Sunday, July 8, 2012

Fasting Three Days in Sha'ban

Here is a Muwaththaq (Authentic) ḥadīth about the faḍā’il (merits) for fasting at least three days in the month of Sha`ban.

حدثنا أَحْمَدَ بْنِ زِيَادِ بْنِ جَعْفَرٍ الْهَمْدَانِيِّ عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ بْنِ هَاشِمٍ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنِ ابْنِ أَبِي عُمَيْرٍ عَنْ أَبَانٍ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع قَالَ «مَنْ صَامَ ثَلَاثَةَ أَيَّامٍ مِنْ شَعْبَانَ وَجَبَتْ لَهُ الْجَنَّةُ وَ كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ص شَفِيعَهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ»
Narrated to us Aḥmad b. Ziyād b. Ja`far al-Hamadānī[1] said `Alī b. Ibrāhīm b. Hāshim[2] from his father[3] from Ibn Abī `Umayr[4] from Abān (b. `Uthmān)[5] from Abī `Abd Allāh (عليه السلام) said, “Whoever fasts three days of Sha`ban, jannah is wājib for him, and the Messenger of Allāh will do shafā`ah on the day of Judgment for him”[6]


[1] Aḥmad b. Ziyād b. al-Hamadānī is thiqah (thiqah) according to al-Ṣadūq (See: al-Ṣadūq’s Kamāl al-Dīn, vol. 2, pg. 369) and al-Ḥillī (See: al-Ḥillī, al-Khulāsah, pg. 19, person # 37).
[2] `Alī b. Ibrāhīm b. Hāshim al-Qummī is thiqah (trustworth) according to al-Najāshī (See: al-Najāshī, al-Rijāl, pg. 260, person # 680) and al-Ḥillī (See: al-Ḥillī’s al-Khulāṣah, pg. 100, person #45).
[3]Ibrāhīm b. Hāshim is praised according to al-Najāshī (See: al-Najāshī, al-Rijāl, pg. 16, person # 18), al-Ṭūsī (See: al-Ṭūsī, al-Fihrist, pg. 12, person # 6) and al-Ḥillī (See: al-Ḥillī’s al-Khulāṣah, pg. 5, person #9).
[4] Muḥammad b. Abī `Umayr is thiqah (trustworthy) according to al-Najāshī (See: al-Najāshī, al-Rijāl, pg. 326, person # 887), al-Ṭūsī (See: al-Ṭūsī, al-Fihrist, pg. 404, person # 618 & al-Ṭūsī, al-Rijāl, pg. 265, person # 5413), al-Ḥillī (See: al-Ḥillī’s al-Khulāṣah, pg. 140, person #16). Muḥammad b. Abī `Umayr narrates his ḥadīth from Abān b. `Uthmān.
[5] Abān b. `Uthmān is thiqah (trustworthy) according to al-Kashī’s statements of him being amongst the Aṣhāb al-Ijmā` (See: al-Kashī, Ikhtiyār Ma`rifah al-Rijāl, 375, statement # 705). After a lengthy discussion al-Ḥillī says he accepts his narrations (See: al-Ḥillī, al-Khulāṣah, pg. 21-22, person # 3).
[6] al-Ṣadūq, Faḍā’il al-Ash-har al-Thalāthah, Kitāb Faḍā’il Sha`ban, pg. 43, pg. 60, ḥadīth # 42:
Hādī al-Najafi says this ḥadīth has a mu`tabar (authentic) sanad (chain of narrators) (See: Hādī al-Najafī, Mawsū`ah Aḥādīth Ahl al-Bayt, vol. 5, pg. 355-356).

Bibliography


al-Ḥillī. al-Khulāṣah al-`Aqwāl. 1st ed. 1 vols. Qum: , Dār al-Dukhā’ir, 1411.
al-Kashī. Ikhtiyār Ma`arifah al-Rijāl. Ed. Dr. Ḥasan al-Muṣṭafawī. Mashhad: Mu’assasah al-Nashr fī Jāmi`ah, 1390.
al-Najafī, Hādī. Mawsū`ah Aḥādīth Ahl al-Bayt. 1st. 12 vols. Beirut: Dār Iḥyā’ al-Turāth al-`Arabī, 1423/2002.
al-Najāshī. Rijāl. Ed. Musa al-Shabiri al-Zanjani. 5. 1 vols. Qum: Mu’assasah al-Nashr al-Islāmī, 1416.
al-Ṣadūq. Faḍā’il al-Ash-har al-Thalāthah. Ed. Mirza Ghulām Riḍa `Irfāniyyān. 1 vols. Beirut: Dār al-Maḥajjah al-Bayḍā’, 1412/1992.
—. Kamāl al-Dīn. 2nd. 2 vols in 1 vols. Qum: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah, 1395/1975.
al-Ṭūsī. al-Fihrist. Najaf: al-Maktabah al-Raḍawiyyah, n.d.
—. al-Rijāl. 1st. Qum: Mu’assasah al-Nashr al-Islāmī, 1415.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Nader,

    How do you make sense of these sort of hadiths? It would seem like a loophole in faith. Three days and you go to heaven? Irrespective of other actions?

    I could not ignore all Islamic rules but fast 3 nights, and cha ching, I'm in heaven?

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  2. But then you could commit suicide and go straight to hell too right, irrespective of how many times you fasted the 3 fasts in Sha`baan because the authentic hadīth is clear... Whoever kills themselves will go to hell.

    Brother we don't know how Allāh's mercy is... Allāh could be wiping away your major sins and you don't even know it... That's up to Allāh... Those who don't have major sins will go to heaven.

    So you have to apply these sorts of ahādīth in your life and don't question them.

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  3. Assalāmu `Alaykum Payam,

    I believe you are not looking at this ḥadīth in a holistic manner. You are focusing on just this ḥadīth alone, instead you should see this ḥadīth along with the massive amount of other ḥadīth we have.

    We have umpteen ḥadīth that says if you do not do your obligations (i.e. Prayers, wājib fasts, Hajj, etc.), then you will not enter heaven. Some ḥadīth even say that you are not considered a Muslim, if you do not do your Prayers, Hajj, etc.

    The obligations of Allāh (عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ) come first, and when you have completed and done your obligations to Allāh (عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ), these mustaḥab actions is what puts your over the top. We will all have our deeds put on a scale, and small minute things as this (i.e. fasting three days in Sha`bān) can tilt your scale in the right direction.

    Wa `Alaykum Assalām

    ReplyDelete