the month reaches its midpoint—unless a person is accustomed to fasting, in which case it is not disliked. Imam Aḥmad said that there is in fact no dislike, because this report is anomalous: it conflicts with Abū Hurayrah’s ḥadīth recorded in the two Ṣaḥīḥs in which the Prophet ﷺ said, “Do not precede Ramadan by fasting a day or two, unless a man already keeps a regular fast; in that case let him fast.”¹ The second ḥadīth shows that fasting before those two days is permissible and therefore outweighs the first.

From this we learn that anomaly is not necessarily limited to variants within a single ḥadīth.

Another illustration: Abū Dāʾūd relates that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Do not fast on Saturday except for what has been made obligatory upon you.”² This contradicts the report in the two Ṣaḥīḥs in which one of the Prophet’s wives told him she was fasting on a Friday. He asked, “Did you fast yesterday?” She answered, “No.” He then asked, “Will you fast tomorrow?” She replied, “No.” He said, “Then break your fast.”³ His question—“Will you fast tomorrow?” meaning Saturday—indicates that fasting on Saturday is permissible. Hence the scholars differed over the reliability of the ḥadīth that forbids fasting on Saturday, adopting several positions:

1. Some said the ḥadīth is abrogated, but this is weak because abrogation requires knowing the chronological order, and here we do not.
2. Others held that the ḥadīth is anomalous, since it conflicts with the authentic report that allows fasting on Saturday.
3. A third group interpreted it in a way that does not oppose the ḥadīth found in