Islamic Fiqh > Fasting > The white days: three fasting days a month
Fasting three days each month, the white days (13th, 14th, 15th): the whole year's reward and the Companions' practice.
Updated on 31 August 2026 at 3:55 AM
The fuqaha agree: fasting three days of each month is a sunna. Abu Hurayra reports: "My intimate friend (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) counseled me three things: to fast three days of every month..." (al-Bukhari 1124, Muslim 721).
The majority (Hanafis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis) prefers that these three 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 three days of the month, fast the thirteenth, the fourteenth and the fifteenth" (at-Tirmidhi 761, sahih hadith). And Jarir reports: "Fasting three 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 three days of each month equals fasting the whole year, for the good deed is multiplied by ten: three days become thirty, 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 three 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 three 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 three days believing the reward comes only through them; targeting them simply as three 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 three other days, the underlying virtue resting on the three days of the month, not on the precise calendar.