of fasting it together with the day before or the day after, and the permission granted when it coincides with one’s regular fast, they concluded that the prohibition is not absolute. It is therefore unlike the two Festivals—Eid al-Fiṭr and Eid al-Aḍḥā—on which fasting is impermissible under any circumstance. Allah knows best.

Two points of benefit:

1. Shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ḥasan said: All acts of worship are founded on divine command, prohibition, and following the prophetic way. Hence fasting on the Prophet’s birthday, on the twenty-seventh of Rajab, and similar innovative observances were never ordained by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Indeed, he declared, “Whoever performs a deed that is not in accordance with our affair, it is rejected.” Muslim narrated this ḥadīth (3243). Such practices, and whatever resembles them, are therefore rejected.

2. Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn said: Every ḥadīth concerning fasting in Rajab is fabricated; scholars place no reliance on any of them. They do not fall under the category of weak reports that may be cited for supererogatory virtues; rather, most of them are outright forgeries.