from his grandfather, Ibn ʿAbbās.
Reflect, then, on this: the Day of ʿĀshūrāʾ is a virtuous day that wipes out the sins of the preceding year. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, fasted it himself, commanded others to fast it, and urged them to do so. Yet when, shortly before his passing, it was said to him that the Jews and Christians revere that day, he ordered that we differ from them by adding another day to the fast, and he firmly intended to do so.
For this reason the scholars—among them Imām Aḥmad—have held it recommended to fast both the ninth and the tenth of Muḥarram, and this is precisely how the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, explained the ruling.
Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr reported: Sufyān narrated to us from ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, who heard ʿAṭāʾ, who heard Ibn ʿAbbās, may Allah be pleased with them both, say, “Fast the ninth and the tenth; differ from the Jews.”
(1) This is the chain of transmission for the hadith which the shaykh states that Ahmad related from Ibn Abbas, as already noted; see Musnad Ahmad 1:241.
(2) In MS B the wording is yukaffiru fihi ("it expiates in it"), whereas the printed edition reads yukaffiru siyamuhu ("its fast expiates").
(3) The authentic collections report that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, said regarding the day of Ashura: “I hope that Allah will make it expiate the sins of the preceding year.” This is part of a hadith transmitted by Muslim in the Book of Fasting, chapter 36, no. 1162 (2:818).
(4) The printed edition adds: “for doing that.”
(5) The printed edition has: “from Ibn Abbas.”
(6) The phrase radiya Allahu anhuma (may Allah be pleased with them both) is absent from MSS J and D and from the printed edition.
(7) Related by al-Bayhaqi (4:287) and by Abd al-Razzaq in his Musannaf (4:287) with a sound chain: Abd al-Razzaq narrates it from Ibn Jurayj, from Ata, from Ibn Abbas, and all of them are reliable transmitters. See Taqrib al-tahdhib: entry on Abd al-Razzaq (1:5), entry on Ibn Jurayj (1:520), and entry on Ata ibn Abi Rabah, the transmitter here from Ibn Abbas (2:22).