This is the conclusion that has become clear to me. If I am right, it is by Allah’s grace—for which all praise is His—and by His enabling; if I am wrong, the fault is mine, and I ask Him to forgive my sin.

Under the heading “The Prohibition of Fasting the Whole Year” he writes: “If one refrains from fasting on the two ʿId days and the Days of Tashrīq, yet fasts the remaining days, the objection is removed.”

I say: This interpretation runs counter to the apparent meaning of the ḥadīth, “He has not fasted who fasts perpetually,” and to the wording, “He neither fasted nor broke the fast.” The distinguished Ibn al-Qayyim explained this in Zād al-Maʿād, dispelling every doubt, when he said—may Allah have mercy on him:
“His intent here is not the person who avoids fasting on the days on which fasting is forbidden … .”
A similar point was made by al-Ḥāfiẓ in Fatḥ al-Bārī, 4/180.

He also says, at the end of his earlier discussion: “The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) approved of Ḥamzah al-Aslamī’s continual fasting and said to him, ‘Fast if you wish and break it if you wish,’ as was mentioned previously.”

I reply: Yes, the ḥadīth was cited earlier in the section on those allowed to break the fast, but with different wording that contains no reference to continuous fasting. Muslim records it as follows:
“He said, ‘Messenger of Allah, I am a man who keep successive fasts; should I fast while travelling?’ He replied, ‘Fast if you wish and break it if you wish.’”
It was also transmitted by Ibn Khuzaymah, 2153.

There is nothing in this report that supports the author’s conclusion, for successive fasting (sard) is not necessarily the same as fasting the entire year (ṣawm al-dahr). Al-Ḥāfiẓ noted in Fatḥ al-Bārī that some scholars used Ḥamzah’s ḥadīth as evidence for permissibility, then commented: