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Why fasting the 6 days of Shawwal? Why not 5?

 Bismillah Hir Rehman Nir Raheem (In The Name Of Allah, The Most Beneficial, The Most Merciful)

We all know about the 6 days of fasting in Shawwal, which is Sunnah Mustahabbah (non-obligatory but encouraged), and that it will have a reward of fasting for the whole year.

It is also reported in the Sahih Hadith that Abu Ayyub (May Allah Be Pleased with Him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) said:

"Whoever fasts Ramadan and follows it with six days of Shawwal, it will be as if he fasted for the whole year."

Narrated By Muslim, Abu Dawud, At-Tirmidhi, An-Nisa'i, and Ibn Majah,

But, did we ever want to know why fasting for six days? Why not four, five, seven or any other number of days?

              
                                               
                                                                                          HOW?

The prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) has explained how are the rewards multiplied for fasting in Ramadan and Shawwal in the following Hadith: According to An-Nisa’I and Ibn-Majah, narrated by Ibn Khuzaymah, Fasting for the month of Ramadan brings the reward of ten like it, and fasting for the six days of Shawwal brings the reward of two months, and that is the fasting of the whole year.

Allah multiplies the reward of one day of fasting in Ramadan and Shawaal into ten days of fasting. So, 30 days of Ramadan rewards for 300 days of fasting, and 6 days of Shawwal rewards for 60 days of fasting. Therefore, it is as though fasting for the whole year, and it’s clear that one cannot just fast for 6 days of Shawwal assuming that it'll be recorded for him as if he has fasted for the whole year. No! One has to fast the entire 30 days of Ramadan plus the following 6 days of Shawwal to achieve the goal of fasting for the whole year.

Now one may ask if a year consists of 365 days, then wouldn't it be mathematically wrong to say that fasting for 360 days is not completing a calendar year?

The answer is quite simple and requisite to advance our understanding a little about the Islamic calendar that consists of 12 Lunar Months which is similar to the Gregorian Calendar. However, it consists of 354-355 days, based on Lunar movements, unlike the 365 days of the Gregorian Calendar.

Therefore,  one should always prefer to be on the higher side of the scale of good deeds and the lower side of the scale of bad deeds.

Blog Written By
Zain Khan

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