after it.” (1) He also said: “Do not single out Friday for fasting, nor its night for standing in prayer.” (2) And he said to one of the Mothers of the Believers, when he found her fasting on a Friday: “Did you fast yesterday?” She replied, “No.” He asked, “Will you fast tomorrow?” She replied, “No.” He said, “Then break your fast.” (3)

However, if one fasts it along with another day, it is not disliked. Thus, if he fasts Thursday and Friday, there is no harm; or Friday and Saturday, there is no harm.

But if he fasts Friday alone, not out of the intention of singling it out, but because it is his free day—for example, a worker who works throughout the week and has no free time except on Friday—is this disliked?

The answer is that I have some hesitation concerning this. If we consider what Muslim narrated—“Do not single out Friday for fasting”—we would say that there is no harm, because he has not singled it out. But if we consider the hadith, “Did you fast yesterday?” She replied, “No.” He asked, “Will you fast tomorrow?” She replied, “No.” He said, “Then break your fast,” it may be inferred from it that fasting Friday alone is disliked, even if he is unable to fast on the other days. Yet this inference may not be made, for it may be said that the Messenger’s question, peace and blessings be upon him, “Did you fast yesterday, or will you fast tomorrow?” indicates that she was able to fast.

In sum, if one fasts Friday alone, not because of Friday itself but because it is the day on which he has free time, then the apparent view—Allah willing—is that it is not disliked and that there is no harm in doing so.

His statement, “and Saturday,” means that it is disliked to single it out, based on the hadith: “Do not fast on Saturday except regarding what has been made obligatory upon you.” (4) If authentic, it is to be understood as a prohibition against