What is the ruling on fasting the eighth day of Rajab and the twenty-seventh day of the same month?
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The questioner : What is the ruling on fasting the eighth day of Rajab and the twenty-seventh day of the same month?
The Shaykh : Singling out these days for fasting is a religious innovation (bid'ah). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not fast on the eighth or the twenty-seventh, nor did he order it, nor did he approve of it, so it is among the innovations.
Someone might say: Is everything an innovation with you?
Our answer to him is: Far be it from us, by Allah. We only mean innovation in religion. Anything by which a person worships Allah (Mighty and Majestic) without evidence from the Book and the Sunnah is an innovation. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:.
The intended meaning is innovation in religion, by which a person draws near to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) through belief, speech, or action. This is an innovation and misguidance. As for innovations in matters of this world, any useful thing in worldly affairs, even if it did not exist before, we do not call it an innovation. Rather, we encourage it if it is beneficial, and we forbid it if it is harmful.
The Shaykh : Singling out these days for fasting is a religious innovation (bid'ah). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not fast on the eighth or the twenty-seventh, nor did he order it, nor did he approve of it, so it is among the innovations.
Someone might say: Is everything an innovation with you?
Our answer to him is: Far be it from us, by Allah. We only mean innovation in religion. Anything by which a person worships Allah (Mighty and Majestic) without evidence from the Book and the Sunnah is an innovation. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Hold fast to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs after me, and beware of newly invented matters.
عليكم بسنتي وسنة الخلفاء الراشدين المهديين من بعدي، وإياكم ومحدثات الأمورThe intended meaning is innovation in religion, by which a person draws near to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) through belief, speech, or action. This is an innovation and misguidance. As for innovations in matters of this world, any useful thing in worldly affairs, even if it did not exist before, we do not call it an innovation. Rather, we encourage it if it is beneficial, and we forbid it if it is harmful.