Fasting (Kitab Al-Siyam)

Narrated Hamzat al-Aslami: I said: Messenger of Allah. I am a master of mounts and I use them ! I myself travel on them and I rent them. This month, that is, Ramadan, happend to come to me (while I am on a journey), and I find myself strong enough (to fast) as I am young, and I find that it is easier for me to fast than to postpone it, and i becomes debt due from me. Does it bring me more reward, Messenger of Allah, if I fast, or if I break ? He replied: Whichever you like, Hamzah.

Narrated Ibn 'Abbas: The Prophet (ﷺ) left Medina for Mecca till he reached 'Usfan, He then called for a vessel (of water). It was raised to his mouth to show it to the people, and that was in Ramadan. Ibn 'Abbas used to say: The Prophet (ﷺ) fasted and he broke his fast. He who likes may fast and he who likes may break.

Narrated Anas : We travelled along with the Prophet (ﷺ) during Ramadan. Some of us were fasting and other broke their fast. Those who fasted did not find fault with those who broke, and those who broke their fast did not find fault with those who fasted.

Narrated Qaza'ah: I came to Abu Sa'id al-Khudri while he was giving his legal opinion to the people who bent down on him. So I waited to see hi when he was alone. When he became alone, I asked him about keeping fast while travelling. He said: we went out along with the Prophet (ﷺ) in Ramadan in the year of conquest of Mecca. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) fasted and we fasted until he reached a certain stage. He said: You have come near your enemy; the breaking of fast will bring you more strength. Then morning came when some of us fasted and other broke their fast. He (Abu Sa'id al-Khudri) said: We then proceeded and alighted at a stage. He said: You are going to attack your enemy tomorrow morning ; breaking the fast will bring you more strength ; so break your fast (i.e. do not keep fast). This resolution (of breaking the fast) took place (due to the announcement) from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). Abu Sa'id said: Then I found myself keeping fast along with the Prophet (ﷺ) before and after that.

Narrated Jabir b. 'Abd Allah : The Prophet (ﷺ) saw a man who had been put in the shade and saw a crowd of people around him (in the course of a journey). He said: Fasting while on journey is not part of righteousness.

Narrated Anas ibn Malik: A man from Banu Abdullah ibn Ka'b brethren of Banu Qushayr (not Anas ibn Malik, the well-known Companion), said: A contingent from the cavalry of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) raided us. I reached (for he said went) to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) who was taking his meals. He said: Sit down, and take some from this meal of ours. I said: I am fasting, he said: Sit down, I shall tell you about prayer and fasting. Allah has remitted half the prayer to a traveller, and fasting to the traveller, the woman who is suckling an infant and the woman who is pregnant, I swear by Allah, he mentioned both (i.e. suckling and pregnant women) or one of them. I was grieved for not taking the food of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).

Narrated Abu al-Darda: We went out along with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) for some battle in intense heat, so much so that one of us placed his hand on his head, or placed his palm on his head, due to intense heat, No one of us fasted except the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and 'Abd Allah b. Rawahah.

Narrated Salamah ibn al-Muhabbaq al-Hudhali: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: If anyone has a riding beast which carries him to where he can get sufficient food, he should keep the fast of Ramadan wherever he is when it comes.

Narrated Salamah b. al-Muhabbaq: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: If anyone is on a journey and Ramadan comes... He then narrated the rest of the tradition to the same effect.

Narrated AbuBusrah al-Ghifari,: Ja'far ibn Jubayr said: I accompanied AbuBusrah al-Ghifari, a Companion of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), in a boat proceeding from al-Fustat (Cairo) during Ramadan. He was lifted (to the boat), then his meal was brought to him. The narrator Ja'far said in his version: He did not go beyond the houses (of the city) but he called for the dining sheet. He said (to me): Come near. I said: Do you not see the houses? AbuBusrah said: Do you detest the sunnah (practice) of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)? The narrator Ja'far said in his version: He then ate (it).

Narrated Dihyah: Mansur al-Kalbi said: Dihyah ibn Khalifah once went out from a village of Damascus at as much distance as it measures between Aqabah and al-Fustat during Ramadan; and that is three miles. He then broke his fast and the people broke their fast along with him. But some of them disliked to break their fast. When he came back to his village, he said: I swear by Allah, today I witnessed a thing of which I could not even think to see. The people detested the way of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and his Companions. He said this to those who fasted. At this moment he said: O Allah, make me die.

Nafi' said: Ibn 'Umar used to go out to al-Ghabah (jungle), but he neither broke his fast, nor shortened his prayer.

Narrated AbuBakrah: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: One of you should not say: I fasted the whole of Ramadan, and I prayed during the night in the whole of Ramadan. I do not know whether he disliked the purification; or he (the narrator) said: He must have slept a little and taken rest.

Narrated Abu 'Ubaid: I attended the 'Id (prayer) along with 'Umar. He offered prayer before the sermon. He then said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) prohibited fasting on these two days. As regards Id al-Adha, you eat the meat of your sacrificial animals. As for 'Id al-Fitr, you break (i.e. end) your fast.

Narrated Abu Sa’id Al Khudri : The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade fasting on two days, al-Fitr (breaking the fast of Ramadan) and al-Adha (the day of sacrifice), and wearing a tight single garment the raising of which discloses private parts, and sitting with one's legs drawn up and wrapped in one's garment, and forbade praying at two hours, after the Fajr prayer and after the Asr prayer.

Abu Murrah, the client of Umm Hani, entered along with 'Abd Allah b. 'Amr upon his father 'Amr b. 'As and he brought food for him. He said: Eat. He said: I am fasting. 'Amr said: Eat, these are the days on which the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to command us to break fast, and forbid us to keep fast. The narrator Malik said: These are the day of al-tashriq (i.e. 11th, 12th, and 13th of Dhu al-Hijjah).

Narrated Uqbah ibn Amir: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The day of Arafah, the day of sacrifice, the days of tashriq are (the days of) our festival, O people of Islam. These are the days of eating and drinking.

Narrated Abu Hurairah: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: None of you must fast on Friday unless he fasts the day before or the day after.

Narrated As-Samma' sister of Abdullah ibn Busr: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Do not fast on Saturday except what has been made obligatory on you; and if one of you can get nothing but a grape skin or a piece of wood from a tree, he should chew it.

Narrated Juwairiyah, daughter of al-Harith: That the Prophet (ﷺ) entered upon her on Friday while she was fasting. He asked: Did you fast yesterday ? She said: No. He again asked: Do you intend to fast tomorrow ? She said: No. He said: So break your fast.

Narrated Al-Laith: When it was mentioned to Ibn Shihab (al-Zuhri) that fasting on Saturday had been prohibited, he would say: This is a Himsi tradition.

Al-Auza'i said: I always concealed it, but I found that it became known widely, that is, the tradition on Ibn Busr about fasting on Saturday.Abu Dawud said: Malik said: This is a false (tradition).

Narrated AbuQatadah: A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: How do you fast, Messenger of Allah? The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) became angry at what he said. When Umar observed this (his anger), he said: We are satisfied with Allah as Lord, with Islam as religion, and with Muhammad as Prophet. We seek refuge in Allah from the anger of Allah, and from the anger of His Apostle. Umar continued to repeat these words till his anger cooled down. He then asked: Messenger of Allah, what is the position of one who observes a perpetual fast? He replied: May he not fast or break his fast. Musaddad said in his version: He has neither fasted nor broken his fast. The narrator, Ghaylan, doubted the actual wordings. He asked: What is the position of one who fasts two days and does not fast one day? He said: Is anyone able to do that? He asked: What is the position of one who fasts every second day (i.e. fasts one day and does not fasts the next day)? He (the Prophet) said: This is the fast that David observed. He asked: Messenger of Allah, what is the position of one who fasts one day and breaks it for two days? He replied: I wish I were given the power to observe that. Then the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: The observance of three days' fast every month and of one Ramadan to the other (i.e. the fast of Ramadan every year) is (equivalent to) a perpetual fast. I seek from Allah that fasting on the day of Arafah may atone for the sins of the preceding and the coming year, and I seek from Allah that fasting on the day of Ashura' may atone for the sins of the preceding year.

The tradition mentioned above has also been transmitted by Abu Qatadah through a different chain of narrators. This version add: He said: Messenger of Allah, tell me about keeping fast on Monday and Thursday. He said: On it I was born, and on it the Qur'an was first revealed to me.

Narrated 'Adb Allah b. 'Amr b. al-'As: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) met me and said: Have I not been informed that you told: I shall stand at prayer all the night, and I shall fast during the day ? He said: I think so. Yes, Messenger of Allah, I have said this. He said: Get up and pray at night and sleep ; fast and break your fast ; fast three days every month: that is equivalent to keeping perpetual fast. I said: Messenger of Allah, I have more power than that. He said: Then fast one day and break your fast one day. That is the most moderate fast ; that is the fast of Dawud (David). He said: I have more power than that. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: There is no fast more excellent that it.

Narrated Abdullah ibn al-Harith ; or Uncle of Mujibah al-Bahiliyyah: The father or Uncle of Mujibah al-Bahiliyyah visited the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). He then went away and came to him (again) after one year when his condition and appearance had changed. He said: Messenger of Allah, do you not recognize me? He asked: Who are you? He replied: I am al-Bahili who came to you last year. He said: What has changed you? You were looking well, then you were good in appearance? He said: I have only food at night since I departed from you. Thereupon the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Why did you torment yourself? Fast during Ramadan (the month of patience) and fast for one day every month. He said: Increase it for me, for I have (more) strength. He said: Fast two days. He again said: Increase it for me. He said: Fast three days. He again said: Increase it for me. He said: Fast during the inviolable months and then stop; fast during the inviolable months and then stop; fast during the inviolable months and then stop. He indicated by his three fingers, and joined them and then opened them.

Narrated Abu Hurairah: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: The most excellent fast after Ramadan is Allah's month al-Muharram, and the most excellent prayer after the prescribed prayer is the prayer during night.

Narrated 'Uthman b. Hakim: I asked Sa'id b. Jubair about fasting during Rajab. He said: Ibn 'Abbas told me that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to fast to such an extent that we thought that he would never break his fast ; and he would go without fasting to such and extent that he would never fast.

Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin: The month most liked by the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) for fasting was Sha'ban. He then joined it with Ramadan.

Narrated Muslim al-Qurashi: I asked or someone asked the Prophet (ﷺ) about perpetual fasting. He replied: You have a duty to your family. Fast during Ramadan and the following month, and every Wednesday and Thursday. You will then have observed a perpetual fast.