EXCELLENCE OF FAST FOR SIX DAYS IN SHAWWAL: It is commendable to - TopicsExpress

EXCELLENCE OF FAST FOR SIX DAYS IN SHAWWAL: It is commendable to keep six fasts in the month of Shawwal. Muslims should take this opportunity of acquiring such an enormous reward from Allah. It is more preferable to start these fasts from the 2nd of Shawwal and keep fasting up to the 7th of it. However, if, they are kept in other days, the requirement also be fulfilled. The sooner you do them, the better. Allah, the Exalted says: (And march forth in the way (which leads to) forgiveness from your Lord), Al-(Imran 3:133) & (…I hastened to You, O my Lord, that You might be pleased), Ta-Ha 20:84 Muslim should hasten to fast these six days of Shawwal because delaying may cause problems, but it is ok if you do not hasten it and you delay it until the middle or end of the month. The Prophet Muhammad (Salla-Allahu (Alayhi wa Sallam) said: (He who fasts Ramadan, and six of Shawwal, it will be (in terms of rewards) as if the fasted a whole year), Abu Dawud, Ahmad, Ibn Majah, Muslim & Tirmidhi In commenting on the above mentioned hadith, As-San`aanee said in Subul us-Salaam: (If the thirty days of Ramadan fasting are assimilated with the six days of fasting in Shawwal, it altogether makes 36 days. According to Shari (ah, each virtue is rewarded ten times. Therefore, if we multiply 36 with 10, it makes 360 which slightly longer than a lunar year and next Ramadan he will fast again so it is as if he observed his whole life fasting. The Prophet Muhammad (Salla-Allahu (Alayhi wa Sallam) said: (If one throughout his life keeps the fasts of Ramadan and keeps six consecutive fasts in Shawwal it will be as though he has kept a whole life time of fasts, and if one fast for six consecutive days in Shawwal it will be as though he has fasted all year round), narrated by Muslim. Women should first making up her missed fasts from Ramadan due to her monthly period and if she wants to earn the reward mentioned in the above hadith, then she should follow it with six days of Shawwal, and she will gain the reward mentioned in it. It is also permissible for women to delay making up her Ramadan fasts, as long she makes them up before the next Ramadan comes.