Fast Six Days, Get a Year's Reward
Fasting Six Days of Shawwal: Guidelines and Rulings from Sahih Muslim
Summary
This lecture discusses optional fasting in Islamic law, specifically focusing on the Sunnah of fasting six days in the month of Shawwal following Ramadan. The speaker explains that this practice is highly recommended but not obligatory, based on a hadith from Sahih Muslim where the Prophet Muhammad encourages fasting six days of Shawwal after completing Ramadan, stating it is as if one has fasted the entire year. The lecture clarifies important details about the proper way to observe this Sunnah, including whether the six days must be consecutive and how to prioritize makeup days from Ramadan.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
Alhamdulillah.
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Continuing in the book of fasting which we started actually at the beginning of Ramadan and here we are Ramadan is over and we are continuing in the book of fasting hopefully to continue fasting throughout the year we have reached the chapter regarding fasting that is optional optional fasting And there are a number of sun with respect to the prophet sallall.aii wasallam's teachings that he either encouraged or allowed be fasted. And conversely, there are a number of days, there are a number of times in which he prohibited that a person fast. And that is what the next two chapters will be dealing with inshallah. These are pretty straightforward chapters. So we will discuss them inshallah in their order and we will discuss them in relative brevity. He says, "The messenger of Allah has encouraged that a person fast the following days." He says the first he mentions is six days of the month of Shaw. Of course, he begins with this because this is right after the month of Ramadan. Shaw is the 10th month in the order of the Islamic lunar calendar. And the prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam highly encouraged that a person fast six days of the month of Sha following his fast of the month of Ramadan Ramadan. This narration is collected by Muslim or Abuani. Abu Aubsi narrates that the messenger of Allah sallall.aii Wasam said, "Whoever fasts the month of Ramadan and then follows it up with six days from the month of Sha, it will be as if he fasted the entire year meaning the year." And this narration is pretty wellnown or at least its meaning is well known. And if we look at the wording of the narration, what is the best way to fast the six days of Shaw? The wording of the narration, listen to the words. Whoever fasts the month of Ramadan and then Thank you, sir. You're such a gentleman. Whoever fasts, I'm not fasting. Whoever fasts the month of Ramadan and then follows that fasting by fasting six days of Sha, it will be as as if he has fasted the entirety of the year. So if we were to stick to the most apparent wording of the narration, what the narration definitely means is for a person to fast all of Ramadan and then the immediate six following days of Shaw. However, we know that that is not permissible. What do you mean? Well, it is as it will as it will come up impermissible to fast on the day of Eid and the day of Eid is which day? The first of Shaw. So definitely that is not included in the generality of the narration. Okay. So whoever fasts Ramadan and then the following six days after Eid then we understand the narration to mean that and this is what the scholars agree upon is the best way to do this sunnah. However, what is permissible? What is acceptable? For instance, let's say a person doesn't fast from the 2nd of Shaw to the seventh of Shaw. Let's say a person fasts a couple days of Shaw here, a couple there. Collectively, they are six. Does this person have to fast them in sequential order uninterrupted? The correct opinion? No. Because the prophet says and then follows it up with six days from notice the wording here. There is so and then follows it up with six days from Sha. Any six days, that's what's apparent. Any six days. It could be the 2nd and the 4th and the 10th and the 12th and the 14th and the 21st and the it it doesn't matter as long as they are considered to be six days from the month of Shawet. This person has correctly correctly fallen into the meaning of the narration. The real difference is this the statement of whoever fasts Ramadan and then let's say a person missed some days from Ramadan. Say they have to make some days up from Ramadan. Do they begin with making their days up or do they begin with fasting the days of Sha? They begin with making the days up. That's what they begin with. That is most correct. Because fasting the days of Ramadan, even if it is, will always be more virtuous and more pressing than fasting something that is a ne. This is obligatory. This is a ne. If a person dies having not completed these days of fasting then this could be problematic. Whereas shel this is something that is preferred. This is optional. Second of all notice how the reward seems to be predicated. It seems to be founded on having completed the Ramadan. Right? So it's as if he is saying whoever fasts the month of Ramadan and then builds upon that fast six days of Sha then it will be as if he has fasted the entirety of the year. Now each is written at least how many times? 10. So we have 30 days of Ramadan presumably right this would be 300 and then six days from Sha 60 days you have 360 days 360 times some scholars have pointed this out and this means that this is something that is highly preferred sometimes There is an extremism in in applying the sunnah and sometimes there is an extremism in avoiding the sunnah. We are not to turn away from this sunnah entirely to the point where you never do this sunnah in your whole life. Never should there be any sunnah ever that comes across your radar that comes across your knowledge that you come across that you completely turn away from even if it is even if it is preferred that you completely ignore for the entirety of your life. This should never happen. A person will always do the sunnah in his life even if it's only one time. Is it better to do it consistently? Of course. But you'd never want to be a person who hears the words of the messenger of Allah and ignores them and ignores them.
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He tells us, "Subhan, oh you who have believed, answer the call of Allah. Respond to the call of Allah and his messenger. If he calls you to that which will breathe life into you meaning to any of Allah or his messenger's calls when the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam encourages something and you completely ignore it you acknowledge yes this is of the sunnah but you never do it in your life not 10% not 5% not 20% just completely 0% this is shameful there should never ever be a word or a statement or a sunnah or an action of your messenger sallall.aii wasallam except that you have done it at least once in your lifetime. At least once in your lifetime, right? And so in this narration, the most complete way to fulfill this sunnah is that a person fasts the entirety of Ramadan and then follows it with six days of Sha for those days to be consecutive is best. Now there are those who are extreme in applying the sunnah which means that they treat this as if it is obligatory and they shame other people that do not do it. This is incorrect. Then there are those who are extreme in ignoring it where they don't do it. It's as if it's as if these words belong to someone else. They're meant for someone else. They're never meant for me. These are two extremes. The path of Allah is right in the middle between the two extremes between between extreme application and extreme avoidance. So it is important to do these six days of sha. It is not obligatory. It is highly preferred if a person has days to make up. Making up those days of Ramadan takes precedence over fasting these six days of Shaw. If a person fasts these days of Ramadan during the month of Shaw, is it counted as this sunnah? No. Because these are days of Ramadan. They are days fasted outside of Ramadan. Yes. But they are counted as being of the days of Ramadan. And that's why we treat our making our makeup fast as we do any day of Ramadan. An example, when a person fasts during the day of Ramadan, is it permissible for him to break his fast for no reason other than just wanting to? No. Of course not. But if a person is fasting an optional fast, just fasting a day outside of Ramadan, that's not obligatory. Is it permissible to break his fast? Is it not to his discretion? Yeah, it's his discretion. But if a person is making up a day of Ramadan, can he he can he can choose any day he wants to make it up. But once he commits to a day, the same rules apply that apply during the month of Ramadan. Once a person commits, now you're fasting in Ramadan. The same rules apply. It's no longer to a person's discretion. If they were to break their fast, they are to cease immediately and they are to make it up and they have committed a sin. This is how a person makes up days of Ramadan. This is not the situation for fasting six days of Sha etc. So a person is making up days that he missed from Ramadan inshaw. Does it count towards the six days of Shaw? The answer is no. Because while these are physically days of Shaw, they are legislatively counted as days of Ramadan.
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How are you?