Among the days on which fasting is forbidden are the following:

1. The prohibition of fasting on the two festival days. He says under this heading: “Because of the statement of ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade fasting on these two days. As for the Day of Fitr … it was narrated by Ahmad and the Four.”

I say: The same wording is also found in the two Ṣaḥīḥs, and it is cited in al-Irwāʾ 962.

2. The prohibition of fasting on the days of Tashrīq. He says under this heading: “Al-Ṭabarānī narrated in al-Awsaṭ from Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent a herald calling out, ‘Do not fast these days, for they are days of eating, drinking, and baʿāl (marital intimacy).’”

I say: Two observations must be made here:

First: The author quoted the ḥadīth from Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid but cited it poorly, for al-Haythamī, after mentioning it (3 / 203), said: “Al-Ṭabarānī recorded it in al-Kabīr, and in another narration of his—found in both al-Awsaṭ and al-Kabīr—the Prophet ﷺ dispatched Budayl ibn Waraqāʾ; the chain of the first version is sound.”

It is evident, then, that this exact wording occurs in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr of al-Ṭabarānī, not in his al-Awsaṭ. Attributing it to al-Awsaṭ is therefore a mistake laid at the feet of both al-Haythamī and al-Ṭabarānī. That it is an error regarding al-Haythamī is clear from the very citation I have just provided. As for its being an error with respect to al-Ṭabarānī, it is because he did not transmit this wording in al-Awsaṭ; rather, he narrated a different wording, which diverges from the former in its opening portion. Al-Haythamī actually hinted at this divergence, and had he quoted the second report in full, the essential distinction between the two versions would have been plain to the reader. Had he done so, the author would not, by Allah’s will, have fallen into this error.