ibn Abbas sent me, with a group of the companions of the Prophet, to Umm Salama, to ask her on which day the Messenger of Allah fasted most; she said: the Messenger of Allah fasted Saturday and Sunday more than any other days, and said: they are two festivals of the polytheists, and I like to oppose them (reported by Ahmad (26793) and Ibn Hibban in his Sahih (3646), and authenticated by some scholars of hadith). This is an explicit text on the recommendation of fasting their festival day, with the deliberate aim of opposing them. And Aisha reports: the Messenger of Allah used to fast, in one month, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, and in another month, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (reported by at-Tirmidhi (746), a sahih hadith; Ibn Mahdi reported this hadith from Sufyan without raising it to the Prophet). These two hadiths are no argument against the one who dislikes fasting Saturday alone explaining that the Jews cease from work on it and fasting is the occasion of that resemblance: for when he fasts Saturday and Sunday, the disliked singling out vanishes and the opposition is obtained by fasting the day of their breaking of the fast (Iqtida' as-Sirat al-Mustaqim, 263, 266).
The jurists agree on the recommendation of fasting the day of Arafat for whoever is not a pilgrim; it is the ninth day of Dhul-Hijja, and fasting it expiates two years, the one preceding and the one following, by the report of Abu Qatada: the Prophet said:
The fast of the day of Arafat: I count on Allah to expiate the year that preceded it and the year that follows it.
reported by Muslim (1162)
Ash-Shirbini adds: it is the best of days, by the hadith of Muslim:
There is no day on which Allah frees more servants from the Fire than the day of Arafat.
reported by Muslim (1348)
The schools differ over fasting the day of Arafat for the pilgrim standing at Arafat: is it recommended for him, or not? The majority of jurists, Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis, hold that fasting is not recommended for the pilgrim, even if he is strong; that fast is disliked among the Malikis, the Hanbalis and some Shafi'is, or else a matter of the preferable and the better course, as ash-Shafi'i said, and this is al-Nawawi's choice, by the report of Umm al-Fadl bint al-Harith: she sent the Prophet a cup of milk while he was standing, on the evening of Arafat, upon his camel; he took it with his hand and drank it (reported by al-Bukhari (5313) and Muslim (1123)). And Abu Najih reports that Ibn Umar was asked about fasting the day of Arafat at Arafat; he said: I performed the pilgrimage with the Prophet and he did not fast it; with Abu Bakr, he did not fast it; with Umar, he did not fast it; with Uthman, he did not fast it; and as for me, I do not fast it, I do not command it and I do not prohibit it (reported by at-Tirmidhi (751), who graded it hasan, and Ahmad (2/50), a sahih hadith). As for the Hanafis, al-Kasani writes: fasting the day of Arafat is recommended for whoever is not a pilgrim, given the multitude of hadiths recommending that fast; and for the pilgrim it is a virtue over other days provided it does not weaken him so as to harm the standing and the du'a, since it joins two acts of devotion; if it weakens him from that, it is disliked, as stated above (al-Bada'i', 2/590).
Al-Nawawi first treats the hadith of Aisha: I never saw the Messenger of Allah fasting the ten days, and in a wording: he did not fast the ten days, both reported by Muslim in his Sahih (1176). The scholars interpret it: she did not see him, which does not entail his leaving it in reality; for the Prophet could be with her one day of the nine days, and with the other mothers of the believers the other days, and leave some of them for an impediment of travel, illness or the like; thus the hadiths are reconciled (al-Majmu' 7/655; see al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya 1/201; Mawahib al-Jalil 2/402; Hashiyat ad-Dusuqi 1/515; ash-Sharh as-Saghir 1/446; Mughni al-Muhtaj 1/446; al-Kafi 1/362; Manar as-Sabil 1/267; Kashshaf al-Qina' 2/338; al-Mughni 4/241).
The Hanafis, the Shafi'is and the Hanbalis then state that fasting a day and breaking a day counts among the most excellent voluntary fasts, by the word of the Prophet:
The fast most beloved to Allah is the fast of Dawud: he used to fast a day and break his fast a day.
reported by al-Bukhari (3238) and Muslim (1159)
And his word to Abdullah ibn Amr:
Fast a day and break a day: that is the fast of Dawud, and it is the best of fasts. He said: I can do better, Messenger of Allah. He said: there is nothing better than that.
reported by al-Bukhari (1875) and Muslim (1159)
The Shafi'is, the Hanbalis and the later Hanafis hold that fasting six days of Shawwal after the fast of Ramadan is a sunna, by the report of Abu Ayyub: the Prophet said:
Whoever fasts Ramadan, then follows it with six days of Shawwal, is like one who fasted the whole year.
reported by Muslim (822)
And Thawban reports that the Prophet said:
The fast of the month of Ramadan equals ten months, and the fast of six days after it equals two months: that is the fast of a year.
sahih hadith, reported by ad-Darimi (1755), an-Nasa'i in al-Kubra (2860) and Ahmad (5/280)
The meaning is that the good deed earns ten times its like: the month earns ten, and the six days earn sixty days, that is, twelve months, a complete year. Ibn Qudama writes: no difference between fasting them consecutively or separately, at the start of the month or at its end, for the hadith came absolute, without restriction; and their virtue lies in their joining the month to make thirty-six days, the good deed earning ten times its like, that is, three hundred sixty days, the whole year; when that occurs every year, it equals fasting the entire year, and that meaning is obtained with separation too (al-Mughni 4/239; Kashshaf al-Qina' 2/337; al-Insaf 3/343; Manar as-Sabil 1/267). Al-Nawawi adds: it is recommended to fast them consecutively at the start of the month; if he separates them or delays them past the start of Shawwal, that is allowed, and he performs the origin of this sunna, by the generality and absoluteness of the hadith; and there is no dispute over this among us (al-Majmu' 7/635; Mughni al-Muhtaj 1/447).
It is transmitted from
Abu Hanifa, the dislike of fasting the six days of Shawwal, separate or consecutive; and from Abu Yusuf, the dislike of their consecutive fast only; but the body of later Hanafis sees no harm in it. Ibn al-Humam explains: the permissibility rests on the day of the festival coming between, so there is no longer resemblance to the People of the Book; and the dislike rests on the common people, through repetition, coming to believe them obligatory; that is why we have heard some say on the day of the festival: our festival has not yet come, or words to that effect; once one is safe from that, there is no harm, by the hadith (Sharh Fath al-Qadir 2/349; see al-Bahr ar-Ra'iq 2/278; Ibn Abidin 2/125; al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya 1/1201; al-Bada'i' 2/586).
As for the Malikis, Malik says in al-Muwatta: I have seen no one of the people of knowledge and fiqh fasting these six days, nor has it reached me from any one of the predecessors; the people of knowledge dislike it and fear innovation, and that what is not of Ramadan be attached to it, by the people of ignorance and crudeness, should they see in it a concession from the people of knowledge and see them acting on it (al-Muwatta, 1/311). Abu Umar Ibn Abd al-Barr then defends Malik: the hadith of Abu Ayyub did not reach Malik, though it is a Medinan hadith; and encompassing the knowledge of the elite is impossible. What Malik disliked he made clear: the fear that this fast be attached to the obligation of Ramadan and that this become clear to the common people; he was thus abundantly cautious for the religion. As for fasting the six days of Shawwal in quest of the reward, per the interpretation transmitted by Thawban, Malik does not dislike it, if Allah wills: fasting is a shield, and its merit is known to whoever renders to Allah his food, his drink and his desire; it is an act of goodness, by the word of Allah:
And do good.
Surah al-Hajj, 77
Malik was ignorant of none of this, and he disliked only what he feared for the people of ignorance should it persist, fearing they would count it among the obligations of fasting attached to Ramadan; and I do not think Malik ignored the hadith. It is possible he ignored it; and had he known it, he would have followed it, if Allah wills (al-Istidhkar 3/380; Hashiyat Ibn al-Qayyim 'ala Sunan Abi Dawud 7/67). Ibn al-Arabi relates for his part: some people of crudeness held that one must fast, from the day after the festival of breaking, six consecutive days, to complete Ramadan, per the hadith: whoever fasts Ramadan and six days of Shawwal is as if he fasted the whole year, which they attribute to the transmission of Muslim.
Al-Qarafi concludes the chapter: Malik recommended fasting them at another time, fearing they would be attached to Ramadan by the ignorant; if the law placed them in Shawwal, it was to lighten the burden of the one under obligation, given the nearness of the fast of Ramadan; otherwise the intended aim is obtained at another time, so delaying is legislated, joining two benefits (Ahkam al-Qur'an 2/321; adh-Dhakhira 2/530; Hashiyat ad-Dusuqi 1/517; Bilghat as-Salik 1/447).
Whoever wishes to chase the voluntary fasts has a full calendar: Monday and Thursday each week, three days a month, preferably the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth, the first eight days of Dhul-Hijja, Ashura with the ninth, Arafat for whoever is not a pilgrim, a day on and a day off for whoever has the strength, and the six days of Shawwal, preferably consecutively after the festival. Friday and Saturday are fasted with a day before or after them; a voluntarily engaged fast may be interrupted per the majority, but completing it is closer to precaution.