The 365 · Sunnah · Day 242 · Fasting
Fasting the Tenth of Muḥarram (Yawm ʿĀshūrāʾ)
The hadith
قَالَ النَّبِيُّ ﷺ: «صِيَامُ يَوْمِ عَاشُورَاءَ أَحْتَسِبُ عَلَى اللَّهِ أَنْ يُكَفِّرَ السَّنَةَ الَّتِي قَبْلَهُ»
The Prophet ﷺ said: Fasting the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ, I hope from Allah that it will expiate the sins of the year before. (Muslim)
Svenska: Profeten ﷺ sa: Att fasta ʿĀshūrāʾ-dagen, jag hoppas att Gud kommer att sona det föregående året. (Muslim)
Sahih Muslim 1162, on the authority of Abū Qatādah. Tied to the 10th of Muḥarram, the day Allah saved Mūsā and his people from Pharaoh.
The story
When the Prophet ﷺ migrated to Madīnah, he found the Jews fasting on the tenth of Muḥarram. He asked them why. They said: this is the day Allah saved Mūsā and his people from Pharaoh. The Prophet ﷺ said: we have more right to Mūsā than they do, and he fasted it and commanded its fasting (Bukhārī, Muslim). Later he said: if I live until next year, I will fast the ninth and the tenth, to differ from the Jews (Muslim). He died before the next year. The Sunnah is to fast both the 9th (Tāsūʿāʾ) and the 10th, or the 10th and 11th, or just the 10th alone.
Why it's here
One day. One year of sins erased, by the mercy of Allah. There is no transaction in your life with this rate of return. The Prophet ﷺ did not say 'minor sins'; the scholars added that distinction (the Sunnah cannot expiate major sins, which require tawbah). But for the unintended slips of an entire year, one day of fasting.
Try it today
1) Add the 10th of Muḥarram to your calendar with reminder alerts now. 2) Pair it with the 9th (preferred) or the 11th (also good) to differ from the practice of the People of the Book. 3) Make abundant istighfār throughout the fasting day, holding the year of slips before Allah.
In your day
Mark the 10th of Muḥarram on your calendar every year. It is the second most important fast after Ramadan. Some scholars even said it was obligatory before Ramadan was revealed; afterwards it became powerfully recommended. Fast it with the intention of expiation for the year.
A reflection to carry
Imagine Mūsā at the edge of the sea. Pharaoh's army behind him. The Banū Isrāʾīl panicking. He raises his staff. The sea opens. They cross. The army drowns. That day, salvation. The Prophet ﷺ told his ummah: that day is ours too, because Mūsā is ours. He fasted it. He commanded its fasting. He hoped that for whoever fasts it, a year of failed days is wiped. Notice the architecture: the day of one prophet's salvation becomes the day of every believer's expiation. The mercy of Allah threads through history; the believers of every age step into the same blessed day and receive the same mercy. Mark it. Fast it. Step in.
Read the longer reflection
There is a depth to this Sunnah that few notice. When the Prophet ﷺ found the Jews fasting and said 'we have more right to Mūsā than they do,' he was teaching his ummah a profound theology of the prophets. Mūsā is ours. Ibrāhīm is ours. ʿĪsā is ours. We do not own them in arrogance; we recognize that we are the continuing community of revelation. We honor what they honored. We grieve what they grieved. We fast where they fasted. The 10th of Muḥarram is the day this theology becomes visible in our bodies. We do not fast on a feast of someone else's invention; we fast on the day Mūsā was saved because that salvation belongs to every monotheist. Then the Prophet ﷺ refined the practice: fast both the 9th and the 10th to distinguish the Muslim from the Jewish observance. The Sunnah differentiates while honoring. We share the day; we do not collapse into another community. Now, beyond all this, the mercy: one year of sins. The Prophet ﷺ said: I hope from Allah that He will expiate. The word aḥtasibu is the word of expectant hope. Not certainty, but expectant hope grounded in Allah's promise. Fast the 10th with that hope on your tongue. Yā Allāh, accept this fast as the expiation of our year, by Your mercy that saved Mūsā and his people, and by the right of the Prophet ﷺ who taught us to step into their salvation. Āmīn.
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.
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