إِذَا بَقِيَ نِصْفٌ مِنْ شَعْبَانَ فَلاَ تَصُومُوا
Abū Hurairah narrated:
The Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) said: “When a half of Sha’bān remains then do not fast“. (Al-Tirmidhī 738. Declared Sahīh by Al-Albānī)
Shaykh Bin Bāz said:
As for the Hadīth that prohibits fasting after the middle of Sha’bān, it is Sahīh, as graded by the knowledgeable brother, Shaykh Nāsir Al-Dīn Al-Albānī. What is meant is that it is not permissible to start fasting after the first half of Sha’bān is over. If a person fasts most or all of the month (of Sha’bān)*, they will be acting upon the Sunnah (acts, sayings or approvals of the Prophet (ﷺ)). May Allāh grant us success. (Majmū al-Fatāwā 15, page 385)
*The evidence for this is the hadīth of ‘Āishah (Sahīh Muslim 1156): “he observed fast throughout the whole of Sha’bān except a few (days)“.
And the hadīth of Umm Salamah (Abū Dawūd 2336, declared Sahīh by Al-Albānī): “She never saw the Prophet (ﷺ) fasting the whole month except Sha’bān which he combined with Ramadan“.
Imām Nawawī said in Riyād al-Sālihīn 219:
‘Chapter on the prohibition of anticipating Ramadān with fasting after half of Sha’bān (passes), except for one who connects it with what came before it (i.e. continues fasting after fasting before it) or it coincides with a habitual fast, such as fasting on Mondays and Thursdays’.
He also said in Sharh Sahīh Muslim (4/93):
Regarding the hadīth collected by Abū Dawūd and others, “When a half of Sha’bān has passed then there is no fasting until Ramadān”, if he connects it to that which was before it or it is his habit to fast on a Monday or the like, so he habitually fasts superogatory with the intention of that then it is permissible, in accordance with this hadīth.
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