The 365 · Sunnah · Day 217 · Fasting
Fasting the Day of ʿĀshūrāʾ
The hadith
صِيَامُ يَوْمِ عَاشُورَاءَ أَحْتَسِبُ عَلَى اللَّهِ أَنْ يُكَفِّرَ السَّنَةَ الَّتِي قَبْلَهُ
The Prophet ﷺ said: 'Fasting the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ: I expect that Allah will expiate the previous year for it' (Muslim 1162). The day is the 10th of Muḥarram, the day Allah saved Mūsā (peace be upon him) and the Children of Israel from Pharaoh. The Prophet ﷺ, upon arriving in Madinah, found the Jews fasting it and said: 'We are closer to Mūsā than they are.' He fasted it and commanded its fast (Bukhārī 2004). To distinguish from the Jews, he ﷺ later said: 'fast a day before it' (the 9th, called Tāsiʿāʾ).
Svenska: Profeten ﷺ: 'Fastan på ʿĀshūrā-dagen: jag hämtar från Allah att Han suger ut det föregående året för den.' (Muslim 1162)
Muslim 1162, Bukhari 2004, Bukhari 2002
The story
When the Prophet ﷺ migrated to Madinah, he found the Jewish community fasting ʿĀshūrāʾ. He asked them why. They said: 'this is a great day; Allah saved Mūsā and his people, and drowned Pharaoh and his people; Mūsā fasted it in gratitude.' The Prophet ﷺ said: 'we are closer to Mūsā than you are.' He fasted it and commanded the Muslims to fast it (Bukhārī 2004). Later, to distinguish the Muslim practice from the Jews', he ﷺ said: 'if I live to the next year, I will fast the ninth' (Muslim 1134). The Sunnah, therefore, is to fast the 9th and 10th together. Some scholars added the 11th as well to ensure overlap.
Why it's here
Because the day commemorates one of the greatest events in revelation history: Allah's saving of Mūsā and the Children of Israel from Pharaoh by parting the sea. The Prophet ﷺ identified with Mūsā's victory and adopted the fast. And he ﷺ attached a stunning reward: the fast expiates the previous year's sins. One day. One year of minor sins erased (the major sins require specific tawbah). Ya akhī, ya ukhtī, this is the most rewarded annual single-day fast in the dīn. The Prophet ﷺ: 'no fast outside of Ramadan is more beloved to me than the fast of ʿĀshūrāʾ' (al-Bayhaqi). His personal love for this fast tells us its weight.
Try it today
1) Add 9th and 10th Muḥarram to your annual calendar (every year); 2) Make the niyyah the night before each fast; 3) On the day, read about Mūsā's exodus in Ṭā Hā 20:9-79 or al-Shuʿarāʾ 26:10-68; 4) Increase duʿā of gratitude during the fast; 5) Break with dates and water as the Prophet ﷺ did; 6) Reflect on Allah's saving the believers across history and trust His saving in your own life.
In your day
Mark the 9th and 10th of Muḥarram in your calendar (every year). Plan the niyyah the night before. Suhoor in the early morning. The fast covers daylight. Iftar with dates and water. The reward: expiation of the previous year's minor sins. Pair the fast with Quran reading (especially the surahs about Mūsā and Pharaoh in Ṭā Hā and al-Shuʿarāʾ), duʿā of gratitude (Allah saved Mūsā and gave us the path), and reflection on the cosmic event that the fast commemorates.
A reflection to carry
Imagine Mūsā (peace be upon him) standing on the far shore of the sea, watching the waters return over Pharaoh's army. The most powerful tyrant of his age, drowned. The slaves freed. The Children of Israel safe. Mūsā fasted in gratitude. The Prophet ﷺ, upon arriving in Madinah and seeing the Jewish community continue the fast, said: 'we are closer to Mūsā than they are.' He adopted the fast and commanded it for the Muslims. And he ﷺ expected from Allah that one day of fasting on ʿĀshūrāʾ erases an entire year of minor sins. Ya akhī, ya ukhtī, this is the most leveraged annual single-day fast in the dīn. Mark it. Fast the 9th and 10th of Muḥarram every year. And let the day's reflection be on Allah's saving the believers: Mūsā from Pharaoh, the Companions from Quraysh, you from the lives you would have lived without His guidance. The fast is gratitude in physical form.
Read the longer reflection
Yā Rabb, the Prophet ﷺ identified with Mūsā (peace be upon him) and adopted Mūsā's gratitude-fast. 'We are closer to Mūsā than they are.' The Muslim ummah inherited the day. And You attached, through Your Beloved ﷺ, a stunning offer: one day's fast erases the previous year's minor sins. Ya Allāh, the day commemorates Your saving of an oppressed people. The Children of Israel had been enslaved for generations. The miracle was cosmic: the sea parted, the path opened, Pharaoh drowned, the believers walked through to freedom. And You ask me to fast one day in commemoration. The reward: a year of my own sins erased. Forgive me, ya Rabb, for the years I have let ʿĀshūrāʾ pass without fasting. The Muḥarrams when I forgot the date. The years when I knew but did not plan. The opportunities to have a year of minor sins erased that I missed. Realign me. Make me a believer who marks 9th and 10th Muḥarram every year, every year, until I die. Make me wake for suhoor. Make me reflect on Mūsā's salvation as I fast. Make me see Pharaoh in every modern tyranny and trust that You save Your believers. And ya Allāh, let the cumulative erasure of my minor sins through these fasts arrive at the Day as a substantial purification. Āmīn ya Munīb.
Sources: Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi. The Qur'an and its translation are verified; the scholarship is retold faithfully in our own words and credited to its sources, never reproduced verbatim.
A verse, a healing, and a Sunnah, every morning.
Subscribe, free