✿ Fasting on Ayyām al-Bīḍ (White Days) Is Recommended ✿
✍ Written by: Imran Ayyub Lahori
Milḥān al-Qaysī رضي الله عنه narrated:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ would instruct us to fast on the White Days, i.e., the 13th, 14th, and 15th of each lunar month, and he ﷺ said:
هن كهيئة الدهر
“They are like the fasts of a lifetime.”
[Ṣaḥīḥ Abū Dāwūd: 2139, Kitāb al-Ṣiyām: Bāb fī Ṣawm al-Thalāthah min Kulli Shahr; Abū Dāwūd: 2449; Muslim: 1162; Nasāʾī: 2432; Ibn Mājah: 1707]
Abū Dharr رضي الله عنه reported that the Prophet ﷺ said:
“O Abū Dharr! When you fast three days in a month, then fast on the 13th, 14th, and 15th.”
[Ḥasan Ṣaḥīḥ: Ṣaḥīḥ Tirmidhī: 608, Kitāb al-Ṣiyām: Bāb fī Ṣawm Thalāthah min Kulli Shahr; Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl: 947; Tirmidhī: 761; Nasāʾī: 4/222; Ibn Khuzaymah: 2128; Aḥmad: 5/152; ʿAbd al-Razzāq: 7873; Bayhaqī: 4/294]
Abū Dharr رضي الله عنه also reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Whoever fasts three days every month:
فذلك صيام الدهر
‘That is equivalent to fasting for a lifetime.’
Then the Prophet ﷺ said:
“Allah has confirmed this in His Book…”
مَن جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ عَشْرُ أَمْثَالِهَا
“Whoever comes with a good deed will have ten times its like.”
[Al-Anʿām: 160]
[Ṣaḥīḥ Tirmidhī: 609, also Tirmidhī: 762; Aḥmad: 5/145; Nasāʾī: 4/219; Ibn Mājah: 1708]
The term itself was defined by the Prophet ﷺ as the 13th, 14th, and 15th of every lunar month.
✔ This is the view held by the majority of scholars (jumhūr).
[Sharḥ Muslim by al-Nawawī: 4/308; Fatḥ al-Bārī: 4/749; Nayl al-Awṭār: 3/235]
✔ Fasting on the White Days is a Sunnah mu’akkadah (strongly recommended Sunnah).
✔ It brings the reward equal to fasting the entire year, based on the principle that each good deed is multiplied tenfold.
✔ This practice is easy, regular, and full of reward, and has been emphasized in numerous authentic narrations.
✍ Written by: Imran Ayyub Lahori
❖ Virtue of Fasting on the White Days (13th, 14th, 15th of Lunar Month)
➊ Instruction from the Prophet ﷺ
Milḥān al-Qaysī رضي الله عنه narrated:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ would instruct us to fast on the White Days, i.e., the 13th, 14th, and 15th of each lunar month, and he ﷺ said:
هن كهيئة الدهر
“They are like the fasts of a lifetime.”
[Ṣaḥīḥ Abū Dāwūd: 2139, Kitāb al-Ṣiyām: Bāb fī Ṣawm al-Thalāthah min Kulli Shahr; Abū Dāwūd: 2449; Muslim: 1162; Nasāʾī: 2432; Ibn Mājah: 1707]➋ Specific Recommendation by the Prophet ﷺ
Abū Dharr رضي الله عنه reported that the Prophet ﷺ said:
“O Abū Dharr! When you fast three days in a month, then fast on the 13th, 14th, and 15th.”
[Ḥasan Ṣaḥīḥ: Ṣaḥīḥ Tirmidhī: 608, Kitāb al-Ṣiyām: Bāb fī Ṣawm Thalāthah min Kulli Shahr; Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl: 947; Tirmidhī: 761; Nasāʾī: 4/222; Ibn Khuzaymah: 2128; Aḥmad: 5/152; ʿAbd al-Razzāq: 7873; Bayhaqī: 4/294]➌ Fasting Three Days a Month = Lifetime Fasting
Abū Dharr رضي الله عنه also reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Whoever fasts three days every month:
فذلك صيام الدهر
‘That is equivalent to fasting for a lifetime.’
Then the Prophet ﷺ said:
“Allah has confirmed this in His Book…”
مَن جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ عَشْرُ أَمْثَالِهَا
“Whoever comes with a good deed will have ten times its like.”
[Al-Anʿām: 160] [Ṣaḥīḥ Tirmidhī: 609, also Tirmidhī: 762; Aḥmad: 5/145; Nasāʾī: 4/219; Ibn Mājah: 1708]❖ Meaning of “Ayyām al-Bīḍ”
The term itself was defined by the Prophet ﷺ as the 13th, 14th, and 15th of every lunar month.
✔ This is the view held by the majority of scholars (jumhūr).
[Sharḥ Muslim by al-Nawawī: 4/308; Fatḥ al-Bārī: 4/749; Nayl al-Awṭār: 3/235]❖ Summary
✔ Fasting on the White Days is a Sunnah mu’akkadah (strongly recommended Sunnah).
✔ It brings the reward equal to fasting the entire year, based on the principle that each good deed is multiplied tenfold.
✔ This practice is easy, regular, and full of reward, and has been emphasized in numerous authentic narrations.
