Sha'ban fasting: the preparatory month

Sha'ban, the month preceding Ramadan, is the most authentically attested month of voluntary fasting:

I never saw the Prophet fast a complete month since Ramadan, except Sha'ban.al-Bukhari 1969

The reported practice

• Fasting abundantly: Aisha said he fasted most of Sha'ban, almost all of it (al-Bukhari 1969 ; Muslim 1156); Usama saw him fast consecutive days of the month.
• The wisdom: Usama asked the Prophet why he fasted most of Sha'ban: "it is a month between Rajab and Ramadan that people neglect; it is the month in which deeds ascend to the Lord of the worlds, and I love that my deeds ascend while I am fasting" (an-Nasai 2357).

The middle of Sha'ban

The hadiths celebrating the night of mid-Sha'ban have chains criticized by the hadith scholars (Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Taghliq at-Ta'liq). On this basis: Ibn Baz answered with a detailed fatwa that no celebration of this night is legislated and no authentic proof establishes fasting the fifteenth day as such (Majmu' al-Fatawa wa-l-Maqalat al-Mutanawwi'a); Ibn Uthaymin says no sunna is established for that night, the fifteenth day being fasted only if it falls on an established habit, such as Mondays and Thursdays or the white days of the month (Fatawa Nur 'ala ad-Darb); the Lajna ad-Da'ima (Permanent Committee for Islamic Research and Fatawa, Saudi Arabia) rules in the same direction: devoting that night to worship is an innovation (Fatawa al-Lajna ad-Da'ima).

Fasting a specific day in anticipation remains discouraged: the Prophet forbade fasting a determined day before it arrives, except for one who usually fasts that day (Abu Dawud 2335).

The rules

• Stopping fasting near Ramadan: "do not precede Ramadan with a day or two of fasting, except one who used to fast, let him fast" (al-Bukhari 1914): an established habit differs from ritual anticipation.
• Doubt about the first day: do not fast on doubt, the official calendar decides.
• Making up first: whoever owes days of Ramadan makes them up in Sha'ban, the obligation before the voluntary; Aisha only made up her due days in Sha'ban (al-Bukhari 1950).

Practical note

A realistic Sha'ban plan: Mondays and Thursdays, a few white days, and complete make-up before the first evening of Ramadan, in line with the counsel of the scholars cited.