The 365 · Sunnah · Day 243 · Fasting
Fasting the Ninth of Muḥarram (Yawm Tāsūʿāʾ)
The hadith
قَالَ النَّبِيُّ ﷺ: «لَئِنْ بَقِيتُ إِلَى قَابِلٍ لَأَصُومَنَّ التَّاسِعَ»
The Prophet ﷺ said: If I live until next year, I will surely fast the ninth. (Muslim)
Svenska: Profeten ﷺ sa: Om jag lever till nästa år ska jag förvisso fasta den nionde. (Muslim)
Sahih Muslim 1134, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās. The Prophet ﷺ intended to fast the 9th alongside the 10th to differentiate from the People of the Book. He died before the next year.
The story
Ibn ʿAbbās said: when the Prophet ﷺ fasted ʿĀshūrāʾ and commanded it, they said: O Messenger of Allah, this is a day the Jews and Christians honor. He said: when next year comes, if Allah wills, we will fast the ninth too (Muslim). The Prophet ﷺ died before the next year. The companions, hearing this intention, made the fasting of the ninth a permanent Sunnah of the ummah.
Why it's here
The Prophet ﷺ did not live to fast the ninth. He died first. The Sunnah lives in our hands: we fast what he intended. There is a uniquely tender quality to a Sunnah the Prophet ﷺ intended but did not perform. We complete his intention with our bodies.
Try it today
1) Add 9 Muḥarram to your calendar alongside the 10th. 2) Hold the intention: I fast this day because the Prophet ﷺ wished to fast it but did not live to. 3) Teach your children: this is a Sunnah the Prophet ﷺ left for us to complete.
In your day
Pair Tāsūʿāʾ with ʿĀshūrāʾ. The Prophet's ﷺ desire was specifically for the ninth, to differentiate from the People of the Book. The most preferred form of this Sunnah is to fast the 9th and 10th together. The next-best is to fast the 10th and 11th. The least preferred (but still valid) is to fast only the 10th.
A reflection to carry
There are moments in the Sīrah that pull the heart hard. The Prophet ﷺ saying 'if I live until next year, I will fast the ninth,' and then not living. The companions hearing those words and carrying them out year after year. Generation after generation of believers completing one sentence the Prophet ﷺ uttered in a casual moment. This is what the Sunnah is. Not just the things he commanded; also the things he intended and never reached. We are his hands in the world. He left us many wishes. The ninth of Muḥarram is one. Fulfill it. He will see it.
Read the longer reflection
There is a beautiful narration that should accompany this fast. The Prophet ﷺ said: my life is good for you, and my death is good for you. He said: when I am gone, you live what you saw of me. The companions wept at his death and then went home and lived what they had seen. Tāsūʿāʾ is the visible proof that they did. They could have shrugged: he intended it but did not do it, so why bother? They did not shrug. They wrote his intention into the calendar of the ummah and fasted it for fourteen centuries. Now you. What are you doing with the Sunnan you have not yet picked up? The morning adhkār the Prophet ﷺ said and you have not learned. The night dhikr he made before sleep and you have replaced with a phone. The voluntary prayer he loved and you have postponed. He intended for all of it to be alive in your home. Fast Tāsūʿāʾ this year and let it be the beginning of a longer return: pick up one more Sunnah you have been letting drift, and live it. Yā Allāh, by the right of Your Prophet ﷺ who wished to fast and did not live to, accept our fasting of the ninth as the completion of his intention. Make us of those who carry forward what he left for us. Āmīn.
Sources: Sahih Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah. 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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