the obligatory prayer at its appointed time.

The well-known position in the school of Imam Ahmad is that undertaking a voluntary fast is forbidden—and invalid—so long as an obligatory fast remains outstanding.

Sharḥ al-Iqnāʿ says: “It is prohibited to engage in a voluntary fast before making up the days of Ramaḍān, and such a fast is not valid; this is Imam Ahmad’s explicit ruling. One must begin with the obligatory fast until it is completed, for the ḥadith states: ‘Allah does not accept a voluntary act until the obligatory duty has been fulfilled,’” recorded by Ibn Abī Shaybah (34433) as a mawqūf report from Abū Bakr (d. 13 AH).

Hence, anyone who observes the six days of Shawwāl while still owing days of Ramaḍān is fasting them before he has actually completed Ramaḍān, whereas the ḥadith says: “Whoever has fasted Ramaḍān …”

The scholars also differed over whether the six days may be made up once Shawwāl has passed. Two opinions exist; the stronger view is that they are not made up, for they are a sunnah tied to a specific time that has elapsed.

Benefit: The Shaykh noted that some people refer to the eighth of Shawwāl as “the Festival of the Righteous.” It is impermissible to regard it as an ʿĪd, for by unanimous agreement it is not a festival and carries none of the rites of an ʿĪd.