Sha\u2019b\u0101n is the name of the (eighth) month, and it is so called because in this month the Arabs used to disperse (tasha\u2019aba) in search of water, or it was said that they dispersed to carry out raids and forays. Or it was said that it is so called because it sha\u2019aba (branches out or emerges) i.e., it appears between the months of Rajab and Ramad\u0101n. The plural forms of the word Sha\u2019b\u0101n are Sha\u2019b\u0101n\u0101t and Sha\u2019\u0101b\u012bn.<\/p>\n
Fasting in Sha\u2019b\u0101n<\/strong> Fasting at the End of Sha\u2019b\u0101n<\/strong> Notes:<\/strong> Source: Islam21c.com<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sha\u2019b\u0101n is the name of the (eighth) month, and it is so called because in this month the Arabs used to disperse (tasha\u2019aba) in search of water, or it was said that they dispersed to carry out raids and forays. Or it was said that it is so called because it sha\u2019aba (branches out or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-choice","category-c71-introduction-to-islam-muslims"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n\u02bf\u0100\u2019ishah (ra\u1e0diy All\u0101hu \u02bfanha) said:
\n\u201cThe Messenger (sall All\u0101hu \u02bfalayhi wa sallam) used to fast until we thought he would never break his fast, and not fast until we thought he would never fast. I never saw the Messenger of All\u0101h fasting for an entire month except in Ramad\u0101n, and I never saw him fast more than he did in Sha\u2019b\u0101n.\u201d[1]
\nAccording to a report narrated by Muslim,[2] \u201cHe used to fast all of Sha\u2019b\u0101n, he used to fast all but a little of Sha\u2019b\u0101n.\u201d A group of scholars, including Ibn al-Mub\u0101rak and others, thought that the Prophet (sall All\u0101hu \u02bfalayhi wa sallam) did not fast all of Sha\u2019b\u0101n, but he fasted most of it. This is supported by a report in Sa\u1e25\u012b\u1e25 Muslim,[3] narrated from \u02bf\u0100\u2019ishah (ra\u1e0diy All\u0101hu \u02bfanhu), who said: \u201cI never knew of him \u2013 meaning the Prophet (sall All\u0101hu \u02bfalayhi wa sallam) \u2013 fasting for any entire month apart from Ramad\u0101n.\u201d According to another report also narrated by Muslim,[4] \u02bf\u0100\u2019ishah said: \u201cI never saw him fast for any entire month from the time he came to Mad\u012bnah, apart from Ramad\u0101n.\u201d
\nIt was reported in al-Sah\u012bhayn that Ibn \u2018Abb\u0101s said: \u201cThe Messenger of All\u0101h (sall All\u0101hu \u02bfalayhi wa sallam) did not fast any entire month apart from Ramad\u0101n.\u201d[5] Ibn \u2018Abb\u0101s regarded it as makr\u016bh to fast any entire month apart from Ramad\u0101n. Ibn Hajar (ra\u1e0diy All\u0101hu \u02bfanhu) said: \u201cHe observed more voluntary fasts in Sha\u2019b\u0101n than in any other month, and he used to fast most of Sha\u2019b\u0101n.\u201d
\nUs\u0101mah b. Zayd (sall All\u0101hu \u02bfalayhi wa sallam) said: \u201cI said, \u2018O Messenger of All\u0101h, I do not see you fasting in any other month like you fast in Sha\u2019b\u0101n.\u2019 He said, \u2018That is a month to which people do not pay attention, between Rajab and Ramad\u0101n, and it is a month in which deeds are lifted up to the Lord of the Worlds. I like for my deeds to be lifted up when I am fasting.\u2019\u201d[6] According to a report narrated by Ab\u016b D\u0101w\u016bd,[7]: \u201cThe most beloved of months for the Messenger of All\u0101h (sall All\u0101hu \u02bfalayhi wa sallam) to fast in was Sha\u2019b\u0101n, and his fasting in Sha\u2019b\u0101n was continuous with his fasting in Ramad\u0101n.\u201d[8]
\nIbn Rajab (ra\u1e0diy All\u0101hu \u02bfanhu) said: \u201cFasting in Sha\u2019b\u0101n is better than fasting in the Sacred Months, and the best of voluntary fasts are those that are (observed in the months) closest to Ramad\u0101n, before or after. The status of these fasts is like that of al-Sunan al-Raw\u0101tib which are done before and after fard (prayers) and which make up for any shortfall in the number of obliagatory prayers. The same applies to fasts observed before and after Ramad\u0101n. Just as al-Sunan al-Raw\u0101tib are better than other kinds of voluntary prayers, so fasts observed (in the months) before and after Ramad\u0101n are better than fasts at other times.
\nThe phrase \u201cSha\u2019b\u0101n is a month to which people do not pay attention, between Rajab and Ramad\u0101n\u201d indicates that because it comes between two important months, the Sacred Month of Rajab and the month of fasting, people are preoccupied with those two months and they do not pay attention to Sha\u2019b\u0101n. Many people think that fasting in Rajab is better than fasting in Sha\u2019b\u0101n, because Rajab is one of the Sacred Months, but this is not the case.
\nIn the \u1e25ad\u012bth quoted above there is an indication that even though certain times, places and people may be commonly thought to possess a particular virtue, there may be others that are better than them.
\nIt also indicates that it is mustahabb to make good use of the times when people tend to be negligent, by doing acts of worship. A group of the Salaf used to fill the time between Maghrib and \u02bfIsh\u0101\u2019 with prayer, saying that it was a time when many people were negligent. Another example is the remembrance of All\u0101h (dhikr) in the marketplace, because this means one is remembering Him in a place where people tend to be negligent and among people who are negligent. There are a number of benefits that come from making good use of times when people are often negligent, and using these times for worship, including the following:
\nIt is more concealing of one\u2019s good works, and hiding and concealing n\u0101fil actions is better, especially fasting, because it is a secret between a slave and his Lord. Hence it was said that there is no element of showing off in fasting. One of the Salaf used to fast for years without anybody knowing about it; he would go from his home to the marketplace carrying two loaves of bread, which he would give away in charity, and he would fast. His family thought that he ate the bread, whilst the people in the marketplace thought that he had eaten at home. The Salaf thought it was mustahabb for a person who was fasting to do things that would conceal the fact that he was fasting. It was reported that Ibn Mas\u2019\u016bd said: \u201cWhen you get up in the morning and you are fasting, then apply perfume.\u201d Qut\u0101dah said: \u201cIt is mustahabb for the [man] who is fasting to apply perfume so that there will be no sign that he is fasting.\u201d
\nBy the same token, doing righteous deeds at times when people are distracted and negligent is more difficult. One of the indications of how virtuous a deed is is how difficult it is: if everyone is doing a certain action, it is easy, but if most people are negligent, this makes it more difficult for those who do remember All\u0101h. Muslim,[9] narrated from the had\u012bth of Ma\u2019qil ibn Yass\u0101r: \u201c[The Prophet (sall All\u0101hu \u02bfalayhi wa sallam) said:] \u2018Worship at times of tribulation (fitnah) is like Hijrah to me.\u2019\u201d The phrase \u201cworship at times of tribulation\u201d refers to times of upheavals and trials, when people follow their own desires, and those who adhere to Isl\u0101m are doing something difficult.
\nThe scholars differed as to the reasons why the Prophet (sall All\u0101hu \u02bfalayhi wa sallam) fasted so much in Sha\u2019b\u0101n. Their various opinions were as follows:
\nThat he had been unable to fast three days out of every month because he was travelling or for some other reason, so he made them all up together in Sha\u2019b\u0101n. When the Prophet (sall All\u0101hu \u02bfalayhi wa sallam) began to do some n\u0101fil action, he would persist in it, and if he missed it, he would make it up later.
\nIt was said that his wives used to make up the days that they missed of Ramad\u0101n in Sha\u2019b\u0101n, so he used to fast because of that. This is the opposite of what was reported from \u02bf\u0100\u2019ishah, that she used to delay making up days that she had missed in Ramad\u0101n until Sha\u2019b\u0101n because she was too busy with the Messenger of All\u0101h (sall All\u0101hu \u02bfalayhi wa sallam) to fast.
\nIt was said that it was because this is a month which people do not pay attention to. This is the most correct view, because of the \u1e25ad\u012bth of Us\u0101mah quoted above, in which it says: \u201cThat is a month to which people do not pay attention, between Rajab and Ramad\u0101n.\u201d[10]
\nWhen Sha\u2019b\u0101n began, if the Prophet (sall All\u0101hu \u02bfalayhi wa sallam) still had some voluntary fasts outstanding that he had not fasted, he would make them up during Sha\u2019b\u0101n so that his n\u0101fil fasts would be complete before Ramad\u0101n came. Similarly, if he had missed some Sunnah prayers or he had missed Qiy\u0101m al-Layl, he would make it up. \u02bf\u0100\u2019ishah used to make the most of this opportunity to make up any obligatory Ramad\u0101n fasts that she had missed because of menstruation; during other months she was too busy with the Prophet (sall All\u0101hu \u02bfalayhi wa sallam) to fast. We should also note here that anyone who has any missed fasts to make up has to make them up before the next Ramad\u0101n comes. It is not permissible to delay it until after the following Ramad\u0101n except in cases of necessity (such as a valid excuse that continues between the two Ramad\u0101ns). Whoever is able to make them up before the (second) Ramad\u0101n and does not do so, has to make them up after the (second) Ramad\u0101n and in addition to that, he has to repent and to feed one poor person for each day that he missed. This is the view of M\u0101lik, al-Sh\u0101fa\u2019i and Ahmad.
\nAnother benefit of fasting in Sha\u2019b\u0101n is that it is a kind of training for the Ramad\u0101n fast, in case a person finds it difficult to fast when Ramad\u0101n starts; if he fasts in Sha\u2019b\u0101n he will have gotten used to fasting and he will feel strong and energetic when Ramad\u0101n comes. Sha\u2019b\u0101n is like an introduction to Ramad\u0101n and it has some things in common with Ramad\u0101n, such as fasting, reciting Qur\u2019\u0101n and giving in charity. Salamah b. Suhayl used to say: \u201cThe month of Sha\u2019b\u0101n is the month of reciters (of the Qur\u2019\u0101n).\u201d Hab\u012bb b. Ab\u012b Th\u0101bit used to say when Sha\u2019b\u0101n came, \u201cThis is the month of reciters (of the Qur\u2019\u0101n).\u201d When Sha\u2019b\u0101n came, \u2018Amr ibn Qays al-Mal\u0101\u2019i used to close his store and devote his time to reading the Qur\u2019\u0101n.<\/p>\n
\nIt was reported in al-Sah\u012bhayn from \u2018Imr\u0101n b. Husayn (ra\u1e0diy All\u0101hu \u02bfanhu) that the Prophet (sall All\u0101hu \u02bfalayhi wa sallam) said to a man, \u201cHave you fasted anything of the sir\u0101r of this month?\u201d He said, \u201cNo.\u201d He said: \u201cIf you have not fasted, then fast two days.\u201d According to a report narrated by al-Bukh\u0101ri: I think he meant Ramad\u0101n. According to a report narrated by Muslim, the Prophet (sall All\u0101hu \u02bfalayhi wa sallam) said: \u201cHave you fasted anything of the sir\u0101r of Sha\u2019b\u0101n?\u201d[11]
\nThere was some dispute as to the meaning of the word sir\u0101r. The most well-known view is that it refers to the end of the month. The end of the month is called sir\u0101r because the moon is hidden (istisr\u0101r) at that time. Someone may raise the point that it was reported in al-Sah\u012bhayn from Ab\u016b Hurayrah (ra\u1e0diy All\u0101hu \u02bfanhu) that the Prophet (sall All\u0101hu \u02bfalayhi wa sallam) said: \u201cDo not pre-empt Ramad\u0101n by one or two days, except for those who have the habit of fasting regularly, in which case they may fast.\u201d[12] How can we reconcile the had\u012bth which encourages fasting at this time with the had\u012bth which says not to fast at this time? The answer is: many of the scholars and most of those who commented on this had\u012bth said: this man to whom the Prophet (sall All\u0101hu \u02bfalayhi wa sallam) addressed this question was known to have the habit of fasting regularly, or else he had made a vow, so the Prophet (sall All\u0101hu \u02bfalayhi wa sallam) commanded him to make up his fast. There are also other points of view on this issue. In brief we may say that there are three scenarios for fasting at the end of Sha\u2019b\u0101n.
\nThe first scenario is when a person fasts at the end of Sha\u2019b\u0101n with the intention of being on the safe side and not missing the first day of Ramad\u0101n. This is forbidden. The second scenario is when a person fasts with the intention of fulfilling a vow or of making up a day of Ramad\u0101n that he missed or as an act of expiation (kaf\u0101rah), etc. This is permissible according to the majority.
\nThe third scenario is when this is purely a voluntary fast. This is regarded as makr\u016bh by those who said that we should differentiate between Sha\u2019b\u0101n and Ramad\u0101n by not fasting for a while. Among those who said this was al-Hasan. If it happens to coincide with a day when a person habitually fasts, M\u0101lik and those who agreed with him permitted this, but al-Sh\u0101fa\u2019i, al-\u2018\u016az\u0101\u2019i, Ahmad and others made a distinction between cases where it is a fast which a person habitually observes or otherwise.
\nIn conclusion, the had\u012bth of Ab\u016b Hurayrah quoted above is what we should follow according to the majority of scholars. It is makr\u016bh to observe a voluntary fast one or two days before Ramad\u0101n for those who do not habitually fast on those days and who have not previously fasted until the end of Sha\u2019b\u0101n. It may be asked: why is it makr\u016bh to fast just before Ramad\u0101n (for those who do not have a prior habit of fasting)? There are a number of reasons why this is so, such as:
\nFirstly: lest extra days be added to the fast of Ramad\u0101n that are not part of it. Fasting on the day of Eid is prohibited for the same reason, lest we fall into the same trap as the People of the Book with regard to fasting, as they added to their fasts because of their own whims and desires.
\nFor the same reason it is also forbidden to fast on the \u201cday of doubt\u201d. \u2018Amm\u0101r said: whoever fasts on this day has disobeyed Ab\u016b\u2019l-Q\u0101sim (ra\u1e0diy All\u0101hu \u02bfanhu).
\nThe \u201cday of doubt\u201d is a day when people are not sure whether it is Ramad\u0101n or not, when news of the sighting of the crescent moon comes from one whose word cannot be accepted. As for a cloudy day, some of the \u02bfulam\u0101\u2019 said that this was also a \u2018day of doubt\u2019 and said that fasting was not allowed on this day. This is the view of the majority.
\nSecondly: to make a distinction between fard (obligatory) fasts and n\u0101fil (supererogatory) fasts, because making a clear distinction between fard actions and n\u0101fil actions is prescribed in Isl\u0101m. Hence it is har\u0101m to fast on the day of Eid, and the Prophet (sall All\u0101hu \u02bfalayhi wa sallam) forbade following an obligatory prayer immediately with another prayer unless they are separated by saying sal\u0101m or speaking, especially in the case of the Sunnah prayer performed just before Fajr. It is prescribed to make a clear separation between this prayer and the obligatory prayer. Hence it is prescribed to pray it at home and to lie down afterwards.
\nWhen the Prophet (sall All\u0101hu \u02bfalayhi wa sallam) saw a man praying at the time when the iq\u0101mah had been given for Fajr, he said to him: \u201cAl-Subh is four rak\u2019ahs.\u201d[13]
\nSome ignorant people may think that the reason why we do not fast just before Ramad\u0101n is so that we can make the most of eating and have our fill of our desires before we have to deny ourselves by fasting. This is an ignorant mistake on the part of those who think this. And All\u0101h knows best.<\/p>\n
\n[1] Narrated by al-Bukh\u0101ri, no. 1833; Muslim, no. 1956
\n[2] Muslim no 1957
\n[3] Muslim no. 1954
\n[4] Muslim no. 1955
\n[5] Bukh\u0101ri, no. 1971, and Muslim, no. 1157
\n[6] Nas\u0101\u2019i, see Sah\u012bh al-Targh\u012bb wa\u2019l-Tarh\u012bb, page 425
\n[7] Ab\u016b D\u0101w\u016bd no. 2076
\n[8] Classed as sah\u012bh by al-Alb\u0101ni, see Sah\u012bh Sunan Abi D\u0101w\u016bd, 2\/461
\n[9] Muslim no. 2984
\n[10] Narrated by al-Nas\u0101\u2019i, see Sah\u012bh al-Targh\u012bb wa\u2019l-Tarh\u012bb, p. 425
\n[11] Narrated by al-Bukh\u0101ri, 4\/2000; Muslim, no. 1161
\n[12] Reported by al-Bukh\u0101ri, no 1983; Muslim, no. 1082
\n[13] Narrated by al-Bukh\u0101ri, no. 663<\/p>\n