- The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Do not single out Friday for fasting, nor its night for prayer.” (1)
As for Saturday, one view is that fasting on it is permissible, like fasting on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Another view is that it is not permissible except when it is an obligatory fast.
A third view is that it is permissible, but not if it is singled out.
The correct view is that it is permissible provided that it is not singled out; that is, if one fasts Sunday along with it, or fasts Friday along with it, there is nothing wrong with that. The evidence is the Prophet’s saying to his wife: “Will you fast tomorrow?”—meaning Saturday.
As for the hadith related by Abu Dawud: “Do not fast on Saturday except with regard to what has been made obligatory upon you; and if one of you finds nothing but the bark of a tree, let him chew it,” (2) its meaning being that he should eat it—scholars differ over whether this hadith is authentic or weak, whether it has been abrogated or not, (3) whether it is anomalous or not, and whether what is meant is singling Saturday out rather than joining it to Friday or Sunday. It has previously been explained that the correct view is that singling it out is disliked; however, if one singles it out for a particular reason, there is no dislike—for example, if it coincides with the Day of Arafah or the Day of Ashura, unless we hold that singling out the Day of Ashura is itself disliked.