Hence, Aḥmad explicitly upheld what Ibn ʿAbbās had reported and gave his legal opinion accordingly. In the narration recorded by al-Athram he said, “My view regarding ʿĀshūrāʾ is that one fasts both the ninth and the tenth, based on the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿAbbās: ‘Fast the ninth and the tenth.’”
Harb relates: “I asked Aḥmad about fasting on the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ, and he replied, ‘One should fast the ninth and the tenth.’”
In the transmission of al-Mīmūnī and Abū al-Ḥārith he stated: “Whoever wishes to fast ʿĀshūrāʾ should fast the ninth and the tenth; but if the lunar months are unclear, then he should fast three days—this is what Ibn Sīrīn recommended.”
Some of our jurists have said that the preferable course is to fast the ninth and the tenth, while restricting oneself to the tenth alone is not disliked.
The tenor of Aḥmad’s own words, however, indicates that singling out the tenth is reprehensible, for when he was asked about the matter he ruled that both days should be observed, instructed people to do so, and deemed this the Sunnah for anyone who wishes to fast ʿĀshūrāʾ,
(1) The printed edition reads al-athar; it seems that the letter mim was inadvertently omitted.
(2) In manuscripts C and D the initial lam of the word al-hadith is missing.
(3) Abd al-Razzaq records the report in his Musannaf, Book of Fasting, chapter “Fasting on the Day of Ashura,” no. 7839 (4/287), as a companion-stopped (mawquf) report from Ibn Abbas with an authentic chain; al-Bayhaqi likewise cites it from Abd al-Razzaq (4/287) with the same chain found in the Musannaf.
(4) See Ibn Qudamah, al-Mughni with al-Sharh al-Kabir, 3/104.
(5) This is Abd al-Malik ibn Abd al-Hamid ibn Mahran al-Maimuni al-Raqqi; his biography has already appeared—see the Biographical Index.
(6) This refers to Ahmad ibn Muhammad, Abu al-Harith, known as al-Saʾigh (“the Goldsmith”). Imam Ahmad was fond of him, preferred him, and honored him; he transmitted many legal questions from the Imam, and his narrations are regarded as sound. See Ibn Abi Yaʿla, Tabaqat al-Hanabila 1/74–75 (no. 59).
(7) See Ibn Qudamah, al-Mughni with al-Sharh al-Kabir, 3/104.
(8) Copy D reads: “the fast of the Day of Ashura.”