Three Days Monthly: Prophet's Perfect Balance
Voluntary Fasting Three Days Per Month: The Sunnah and Wisdom of Moderation
Summary
This lecture discusses the Islamic practice of voluntary fasting (sawm) outside of Ramadan, specifically the Sunnah of fasting three days per month. The speaker uses the historical example of Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As, a companion of the Prophet who was excessively engaged in worship (fasting daily, reciting the entire Quran daily, and praying throughout the night). When the Prophet learned of this through Abdullah's father Amr ibn al-As, He commanded moderation, reducing Abdullah's practices to fasting three days monthly, reciting the Quran once monthly, and moderating his nightly prayers. The speaker explains the Prophet's wisdom in this gradual approach, using the analogy of bargaining to move someone from extremes to moderation.
The lecture continues by explaining that while any three days of the month are permissible for voluntary fasting, the best days are the 13th, 14th, and 15th of the Islamic month, when the moon is full. This recommendation is based on hadith narrations from Abu Dharr collected by Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud. The speaker also clarifies that just as with optional prayers, Muslims have flexibility in when to fast voluntary fasts, with only certain days being prohibited (Eids, Fridays, and Saturdays as standalone fasts). The principle is that flexibility in voluntary worship accommodates people's varying schedules and circumstances.
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.
Brazil.
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Another thing that the prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam encouraged with respect to fasting is that a person fast 3 days from every month. That a person fast 3 days from every.
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What that means to say I am the daddy what had he do for say I am what you say to have one to go I am I shall rather what comes out of that laugh at her go on and what I am you say to have one to go I am you have no say I am I say I am I am what do you say I am I say I am that he is saying lucky you say to have one to go I am and you go on and you go I say I am I am I say I am I am what do you say I am I am what comes out of that you want to say I shall rather my yak mellow and better So one of the one of the options fast which the prophet Ali was selling encouraged and he didn't just encourage any person with this fast. Actually, he encouraged one of his greatest followers one of his greatest students one of the great scholars of the companions Abdullah bin Omar bin Al-As. Abdullah bin Omar bin Al-As single-handedly for a time carried the knowledge front of a sham entirely. Abdullah bin Omar bin Al-As is one of the greatest scholars to ever have gone to to a sham. And so Abdullah bin Omar bin Al-As when he met the prophet Ali was selling of course, his father had accepted Islam, Amr ibn al-As, and his son, Abdullah, accepted Islam, and he was full of youth and full of vigor, and he was very very enthusiastic, very strict with himself. And so one day his father, Amr ibn al-As, went to his house, his son's house. And his son had just gotten married. You know, usually when a person just get gets married, it's what we call the honeymoon, you know, time. And so he found that his wife kanat mutabathilatun. She wasn't particularly dressed a young woman would be in her own home for her husband. She was dressed in a way that she has no one to impress. And so she asked, being that she's a newlywed, and she said, "Your son is one of the greatest men, but he has no use for women." Meaning, all he's constantly doing is praying, reading the Quran, and fasting, and he barely looks at me. And so Amr ibn al-As informed the.
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This.
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Commanded him to moderate, to moderate his fasting, to moderate his recitation, to moderate his salah. At the time, he was fasting every single day. At the time, he was reciting the entirety of the Quran every single day. And at the time, he was praying from the moments of Isha all the way until the break of Fajr every single day. This was his routine. So, if someone comes and tries to apply this now and says, "Hey, remember what happened to Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As? You're not supposed to be extreme unless this is what's happening." That doesn't really apply. Apples and oranges. This is what Abdullah was doing. Was this because of his arrogance or was this because he was showing off? No, he was doing this genuinely. He genuinely was attempting to receive the good graces of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so, the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam commanded him to moderate these these things. So, one of the things that he told him was summin kulli shahrin thalathata ayyam. He said, "Of every month, fast 3 days." Remember, we're going from every single day to 3 days a month. He knew that Abdullah was not going to stay at that if he could if he could help it. He was going to ask for more. But, it's kind of bargaining. You know when you go to bargain with someone that is Let's say you got something to sell, I want to buy it. It's a 100 bucks. I'm willing to pay 80. I'll start at 50. Which I know you're not going to accept, but I got to start you somewhere, right? So that we end up where we end up in the middle, in the middle ground. And so, he began with the lowest in all of these. He told him to recite the Quran once a month. He's going from every single day to once a month. Of course, he's going to ask for more. He is going from every single day fasting to three times, 10%. Of course, he's going to ask for more. But the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam understands something about human nature. And that is when someone is in extreme, you have to be extreme in pulling them back to the middle. So that they end up where? In the middle. You can see this pattern all throughout. And so, he tells him to fast from every month 3 days. Then he says, for every hasana, every merit is counted at least how much? 10 times. And 3 days every month with that calculation will be equivalent to fasting the entirety of the year. The author then tells us, and it is preferred that the days, the 3 days he chooses are the 13th, 14th, and 15th. Notice now the author, he begins with the sunnah is 3 days, any 3 days. Because fasting is salah. There are days when you are not allowed to fast. Anything else you are allowed to, right? I mean, look at the way that the exception is made. When it comes to salah, optional prayer, right? We are not told necessarily when to pray optional prayer. We are told when we are not to pray optional prayer. Right after Fajr till the sun rises, right after Asr until the sun sets, just before Dhuhr until the sun crosses its zenith. These are the times when we are not to pray. And we understand from this that anything outside of the three points is what? A time to pray. Whenever you have extra time, whenever you can, whenever you want to, you pray. You pray extra. Right? The same thing with fasting. We are not necessarily told when to fast, we're told the best times to fast, but we're not necessarily told when to fast. We are told when we are not permitted to fast. What are those days? Well, we have a whole chapter about that. The days of Eid and Friday on its own and Saturday on its own as we'll hear. Which is to be understood that outside of those prohibited times, any time you can fast is good. And it's important that it's that because people's schedules change. Sometimes people cannot fast when they're working, sometimes people can't fast when they're So, fasting is to their leisure. They can fast whenever they choose to fast. And so, the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam encouraged that a person capitalize on the opportunity to fast whenever it presents itself. So, he told Abdullah ibn Amr here, fast 3 days a month. If a person decided to fast the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of every month, is that permissible? Permissible. Would he have fulfilled this narration? No. Right? He would have fulfilled. But what is the best? The best is 13, 14, 15. Same thing with salah. The best time to make salah at night is which part of the night? Last third. It's the last third of the night. But if a person were to make his salah, his qiyam, right after he's finished with Isha every night, would it be correct? Yes, it would be correct. Would it be qiyam? Yes, it would be qiyam, technically. But the best night time is the last third. Same thing with the fasting. The best time to fast is 13, 14, 15. Why? Because it's right smack dab in the middle of the month, and it is the time when the moon is full. When the when the moon is full.
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He says, "And the evidence for the best 3 days for a person to choose are 13, 14, and 15 is the narration of Abu Dharr, radiyallahu anhu. Abu Dharr narrates that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, "Oh Abu Dharr, if you fast 3 days from every month, then make them the 13th, 14th, and 15th." This narration has been collected by Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud al-Sijistani in his Sunan.