Question: Dear scholars, as-salamu `alaykum.

Can you please mention the days of fasting in Dhul-Hijjah?

JazakumAllah khayran.

Answer: Wa`alaykum as-salamu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

Sister, it gives us pleasure to receive your question. May Allah Almighty help you, and us all, to worship Him in a way that pleases Him Most High.

It is Sunnah to fast the first nine days of Dhul-Hijjah, especially the day of `Arafah, for those who are not performing Hajj. This is confirmed by the following hadiths:

1. Abu Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him) is reported to have said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Fasting on the day of `Arafah is an expiation for two years, the year preceding it and the year following it. Fasting the day of `Ashurah is an expiation for the year preceding it." (Reported by "the group," except for Al-Bukhari and At-Tirmidhi)

2. One of the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Allah’s Messenger used to fast the [first] nine days of Dhul-Hijjah, the day of `Ashurah, and three days of each month." (Reported by Abu Dawud).

3. `Uqbah ibn `Aamr (may Allah be pleased with him) is reported to have said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The day of `Arafah [for those performing Hajj], the day of sacrifice, and the days of Tashreeq are `Eids (feasts) for us – the people of Islam – and they are days of eating and drinking."

4- Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade fasting on the day of `Arafah for one who is actually at `Arafah." (Reported by Ahmad, Abu Dawud, An-Nasa'i, and Ibn Majah).


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