Chapter on fasting
•Waki` said in the words of God Almighty:﴿Eat and drink happily, as you have mentioned in the past days.﴾[Al-Haqqah: 24], he said: «Fasting».
•It is narrated on the authority of Al-Hasan bin Abi Al-Hasan that he passed by a people in Ramadan who were laughing. Then he stood over them and said: God Almighty has made the month of Ramadan a track for His creation, through which they stay ahead of it by obeying Him. Some people preceded and won, and some people lagged behind and were disappointed. It is all astonishing for the laughing and playing person on the day in which the hasty ones won and the vain ones were disappointed. But by God, if the cover was lifted, the virtuous person would be busy with his goodness and the evildoer with his evil.
•It is narrated on the authority of Al-Ahnaf bin Qais that he was told: You are an old man, and fasting weakens you. So he said: I am preparing him for a long journey, and patience in obeying God is easier than patience in God’s punishment.
•Ali bin Abi Talib said: Fasting increases memory and eliminates phlegm.
Fasting on the Day of Arafat if it falls on a Saturday:
•Muslim narrated on the authority of Ibn al-Musayyab, who said: Aisha – may God be pleased with her – said: The Messenger of God – may God’s prayers and peace be upon him – said: (There is no day on which God frees a servant from Hell more than the Day of Arafat, and He will approach and then boast about them to the angels), and this is specific to the pilgrims.
•Al-Hakim narrated in Al-Mustadrak that the Messenger of God – may God bless him and grant him peace – said: (God boasts about the people of Arafat, the people of heaven, and says to them: Look at my servants who have come to me disheveled and dusty..), and he said: This is an authentic hadith according to the conditions of the two Sheikhs..
•Muslim narrated on the authority of Abdullah bin Ma’bad, on the authority of Abu Qatada, on the authority of our Prophet – may God’s prayers and peace be upon him – who said: (Fasting on the day of Arafat, I hope that God will atone for the year before it and the year after it), for it is a great day in a great month “Muharram,” and it is the best of God’s days.…
This fast is for non-pilgrims, but pilgrims to Arafat are forbidden from fasting it..Some of those with little knowledge of the hadith have tried to weaken this hadith, citing Al-Bukhari’s statement that Abdullah bin Ma’bad is not known to have heard from the companion Abu Qatada Al-Ansari… But Al-Bukhari did not assert that he did not hear, rather he said: He is not known to have heard, and there is a big difference between the two terms; Al-Daraqutni said: Ibn Ma’bad’s narration was authentic on the authority of Abu Qatada.
Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi asserted in (Al-Muttafaq wal-Muftaraq) that Ibn Ma’bad heard from Abu Qatada.
The hadith has several narrations from other than Abdullah bin Ma’bad, on the authority of the companion Abu Qatada.
The hadith is authentic, and Ibn Ma’bad is trustworthy among the masses. The group narrated it except Al-Bukhari, and no one accused him of fraud...
Atonement here applies only to minor sins, but as for major sins, Such as theft, usury, adultery, drinking alcohol, disobedience to parents, and the like, in which there must be sincere repentance and the return of rights to their rightful owners..
The Day of Arafah does not have a specific supplication, nor a specific remembrance, other than an abundance of takbeer, rejoicing, and praising God..
What is well known among the common people is that working on the Day of Arafah, and striving on it for oneself and one’s dependents, is forbidden. This is a false claim..
If the day of Arafah was a Saturday, what is the ruling on fasting it?
It was reported on the authority of our Prophet – may God bless him and grant him peace – that he said: (Do not fast on Saturday except what is obligatory for you), but this hadith is not authentic.Many scholars have rejected it for the following reasons:
Ibn Hajar said: The methods of transmitting the hadith and their differences with the union of the narrator make his narrator weak.
He described him as disturbed, and Al-Nasa’i also said about him, and the disturbed person is a type of weak person.
Sometimes he mentions the news on the authority of Abdullah bin Busr, sometimes on the authority of his deaf sister, Bint Busr, sometimes on the authority of his paternal aunt, sometimes on the authority of his maternal aunt, and sometimes on the authority of Aisha, and the path is one and the way out is one, so it indicates his confusion, and it indicates his denial..
Al-Tahawi reported on the authority of Al-Zuhri that he was asked about fasting on Saturdays, and he said:There is nothing wrong with it, so he was told: It was narrated on the authority of the Prophet and he disliked it, so he said: That is the hadith of Homsi, but Al-Zuhri did not consider it a hadith to be said about it, and he declared it weak..
Al-Awza’i said: We have continued to conceal this hadith and do not narrate it.
Al-Athram said: Yahya bin Saeed Al-Qattan used to avoid this hadith.
Ahmed said: There is no harm in his fasting.
Malik reported the hadith.
Abu Dawud said about him: It is abrogated because the Prophet liked to agree with the People of the Book and the Jews did not fast on it, so he forbade it in agreement with him, then the agreement was abrogated..
Ibn Taymiyyah said: It is not disliked to fast, and this is the opinion of most scholars.
Sheikh Shuaib Al-Arnaout said in his graduation of the hadiths of Al-Musnad: The narrators of this hadith are trustworthy, except that it has been heightened by confusion and opposition. This variation in the one hadith with a single chain of narration and the unity of the narrator weakens its narrator and indicates a lack of control over it, unless he is one of the many memorizers who are known for collecting the paths of hadith, so that would not be indicative of his lack of control, and the matter here is not such-and-such, but there was also disagreement about the narrator from Abdullah bin Basr as well.
•This hadith was refuted in Sahih Al-Bukhari, which is::The Prophet entered Juwayriyah on Friday while she was fasting, and said: “Did you fast yesterday?” She said: No. He said: “Do you want to fast tomorrow?” She said: No. He said: “Then break your fast.”
This indicates the permissibility of fasting on Saturday if it follows fasting on Friday, and the hadith that forbids fasting on Saturday is an absolute prohibition, except for obligatory fasting, and this confirms that the hadith is reprehensible in its text as well as in its chain of transmission, and what is reprehensible is weak.
Al-Bayhaqi said: In the hadith of Juwayriyah, this is what indicates the permissibility of fasting on Saturday, as if he meant by prohibiting it to be reserved for fasting in a way of glorifying it.
•It was narrated on the authority of Umm Salamah with a much stronger chain of transmission than the previous one that the Messenger of God used to fast most of the days: Saturday and Sunday, and he used to say: (They are a day of celebration for the polytheists, and I want to differ from them). [Authenticated by Ibn Khuzaymah and Ibn Hibban].
The meaning of this hadith is that the prohibition on fasting on a day is because it is a holiday, just as our Prophet forbade fasting on Friday, so it is appropriate for us to fast on Saturday and Sunday. Let us differ from the Jews and Christians on these two days. Because it is a holiday for them..
•The hadith of Junada bin Abi Umayyah according to Al-Nasa’i in “Al-Kubra” is that they entered upon the Messenger of God – may God bless him and grant him peace – and the Messenger of God – may God bless him and grant him peace – brought food to them on a Friday, and said: “Eat.” They said: Fasting. He said: “You fasted yesterday?” They said: No. He said: “So will you fast tomorrow?” They said: No. He said: “So break your fast.” Al-Hafiz authenticated it in “Al-Fath.”
Al-Tahawi said: In these narrated narrations, it is permissible to fast on Saturday voluntarily, and it is more famous and clear in the hands of scholars than this abnormal hadith that contradicts it. Then he said: It may be permissible with us – and God knows best – if it is established that it was only a prohibition on fasting it, lest he be glorified by it, and abstain from food, drink, and sexual intercourse on it, as the Jews do. As for the one who fasts it not out of the desire to glorify it, nor because the Jews want by abandoning it to strive in it, then that is Not hated.
All of this confirms the weakness of the prohibition against fasting on Saturday, and therefore: there is no objection to fasting Saturday alone, especially if it is for a reason, which is the Day of Arafat, and if you want to fast Friday along with it, that is good..
The scholars said: singling out the day of Arafah for fasting if it coincides with a Saturday, there are two cases:
1/If a person is accustomed to fasting the Day of Arafah every year, and one year the Day of Arafah falls on a Saturday, then it is permissible for him to fast it without any objection, according to the agreement of the four schools of thought: Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali..
2/If a person is not accustomed to fasting on the day of Arafah, then it is permissible to fast it without objection to it according to the Malikis and Shafi’is, and it is disliked according to the Hanafi and Hanbali schools, and the dislike according to them (Hanafi and Hanbalis) is removed by fasting the day before it..
It is better for you to fast the day before that to avoid disagreement.
Documentation and explanation of the four schools of thought:
First: the Hanafi doctrine:
1/He said in Al-Durr Al-Mukhtar: What is disliked in its purest form: like Ashura alone, and Sabbath alone..
2/He said in the response of Al-Muhtar to Al-Durr Al-Mukhtar: (His statement: “And the Sabbath alone” is to imitate the Jews, and this reason indicates the dislike of prohibition unless it is said: It is proven with the intention of imitation, as its counterpart mentioned above).
3/Then he said in the previous source as well: “That is, he hates his fast intentionally unless it coincides with a day he was fasting before; As if he was fasting one day and breaking his fast one day, or he was fasting at the beginning of the month, for example, and it fell on one of these days.
He stated (his saying: alone) that if he fasted with him another day, then it would not be disliked; Because it is disliked to single it out for fasting due to imitation.
Second: the Maliki doctrine:
1/He said in Al-Nawadir wal-Ziyadat: And from (the collection): A group of his companions said – on the authority of Malik: (There is no harm in fasting on a Saturday), and it is greater to call it a day on which one does not fast or use cupping, and he denounced what was mentioned about it.
2/He said in Al-Kafi in the jurisprudence of the people of Medina: It is permissible to fast on Friday and other Fridays, so it is not disliked (absolutely) is what is accepted by the Malikis. But some Malikis said that singling out is forbidden, and among those who said that: Al-Lakhmi, Ibn Al-Arabi, and Ibn Jazi..
Third: The Shafi’i doctrine:
1/Al-Ramli said in Nihayat al-Muhtaj: What has been decided is: If singling out each of the three days does not coincide with his usual habit, otherwise it is as if he was fasting one day and breaking his fast the next, or fasting Ashura or Arafah, and it coincides with the day of his fast, then there is no dislike.
2/Al-Rashidi said in his “footnote to the end of the needy” in response to Al-Ramli’s previous words:
His saying: Or he fasts on Ashura or Arafah, and it coincides with the day of his fast, in this conjunction he was lenient; Because it means that this is part of the habit, and not what is desired.
3/Al-Shirwani confirmed Al-Rashidi’s previous words, distinguishing between the Saturday, which corresponds to custom (and he is likened to someone who fasts one day and breaks his fast on the other day), and the Saturday that he seeks to fast in himself (and he likens it to fasting on Ashura, or Arafat, or the middle of Shaban).
Fourth: The Hanbali doctrine:
1/He said in Al-Iqna’: It is disliked to intentionally single out Friday for fasting and single out Saturday, unless it agrees with custom.
2/He said in Kashshaf al-Qinaa’: “Unless it coincides with a Friday or Saturday (usually), as if it coincides with the day of Arafah or the day of Ashura, and his habit is to fast on them, then it is not disliked; Because habit has an effect on that.
Final warning:
1/The Hanbalis stipulated that in order for it to cease to be disliked to single out the day of Arafah for fasting if it falls on a Saturday – it is your habit to fast on the day of Arafah in past years. However, if that is not your habit, then it is disliked to fast it, unless you fast the day before it, in which case the dislike will disappear..
2/According to the Shafi’is, conformity with custom is not a condition for the removal of the dislike. Rather, the dislike disappears with them as soon as you intend to fast on the day of Arafat for its own sake, even if that is not your habit. Because what is disliked according to them is that you intend to fast on Saturday for no reason, but if the reason exists, then it is not disliked..