When you think of Islam and fasting, you immediately think of Ramadan. But there are many more days on which a Muslim can fast. Some days are highly recommended, from a religious point of view. This article focuses on fasting outside Ramadan and which periods are favorable and known.
Fasting outside Ramadan
Most people are familiar with the concept of fasting during Ramadan for Muslims. This is an obligation for healthy, adult Muslims. However, there are also many other days on which you can fast, although certainly not all Muslims will do so and even though it is not obligatory. Only the first days of the Feast of Sacrifice and Eid al-Fitr are excluded as days for fasting. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) often fasted on Mondays and Thursdays, but he disapproved of fasting on Fridays as a single day. In addition, there are many hadith about the prophet’s fasting in various periods and days and many Muslims follow him in this. However, fasting when it is not obligatory is not very popular or well known. This is because it is often difficult in combination with work and study, but for the faithful Muslim who is involved in praying and giving alms, extra fasting can also provide a great spiritual stimulus. Fasting is a form of worship and therefore certainly recommended for the believer.
The Islamic Months
To fast extra days, it is useful to keep an eye on the Islamic months. These have the following names:
- Muharram ul Haram or Muharram
- Safar
- Rabi’-ul-Awwal
- Rabi’-ul-Akhir
- Jumaada-ul-Awwal
- Jumaada-ul-Akhir
- Rajab
- Sha’abaan
- Ramadan
- Shawwal
- Dhul Qa’dah
- Dhul Hijja (the month of the Feast of Sacrifice)
Mandatory Fasting
There are two reasons to fast outside of Ramadan: a voluntary form of fasting or a mandatory form of fasting, the latter form of fasting is a kind of penance. In some cases, people may fast because they have sworn an oath and then not fulfilled it, for which they must fast for three days. Even if one deliberately kills an animal during the Hajj, the punishment is a number of days of fasting, one day for each animal. The punishment for killing someone is two months of fasting and the same applies when a man describes his wife as ‘the back of his mother’ (‘ zihar ‘), a pre-Islamic custom used to pronounce a divorce. Also, someone who deliberately breaks his/her fast during Ramadan by eating, drinking or having sexual intercourse must make up that day and add sixty days to it as penance . If he/she is physically unable to do so, the person must feed sixty poor people.
Voluntary Fasting
Voluntary fasting can be done to be forgiven of sins. Praying or giving alms is also a way to be forgiven of sins for a Muslim. Many Muslims therefore fast on the day before the Feast of Sacrifice (the day of Arafah, the ninth day of Dhul Hijja), because then all sins from the year before and after would be forgiven. Fasting on the tenth day of Muharram, Ashura is said to ensure that all sins for the previous year are forgiven.
Specific periods and days for fasting:
- Ashura, this is the tenth day of the month of Muharram, on that day Moses led the Jews from Egypt to Palestine, freeing them from oppression.
- fasting during Muharram, after Ramadan, no month is as suitable for fasting as this month.
- arafah, the ninth day of Dhul Hijja, this is the day before Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice. This is the month of the Hajj in which many Muslims who do not undertake the Hajj themselves also fast.
- nine days of Dhul Hajj
- six days during Shawwal (the month after Ramadan), the Quran states ‘one good deed is equal to ten good deeds’. The thirty days of fasting during Ramadan and the six days of Shawwal make thirty-six days times ten, making it as if one has fasted the entire year.
- fasting during Sha’abaan (the month before Ramadan), in this month the Prophet fasted a lot. His wife Aisha said: I have never seen the Prophet fasting voluntarily as much as in the month of Sha’abaan. The fifteenth day of this month is especially recommended, the day preceding the night of Barat, the night of reconciliation and forgiveness.
- fasting a few fixed days a week, usually Mondays and Thursdays, following the example of the prophet Mohammed (pbuh)
- the ‘white days’, the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth day of each lunar month, these are the days when the moon is full
So for those who are actually interested in fasting outside of Ramadan, there is more than enough opportunity to do so.