✿ Fasting the Entire Month of Shaʿbān and Mondays & Thursdays Is Recommended ✿
✍ Written by: Imran Ayyub Lahori
❖ ➊ The Prophet ﷺ Fasting Frequently in Shaʿbān
ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها narrated:
وما رأيته في شهر أكثر منه صيامًا في شعبان
“I never saw the Prophet ﷺ fast more in any month than he fasted in Shaʿbān.”
📘 [Bukhārī: 1969, Kitāb al-Ṣiyām: Bāb Ṣawm Shaʿbān; Muslim: 1156]
❖ ➋ Fasting the Entire Shaʿbān (Except for Ramadan)
Umm Salamah رضي الله عنها reported:
إن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم لم يكن يصوم من السنة شهرًا تامًا إلا شعبان، يصل به رمضان
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ would not fast an entire month in the year except Shaʿbān, which he would connect to Ramadan.”
📘 [Ṣaḥīḥ Abū Dāwūd: 2048, Kitāb al-Ṣiyām: Bāb fī man Yaṣil Shaʿbān bi-Ramaḍān; also: Abū Dāwūd: 2336; Tirmidhī: 736; Nasāʾī: 4/200; Ibn Mājah: 1648; Aḥmad: 6/311]
❖ Important Note on a Weak Ḥadīth
The narration that says:
“After Ramadan, the best fasts are those of Shaʿbān”
❌ is weak.
📚 [Ḍaʿīf Tirmidhī: 104, Kitāb al-Zakāh: Bāb Mā Jāʾa fī Faḍl al-Ṣadaqah; Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl: 889; Tirmidhī: 663]
❖ Summary of the Ruling
✔ Fasting during the month of Shaʿbān is highly recommended (mustaḥabb), especially since it leads into the blessed month of Ramadan.
✔ The Prophet ﷺ frequently fasted during Shaʿbān, sometimes even the entire month, except for the obligatory fasts of Ramadan.
✔ Fasting on Mondays and Thursdays also remains consistently encouraged throughout the year.
