بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Hadīth 1.
Narrated by Yahyā ibn Ayyūb and Qutaybah ibn Sa’īd and ‘Alī ibn Hujr, all from Ismā’īl – Ibn Ayyūb who said: Ismā’īl ibn Ja’far narrated to us: Sa’d ibn Sa’īd ibn Qays informed me from ‘Umar ibn Thābit ibn al-Hārith al-Khazrajī,
Abū Ayyūb al-Ansārī, may Allāh be pleased with him, that he narrated that the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) said:
مَنْ صَامَ رَمَضَانَ ثُمَّ أَتْبَعَهُ سِنَّا مِنْ شَوَّالٍ ، كَانَ كَصِيَامِ الدَّهْرِ
“Whoever fasts Ramadān and then follows it with six (days) from Shawwāl, it is like fasting for all time.”
(Sahīh Muslim 1164. Ibn Mājah 1716. Abū Dawūd 2433. Al-Tirmidhī 759 and others.
Declared Sahīh by Ibn Mulaqqin in Badr al-Munīr 5/751. Declared Sahīh by Ibn al-Qayyim in Tahdhīb Sunan 4/680. Declared Sahīh by Al-Albānī in Sahīh Abū Dawūd 7/191 and Irwā 950. Declared Sahīh by Al-Mundhirī in Targhīb 2/215. Declared Hasan Sahīh by Al-Tirmidhī in his Jāmi’ #759.)
Hadīth 2.
Narrated by al-Husayn ibn Idrīs al-Ansārī, narrated by Hishām ibn ‘Ammār, narrated by al-Walīd ibn Muslim, narrated by Yahyā ibn al-Hārith al-Dhimārī, from Abū Asmā’ al-Rahabī
Thawbān, the freed slave (mawlā) of the Messenger of Allāh, may Allāh be pleased with him, from the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) who said:
مَنْ صَامَ رَمضانَ وسِتّاً من شوال ، فَقَدْ صامَ السَّنةَ
“Whoever fasts Ramadān and six (days) from Shawwāl, has indeed fasted the year.”
(Ibn Hibbān 3635, isnād (chain of transmission) declared Sahīh by Al-Arnāūt in his checking)
Additional narrations to the above
Al-Tirmidhī said: There are narrations on this topic from Jābir [al-Awsat of al-Tabarānī 3192, Ahmad 14302, al-Bazzār 1062, al-Bayhaqī 4/292], Abū Hurayrah [al-Bazzār 8334, al-Awsat of al-Tabarānī 7607], and Thawbān [Ibn Mājah 1715, Nasā’ī in al-Kubrā 2874, Ibn Khuzaymah 2115, Ibn Hibbān 3635].
Al-Mubārakfūrī said: and on this topic (there are) also (narrations) on the authority of al-Barā’ ibn ‘Āzib [al-Dāraqutnī in al-‘Ilal 3/74], and Ibn ‘Abbās [al-Awsat 4642] and ‘Ā’ishah. (al-Tuhfah al-Ahwadhī 6/331)
Criticism of Sa’d ibn Sa’īd
Al-Tirmidhī said: Sa’d ibn Sa’īd has been criticised by some of the people of hadīth due to his memory. (Jāmi’ al-Tirmidhī #759)
Ibn Hajr said: (Sa’d ibn Sa’īd ibn Qays ibn ‘Amr al-Ansārī) is truthful but has a poor memory. (al-Taqrīb #2466)
Imām Ahmad said: Sa’d ibn Sa’īd, the brother of Yahyā ibn Sa’īd is weak in hadīth. (Mawsū Aqwāl Imām Ahmad #923, Jarh wa Ta’dīl 4/84)
Elsewhere Imām Ahmad said: Sa’d is not precise in hadīth. (Mawsū Aqwāl Imām Ahmad #923)
Yahyā ibn Ma’īn said: (he is) weak. (Mawsū Aqwāl Yahyā Ibn Ma’īn #1324)
Elsewhere Yahyā ibn Ma’īn said: Sa’d ibn Sa’īd is sālih (i.e. suitable for acceptance/consideration – someone who is righteous but contains some weakness). (Jarh wa Ta’dīl of Ibn Abī Hātim 4/84)
Abū Hātim said: Sa’d ibn Sa’īd is muaddī. Abū Muhammad (Ibn Abī Hātim) said: This means that he did not memorise [well but] he conveyed what he heard. (Jarh wa Ta’dīl 4/84)
Al-Nasā’ī said: He is not strong (al-Tahdhīb of Ibn Hajr 1/692)
Ibn Hibbān mentioned him in “Al-Thiqāt” (The Reliable Narrators) and said: He used to make mistakes. (al-Tahdhīb of Ibn Hajr 1/692)
Al-‘Ijlī and Ibn ‘Ammār said: (He is) trustworthy and reliable (thiqah). (al-Tahdhīb of Ibn Hajr 1/692)
Ibn Sa’d said: He is trustworthy and reliable (thiqah), with few hadīth. (al-Tahdhīb of Ibn Hajr 1 /692)
Ibn al-Qayyim said: Someone like this is only rejected (in his narrations) when he narrates alone, or contradicts trustworthy/reliable narrators. But when he doesn’t narrate alone and narrates what (other) people have narrated, his hadīth is not rejected…
(Imām) Muslim only used his hadīth as evidence because it was clear to him that he (i.e. Sa’d) didn’t err in it, due to indications, corroborations, and supporting evidence that showed him this, even if his errors were known in other matters…(al-Tahdhīb al-Sunan 4/682)
Al-Albānī said: Sa’d has some weakness in terms of his memorisation. Therefore, some scholars deemed the hadīth weak because of him, but the corroboration from Safwān ibn Sulaym and others strengthens it. (Sahīh Abū Dawūd 7/192)
In Irwā (4-106-107), Al-Albānī said:
al-Tahāwī said:
“This hadīth was not strong in our hearts [due to its reliance] on Sa’d ibn Sa’īd, and the reluctance of hadīth scholars [to accept narrations] from him, until we found that it had been taken from him by those we mentioned who are distinguished in narration and verification, and we found that it was narrated from ‘Amr ibn Thābit, Safwān ibn Sulaym, Zayd ibn Aslam, Yahyā ibn Sa’īd al-Ansārī, and ‘Abd Rabbih ibn Sa’īd al-Ansārī.”
I say (i.e. Al-Albānī): Then he presented his chains of transmission to them for this, so the hadīth is authentic, praise be to Allāh, and the doubt concerning Sa’d ibn Sa’īd’s poor memory has been removed.
Ibn al-Qayyim said: In summary: Sa’d did not narrate (this hadīth) alone. Let’s say he did narrate it alone; he is thiqah and truthful. Muslim narrated from him, and Shu’bah, Sufyān al-Thawrī, Ibn ‘Uyaynah, Ibn Jurayj, and Sulaymān ibn Bilāl all narrated from him. These are the imāms of this field. Ahmad said: ‘Shu’bah was a nation unto himself in this field.’ (al-Tahdhīb al-Sunan 4/682)
Hadīth explanation
Ibn Taymiyyah said: It is the same whether one fasts these days immediately after (Eid) al-Fitr or separates them, and whether one fasts them consecutively or separately. This is because the Prophet (ﷺ) said: “and follows it with six (days) from Shawwāl,” and in another narration: “six (days) from Shawwāl,” making all of Shawwāl a time for fasting them, without specifying one part over another. (Sharh al-‘Umdah 3/463)
Al-Mubārakfūrī said: (That is like fasting for all time); because a good deed is multiplied by ten times, so Ramadān counts as ten months and the six days count as two months.”
Al-Nawawī said: “This has been mentioned in a hadīth traced back to the Prophet in the book of Al-Nasā’ī.
[In Al-Sunan Al-Kubrā: 2874, from the hadīth of Thawbān, traced back to the Prophet: “Allāh has made a good deed equal to ten, so a month is equal to ten months, and six days after breaking the fast (Eid) completes the year.”
The wording in Ibn Mājah is: “Whoever fasts six days after (Eid) al-Fitr, it is like fasting for a year.
مَن جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ عَشْرُ أَمْثَالِهَا
‘Whoever comes with a good deed will have ten times the like of it‘” [Sūrah Al-An’ām: 160].] (Al-Tuhfah al-Ahwadhī 6/331-332)
The recommendation to fast the six days
Al-Tirmidhī said: There are those people who consider fasting six days of Shawwāl recommended due to this hadīth. (Jāmi’ al-Tirmidhī #759)
Al-Mubārakfūrī said (commenting on Al-Tirmidhīs statement): and this is the truth.
Al-Nawawī said: In it is clear evidence for the school of al-Shāfi’ī, Ahmad, Dāwūd, and those who agree with them regarding the recommendation of fasting these six days.
And Mālik and Abū Hanīfah said: It is disliked. Mālik said in al-Muwatta’: I have not seen anyone from the people of knowledge fast them. They said: It is disliked lest it be thought to be obligatory.
And the evidence of al-Shāfi’ī and those who agree with him is this clear, authentic hadīth, and when the Sunnah is established, it should not be abandoned because some people, most of them, or all of them abandon it. And their saying: “lest it be thought to be obligatory” is contradicted by the fasting of the day of ‘Arafah, ‘Āshūrā’, and other recommended fasts. End of al-Nawawī’s words.
I say (i.e. Al-Mubārakfūrī): The statement of those who say that fasting these six days is disliked is invalid and contradicts the hadīths of this topic. (al-Tuhfah al-Ahwadhī 6/332-333)
Ibn ‘Uthaymīn said: Some scholars disliked fasting the six days every year, fearing that common people might think fasting them is obligatory. This principle is weak and incorrect because if accepted, it would necessitate disliking the regular Sunnah prayers that follow the obligatory prayers being performed daily, which is clearly false…(Sharh al-Mumti’ 3/573)
Ibn al-Qayyim said: The fact that the people of Madīnah in (Imām) Mālik’s time did not act upon it does not necessitate that the entire Ummah abandon it. Ahmad, Al-Shāfi’ī, Ibn al-Mubārak, and others acted upon it. (al-Tahdhīb al-Sunan 4 /684)
Ibn Taymiyyah said: The summary of this issue is: Following Ramadān with six (days) from Shawwāl is recommended. (Sharh al-‘Umdah 3/460)
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