#620: Misconceptions on the Six Fast Of Shawwal
QUESTION
” Salam alaikum I saw a post in hausa on WhatsApp whre Dr Gumi said sitta Shawwal isn’t sunnah. That d prophet and his companions didn’t fast sitta Shawwal. Any take pls”
ANSWER
Wa alaykum Salām Warahmatullāh Wabarakātuh.
Alhamdulillāh.
We can not independently confirm the authenticity of attributing this statement to the said sayer.
However, whosoever makes this assertion is ignorant of the Principles of Usūl in very immense ways for the following reasons:
1. It is Authentically reported in Sahih Muslim from the Noble Companion Abū Ayyub Al-Ansārī – radiyallāhu ‘anhu – that the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – said:
من صام رمضان ثم أتبعه ستاً من شوال كان كصيام الدهر
“Whomsoever fasts Ramadān and then follows it with six in Shawwal, then its like fasting for a Year.”
2. Though we have no Recorded Hadīth that detailed the manner in which the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – observed the fast of the six, there is no recorded Hadīth to the effect that he didn’t either.
And the Fuqahā are in agreement with the Precept that says:
عدم النقل ليس نقل للعدم
“The absence of a Textual evidence for a thing is not a Textual evidence to show the absence of that thing.”
For this reason, the Usūliyyūn among our Ulamā did not place as a condition that for a deed to be Mustahabb or recommended, we must find for it both a ‘Record of Speech’ (Sunnah Qawliyyah) and a ‘Record of Deed’ (Sunnah ‘Amaliyyah)
Rather, there are matters that are only recorded of deed and were not recorded of speech such as the Merits of the I’itikāf. It is recorded from the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – on account of it many statements mentioning its merits.
But the Ulamā agreed on its merits for the fact that the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – always practiced it.
3. It is recorded in Shar’hu Mishkalu Al-Āthār from Umar Ibn Thābit who said:
“We were on a Ghazwah with Abū Ayyūb Al-Ansārī when he observed Ramadān and we observed. So after we had done the Iftār (of Īd), he stood up to the people and said: Indeed I heard the Messenger of Allāh saying ‘Whosoever fasts Ramadān and then fasts six days of Shawwal, it shall be like fasting the entire year.'”
This shows that there was a very positive indication of practice.
4. It is recorded by Imām Nāsiruddīn Al-Baydāwī – rahimahullāh – in Tar’hu At-Tathrīb from ‘Ā’ishah – radiyallāhu ‘anhā – that she said:
لقد كان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يترك العمل، وإنه ليحب أن يعمله مخافة أن يستن به الناس، فيفرض عليهم
“Indeed the Messenger for Allāh – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – used to not practice some things even though he wanted to practice them out of fear that people take it as a practice and then it becomes obligatory upon them.”
What has the Sayer to say if the Six of Shawwal was to be among them?
And thereafter, we are aware that the Sayer of this is corroborated by few other people out there who raise very wrong observations.
The first of them, that the Hadīth, from Abū Ayyūb in Sahih Muslim was weak.
This premise is wrong for Three reasons. One, the Hadīth is Authentic as the Ulamā of Hadīth have mentioned. Two, other Tābi’ūn (aside from Sa’ad Ibn Sa’īd who has been referred weak by some Imāms) recorded the Hadīth from Abū Ayyūb. Three, Abū Ayyub is not the only among the Sahābah to narrate the Hadīth from the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam. Other Sahabah such as Thawbān and Jābir also narrated similar wordings as was recorded by Imām Ahmad and Al-Bayhaqī.
The Second of them, that Imām Mālik said: “And I have not seen any of the People of Ilm and Fiqh observing its fast”
The response to this is in three:
One, that the Statement of Mālik is not evidence in its own when the Sunnah has preceded.
Two, that this is in accordance to the extent of what Mālik knows.
Otherwise, it is established that some of the Salaf such as Ka’ab Al-Ahbār, Ibn ‘Abbās, Ash-Sha’abī, Tāwūs, and others used to observe it and encouraged that it be observed.
This was mentioned by Imām At-Tirmidhī – rahimahullāh.
Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah – rahimahullāh – said:
“And the fact that the People of Madīnah in the time of Mālik were not observing it does not mean that the entire Ummah left it. For it is known that Ahmad, Ash-Shāfi’ī and Ibn Al-Mubārak and other than them worked with it.”
An-Nawawī in Al-Majmū’ and Ash-Shawkānī in Naylu Al-Awtār made similar statements.
And some of the Mālikī Imāms have mentioned reasons for which Mālik did not practice this Hadīth.
Al-Qarāfī – rahimahullāh – mentioned in Adh-Dhakhīrah that it was out of fear from Mālik that it not be connected to Ramadān.
Similar to this was mentioned by Ibn Shās Al-Maliki in ‘Aqdu Al-Jawāhir Ath-Thamaniyyah
Imām Ibn ‘Abdil Barr Al-Mālikī and Ibn Rushd – Rahimahumullāh – both went against this statement attributed to Mālik and excused that probably Mālik didn’t receive this Hadīth aside the narration that came from Abū Ayyub Al-Ansārī and that the people of Madīnah never practiced it, so he feared that observing it in Shawwal would make it come together with Ramadān and preferred that it be observed after Shawwāl.
And Allāh knows best.
Bārakallāhu fīkum
Jazākumullāhu Khayran.
📚IslamNode
