Chapter on Voluntary Fasting

It is recommended to fast on the White Days (the 13th, 14th, and 15th of every lunar month), on Mondays and Thursdays, six days of Shawwāl, and throughout the month of Muḥarram—the most emphatic of which is the tenth day, followed by the ninth. One is also urged to fast the first nine days of Dhū al-Ḥijjah and the Day of ʿArafah for anyone who is not standing at ʿArafah. The finest form of voluntary fasting is to fast one day and break the fast the next.

It is disliked to single out Rajab, or to single out Friday, Saturday, the “day of doubt,” or a festival of non-Muslims by fasting.¹

It is unlawful to fast on the two ʿEids and the Days of Tashrīq, even for an obligatory fast,² except for the compensatory fast required in lieu of the sacrificial blood for tamattuʿ or qirān.

Whoever enters into an obligatory fast whose time is expansive may not break it.

Beginning a voluntary act of worship does not make its completion obligatory, nor does invalidating such an act obligate one to make it up—except in the case of the pilgrimage.

Laylat al-Qadr is expected during the last ten nights of Ramaḍān,³ especially its odd-numbered nights, and the twenty-seventh night is deemed the most likely. On that night one should supplicate with the words that have been transmitted.