Why Muslims Fast Different Days Than Jews
Fasting on Ashura: The 9th and 10th of Muharram - Islamic Differentiation from Other Faiths
Summary
This lecture discusses the recommended fasting practices during the Islamic month of Muharram, specifically focusing on the Day of Ashura (10th of Muharram). The speaker explains that while fasting on Ashura is highly encouraged (mustahab) rather than obligatory, the Prophet Muhammad recommended fasting the 9th day along with the 10th to differentiate Muslim practices from Jewish and Christian observances. The lecture emphasizes the Islamic principle of distinguishing Muslim religious practices from those of other faith communities through modifications rather than identical observances.
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.
Are they set up to be shame? I'm going to see you when I am.
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Alhamdulillah. Continuing in.
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This is of course the book of fasting. We are continuing in the chapter regarding the days throughout the year in which the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam generally or specifically encouraged that we fast as an addition to our obligatory fast. Yesterday morning we discussed the day of for a person who is not in Hajj and the day of and then the author adds. So we discussed the day of we discussed the narration of of and how the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam in one narration encouraged the fasting of the day of in another that he himself did not fast the day of when he was in Hajj. And so the fah have summised from this that if a person is in Hajj the sunnah for him is not to fast the day of if a person is not in Hajj the sunnah for him is to fast the day of this is what's encouraged now moving on to to the day of Bestam.
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Oh,.
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Muslim. him. So, one of the he narrates that he heard Abdullahb say that the messenger of Allah fasted the day of and he commanded the everyone else to fast it. Commanded Does this mean that fasting the day of is obligatory? No. What this means is that he highly encouraged it because is a command. Right? When the ruling of something is that it is mustab, it's a command. It's just not binding. But it is a command. Allah commanded that it he commanded it of his of his slaves but it is not binding is a command and is a command. The only difference is that obligatory or not obligatory.
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Just like is a prohibition but it's a prohibition that is not binding. That's the difference. So he he he fasted the day of Ashur and he encouraged that people fasted. They said, "Oh messenger of Allah, they meaning and the companions, some of the companions, it is a day that the Jews and Christians both exalt meaning and some of them fast. The Jews of Medina, they fasted the day of Ash. So the messenger of Allah sallall.aii wasallam said if the ne if next year inshallah when when next year comes around inshallah we will fast the ninth day meaning along with it. So we'll fast the ninth day along with it. Ib Abbas tells us that by next year the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam had passed away is named and it is the 10th day of Muaram the 10th day of the first month. Now the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam with respect to shared shared acts of warship between the Muslim and the Jews and the Christians. The there were a couple of stages that went through but namely he was to he sallall.aii wasallam always encouraged differentiating the that the Muslims differentiate themselves in the way that they worship from the other people of the book. And this differentiating would happen one of two ways. Either it would be something that he would discourage be done do the opposite or it would be done but done with a modification to it that makes it proprietary makes it particular to the Muslim. So for instance that we do the opposite. For instance he says he said pray in your shoes. Pray with your shoes on. Why? Because the Jews do not pray with their shoes on. Methan. So here he commanded the opposite. The opposite, right? He said, , set yourselves aside, differentiate yourselves from the Jews. they differentiate yourselves from the Jews by growing the beards and trimming the mustache. So here he's commanding that the opposite be done. But sometimes it's something good that should be done fasting the day of. So how then do the Muslim differentiate themselves from the people of the of the book? A modification is made to the act of worship fasting in general. The Jews when they fast especially in the time of the prophet sallallahu alaii wasallam they would fast until the stars would be out and plentiful in the sky that they would break their fast only then not when the sun set. Fasting is good. It's one of the five pillars of Islam. So the Muslim fast, however, we differentiate ourselves. How we fast as soon as the sun sets, before the stars even come out, right? And is a good example of that. Fasting the day of it's a good time. It's a time, it's the day when Allah chose to deliver and from the clutches of Pharaoh. And it's a day in which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala chose to destroy Pharaoh and put an end to his tyranny. And so it's a day that we fast. However, it's modified and that is that we fast a day before the ninth day. Some of the companions understood from this that a person could fast the 11th day along with it and that would serve the same purpose would it not would serve the same purpose. Why is this so important? Who are we differentiating ourselves from the Jews to? Well, that's an important question. But as hundreds of years and generations and generations go by and the Muslim spread throughout the entirety of the earth and they live wherever the Jews and Christians live over time if we all celebrate exactly the same day in exactly the same way with the exactly the same act of worship. What will eventually happen? They may merge in that even if only in that and that is a mafida. And so the prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam made sure that anything that is that is common to the Muslim and other than the Muslim of religious rights that it be modified enough to where it is almost unrecognizable from the way that it is practiced with the people of the book. Subhan Allah. And so the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam had the intention of fasting the ninth day of Ash along with the 10th. The question is if a person were to fast ash alone would it count? Yes, it would count because the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam fasted it alone. However, what is the best way to fasted? By fasting the ninth day along with the 10th or by fasting the 11th along with the 10th. Some scholars advised fasting the 9th, 10th and 11th. Why? just in case the just in case the month is off in calculation. But this is a weak opinion. This is a weak opinion because as we mentioned before, right? Fasting is when you all fast and breaking your fast is when you all break your fast. The crescent itself is not the month. That is an indicator of the month. So if for some reason the calculation of the month of Muharam happened to be slightly off that is the day when it is recognized as ash and therefore it is valid. So it is not necessary to fast three days. The sunnah and the extent of the prophet's sunnah is the ninth and tth or the 10th and 11th.