🍲 The Ruling on Increasing Food and Preparing Specific Dishes on ʿĀshūrāʼ
Source: Fatāwā al-Dīn al-Khāliṣ, Vol. 1, p. 143
Question by: Your brother, Ismāʿīl
❖ Question:
Is it Islamically permissible to prepare special dishes (like porridge) or increase food and spending specifically on the day of ʿĀshūrāʼ (10th Muḥarram)? What is the correct ruling in this regard?
❖ Answer:
Alḥamdulillāh, waṣ-ṣalātu was-salāmu ʿalā Rasūlillāh, Ammā baʿd…
❖ What Is Established Regarding the Month of Muḥarram
There are only two authentic points confirmed about Muḥarram:
① It is a sacred and honored month, contrary to Shīʿa belief that considers it inauspicious.
② Fasting during this month, especially on the day of ʿĀshūrāʼ, is legislated and praiseworthy.
(See detailed rulings under the chapter of fasting — Kitāb al-Ṣawm).
All other rituals, customs, or special practices are innovations (bidʿah) and have no basis in authentic Islamic teachings.
1. Ruling on Increasing Food and Spending on ʿĀshūrāʼ
📖 There are some narrations that state:
“Whoever expands his spending on his family on the day of ʿĀshūrāʼ, Allah will expand sustenance for him throughout the year.”
(Narrated in al-Bayhaqī, Shuʿab al-Īmān — from Abū Hurayrah, Abū Saʿīd, and Jābir RA)
However, these narrations are weak (ḍaʿīf).
✔ Imām Ibn al-Jawzī and Imām Ibn Taymiyyah (RA) declared them fabricated (mawḍūʿ).
(Al-Manār al-Munīf, p. 111–112; Mishkāt: 1/170, Ḥadīth 1926)
✔ Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (RA) said:
“This ḥadīth is not authentic.”
✔ Shaykh al-Albānī (RA) also graded this narration as weak and remarked:
“All its chains are weak, and Ibn Taymiyyah’s claim that it is fabricated is not far-fetched.”
🔴 Conclusion:
❌ Expanding food or spending specifically on the day of ʿĀshūrāʼ is not proven in Sharīʿah.
❌ Acting upon this with the belief that it is a religiously encouraged practice makes it an innovation (bidʿah).
2. Preparing Specific Foods on ʿĀshūrāʼ (e.g., Porridge, Slaughtering Chicken)
There is no Sharʿī basis for:
◈ Cooking porridge (dalīyah),
◈ Slaughtering animals,
◈ Or preparing any other specific dish on ʿĀshūrāʼ.
📌 Even recommended (mustaḥabb) acts, when emphasized in a manner that they appear obligatory or part of religion, are classified as innovations.
✔ Therefore, insisting on a specific meal or viewing it as a religious tradition on ʿĀshūrāʼ is incorrect and falls under bidʿah.
3. Common Innovations Associated with ʿĀshūrāʼ
The following un-Islamic innovations and misconceptions are commonly observed during Muḥarram and especially on ʿĀshūrāʼ:
❌ Considering Muḥarram an inauspicious month (contrary to its status as a sacred month).
❌ Believing that the martyrdom of Ḥusayn (RA) is the reason for Muḥarram’s sanctity — whereas the month was sacred long before this event.
❌ Wearing mourning clothes or practicing Shīʿa rituals of grief.
❌ Declaring Ḥusayn’s martyrdom as the greatest tragedy, ignoring the martyrdoms of ʿUthmān, ʿUmar, and most importantly, the death of the Prophet ﷺ, which was the greatest loss to the Ummah.
❌ Closing markets or businesses specifically on ʿĀshūrāʼ — an imitation of Shīʿa customs.
❌ Practices like grave worship, sprinkling water on graves, or their repair on this day — all are innovations with no basis in Islam.
🔴 These are ignorant rituals, alien to authentic Islamic teachings.
❖ Summary of the Ruling
✔ Respecting the month of Muḥarram and fasting on the day of ʿĀshūrāʼ is Sharʿī-approved.
❌ Spending lavishly or cooking specific foods (like porridge) with religious motivation is not proven — the narrations are weak or fabricated.
❌ Treating such practices as part of religion turns them into bidʿah.
✔ Islam encourages us to avoid innovations and follow only what is confirmed in authentic ḥadīth.
📚 For Further Reference:
◈ Fatāwā al-Lajnah al-Dāʾimah (3/52–53)
◈ Aḥsan al-Fatāwā (1/388)
وَاللّٰهُ أَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَاب
