✿ The Best Voluntary Fast: Fasting Every Other Day ✿
✍ Written by: Imran Ayyub Lahori
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr رضي الله عنه:
فصم يوما وأفطر يوما فذلك صيام داود عليه السلام وهو أفضل الصيام
“Fast one day and skip the next. That is the fast of Dāwūd عليه السلام, and it is the best of fasts.”
Upon hearing this, ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr رضي الله عنه said,
“I have the strength to do more than that.”
So the Prophet ﷺ replied:
لا أفضل من ذلك
“There is nothing better than that.”
[Bukhārī: 1986, Kitāb al-Ṣiyām: Bāb Ṣawm al-Dahr; Muslim: 1159; Aḥmad: 2/187; Ibn Khuzaymah: 2106; Ibn Ḥibbān: 3571; ʿAbd al-Razzāq: 7862; Bayhaqī: 3/16]
✔ The best form of voluntary (nafl) fasting is to fast every other day, as practiced by Prophet Dāwūd عليه السلام.
✔ The Prophet ﷺ explicitly declared that no voluntary fasting surpasses this in virtue.
Continuous fasting (without break) is discouraged and contrary to the Prophet's guidance.
✍ Written by: Imran Ayyub Lahori
❖ The Most Superior Type of Nafl Fasting
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr رضي الله عنه:
فصم يوما وأفطر يوما فذلك صيام داود عليه السلام وهو أفضل الصيام
“Fast one day and skip the next. That is the fast of Dāwūd عليه السلام, and it is the best of fasts.”
Upon hearing this, ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr رضي الله عنه said,
“I have the strength to do more than that.”
So the Prophet ﷺ replied:
لا أفضل من ذلك
“There is nothing better than that.”
[Bukhārī: 1986, Kitāb al-Ṣiyām: Bāb Ṣawm al-Dahr; Muslim: 1159; Aḥmad: 2/187; Ibn Khuzaymah: 2106; Ibn Ḥibbān: 3571; ʿAbd al-Razzāq: 7862; Bayhaqī: 3/16]❖ Summary of the Ruling
✔ The best form of voluntary (nafl) fasting is to fast every other day, as practiced by Prophet Dāwūd عليه السلام.
✔ The Prophet ﷺ explicitly declared that no voluntary fasting surpasses this in virtue.
Continuous fasting (without break) is discouraged and contrary to the Prophet's guidance.
