Saturday 3 September 2011

Fasting the Six Days of Shawaal.

Q; can i observe these six days fast of shawwal from tomorow since it will be the 5th of shawwal tomorow In shaa'al-laah...???

A; All-Praise is due to Allah,
The virtue of the 6 days of Shawaal can be fasted through out the whole month, weather it is at the beginning or middle or the end of it, as was reported in a saheeh hadeeth from the Prophet (pbuh). Abu Ayyoob reported that the Messenger of Allaah (pbuh) said: “Whoever fasts Ramadaan and follows it with six days of Shawwaal, it will be as if he fasted for a lifetime.” (Narrated by Muslim, Abu Dawood, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nisaa’i and Ibn Maajah).

So long it is with in the Hijiri Month of Shawaal you can Fast these six days. Please bear in mind if you have Fasts to make up from Ramadan it is more preferred that you compete them first, The Prophet (pbuh) said, 'Allah is most deserving that His debt be paid back.' (Bukhari 29:77)
Also bare in mind that it does not have to be Fasted in 6 consecutive days in a row (one after the other) but verily you can Fast them spilt up parted through out the days of Shawaal.
Bare in mind it is "Disliked, (Not Haram)" to fast on Fridays and Saturdays, It was proven in al-Saheehayn in the hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah that he said: “I heard the Prophet (pbuh) say, ‘None of you should fast on a Friday unless he fasts the day before or the day after.’” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 1849, Muslim, 1929). Muslim narrated in his Saheeh that the Prophet (pbuh) said, “Do not single out the night of Jumu’ah [i.e., Thursday night] from among other nights for praying qiyaam al-layl, and do not single out Friday from among other days for fasting, unless it is a fast that one of you regularly observes.” (al-Siyaam, 1930)
Abd-Allaah ibn Busr, from his sister, that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Do not fast on Saturdays apart from days when you are obliged to fast. If any one of you cannot find anything other than grape stalks or the twigs of a tree, let him chew it (to make sure that he is not fasting).” Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in al-Irwa’ (960). Abu ‘Eesa al-Tirmidhi said: This is a hasan hadeeth. What is makrooh in this case is for a man to single out Saturday for fasting, because the Jews venerate Saturday. End quote.
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said: “As for Friday, it is not Sunnah to fast on this day, and it is makrooh-(Disliked) to single it out for fasting.” (Al-Sharh al-Mumti’, vol. 6, p. 465)

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen also mentioned in regards to Fasting Saturdays;
It should be noted that different scenarios may apply with regard to fasting on a Saturday.

1 – It may be obligatory, such as observing a Ramadaan fast during Ramadaan or making it up later on, or observing a fast as expiation (kafaarah), or instead of offering a sacrifice when performing Hajj tamattu’, and so on. There is nothing wrong with that so long as he does not single it out deliberately thinking that there is some virtue in that.

2 – If he fasts on the Friday before, there is nothing wrong with it, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to one of the Mothers of the Believers who was fasting on a Friday: “Did you fast yesterday?” She said: “No.” He said: “Are you going to fast tomorrow?” She said, “No.” He said: “Then break your fast.” The words, “Are you going to fast tomorrow?” indicate that it is permissible to fast Saturday along with Friday.

3 – If it happens to be one of the days when it is prescribed to fast, such as Ayyaam al-Beed (the 13th, 14th and 15th of each hijri month), ‘Arafah, ‘Ashoora’, six days of Shawwaal for one who has fasted Ramadaan, and the ninth of Dhu’l-Hijjah. There is nothing wrong with that, because he is not fasting because it is Saturday, rather it is because it is one of the days when it is prescribed to fast.

4 – When it happens to be a day when he habitually fasts, such as a person whose habit is to fast alternate days, and the day that he fasts happens to be a Saturday, then there is nothing wrong with it, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said when he forbade fasting one or two days before Ramadaan begins: “except a man who (habitually) observes a fast, in which case let him fast.” This is similar.

5 – If he singles it out to observe a voluntary fast for one day only. This is what is forbidden, if the hadeeth forbidding it is proven to be saheeh.

End quote from Majmoo’ Fataawa wa Rasaa’il al-Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (20/57)

And Allah knows best...

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