Explanation of the Hadiths of Fasting from *Bulugh al-Maram*, the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)

The Shaykh : ... Whom Allah guides, no one can mislead, and whom He leaves to mislead, no one can guide. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger, . As for what follows.
The best of speech is the speech of Allah, the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and the worst of matters are their innovations. Every innovation is a bid'ah (religious innovation), every bid'ah is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.
Considering that we are approaching the month of fasting, the blessed month of Ramadan, if Allah wills, we thought it best to take advantage of this occasion in this gathering to read to you and explain to you some of the hadiths that appear in the Book of Fasting from the book *Bulugh al-Maram min Ahadith al-Ahkam* by al-Hafiz Ahmad ibn Hajar al-Asqalani.
He said (may Allah have mercy on him): The Book of Fasting. It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . It is agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim.
In this hadith, there is an explicit prohibition against anticipating Ramadan by fasting one day or more than one day. This falls under the category of preserving the prescribed amount of fasting, which is the month of Ramadan. Therefore, it is not permissible for a Muslim to add to Ramadan, whether by anticipating it or delaying it, by one day or two days. In reality, although this hadith specifically addresses the prohibition of anticipating Ramadan and connecting days from the month of Sha'ban to the month of Ramadan, it contains a strong hint that it is not permissible to add to an obligatory act of worship. This is an explicit ruling prohibiting a man from anticipating Ramadan by fasting one day or two days. Included in this, without a doubt, is fasting the Day of Doubt, as will be mentioned in the second hadith.
This prohibition against anticipating Ramadan by fasting one day or two days emphasizes the obligation to preserve the act of worship as it was legislated, without addition or reduction. What Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has made obligatory upon His believing servants is only the fasting of the month of Ramadan. It may be thirty days at one time and twenty-nine days at another. Therefore, it is not permissible to anticipate it by fasting one day or two days for fear that Ramadan might turn out to be more than thirty days, given the passage of time and the Muslims' distance from knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah.
So I say: In the time when this hadith explicitly prohibits anticipating Ramadan by fasting one day or two days, likewise, no act of worship should be anticipated, just as it is not permissible to connect to it other acts of worship and obedience that are not part of it. There must be a separation that ensures the independence of this obligatory fast, which is the fast of Ramadan. There must be a separation by breaking the fast before it and after it, so that it is established that this obligation is only the obligation of Ramadan, with nothing preceding it and nothing connected to it. Exactly of this nature is what came in *Sahih Muslim* regarding the prohibition by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) of connecting the obligatory Friday prayer with the recommended prayer that follows it. He commanded separation between the obligatory and the voluntary, either by speaking or by leaving and departing. The Messenger (peace be upon him) prohibited connecting the obligatory prayer with the recommended prayer that follows it.
This is also from the category of blocking the means to harm, preventing what is not part of the obligatory from being connected to it. On the day of Friday specifically, and all obligatory acts generally, it should be separated after the taslim, either by leaving and changing location, or by speaking with your companion in ordinary speech, to achieve this separation. Knowing that the matter is as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said regarding prayer: , meaning that what was forbidden to you in prayer becomes permissible by the mere saying of “As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah” with the first taslim. But from the category of emphasizing this separation beyond just the taslim, and from the category of blocking the means to harm, preventing something that is not part of this obligation—which is the obligation of prayer—from being connected to it, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) emphasized that the one praying should speak or depart. To the right, to the left, in front, and behind, all of this emphasizes this matter which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded: not to anticipate Ramadan by fasting one day or two days. The month of Ramadan remains without addition to it, just as it is not permissible to reduce from it. As the common people say, the extra is the brother of the deficient.
He says: . Is this prohibition absolute? The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) answered this question: . This exception clarifies that the previous prohibition is specific to one who intentionally anticipates Ramadan by fasting one day or two days. As for another person who has a system of fasting—for example, it is his custom to follow the known Sunnah of fasting Monday and Thursday of every week—and it happens that a Thursday comes and it is one day before Ramadan; does he fall under this prohibition ?
The answer is: No, . So the one who is accustomed to this prescribed fasting may anticipate Ramadan with such fasting because he did not intend this anticipation. The direct intent of this prohibition is fasting the Day of Doubt, about which a specific hadith will come; because the one who fasts the Day of Doubt fasts the day that is before Ramadan, and it has not yet been established that this day—that is, the Day of Doubt—is from Ramadan, so he fasts it as a precaution. And opening the door of precaution in religion is opening a large door of addition to religion. And in reality, this has many examples in some jurisprudential rulings.
Perhaps those present know that some schools of jurisprudence obligate one who prayed on Friday to pray Zuhr after finishing it. Some schools of jurisprudence obligate this, but other schools do not obligate it, based on what the first school obligates, which is that that prayer was not valid, so this one is prayed. But this other school says that there are conditions in it about which there is disagreement; if they are met, the prayer is valid. If the prayer of Friday is not valid because the conditions were not met, then from the category of precaution, it is good to pray Zuhr after Friday. This precaution leads its proponent to contradict what is known from religion by necessity, which is that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has only made obligatory five prayers in every day and night. And it contradicts another text, which is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . So we know that what is obligatory on Friday is the prayer of Friday. If the prayer of Friday is not valid, then it is the prayer of Zuhr. But to pray twice, once with the intention of Friday and once with the intention of Zuhr, this is contrary to this hadith and contrary to that which is known from religion by necessity. The hadith says: . This is in the same time, the time of Zuhr, where he prayed two prayers: the prayer of Friday and then the prayer of Zuhr.
Therefore, it is not permissible for a person to anticipate the ruling specified in the Shari'ah from the category of precaution, or from the category of what the common people say: “An increase in good is good.” There is no good after what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has legislated through the tongue of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) of good.
In summary: This hadith, in the time when it prohibits the Muslim from anticipating Ramadan by fasting one day or two days, clarifies that there is no objection to fasting what was customary for him before Ramadan. If he has a custom of fasting—for example—three days of every month and Ramadan comes, he may fast these three days. He may fast two days. He may fast one day, as long as he did not intend the fasting for the sake of Ramadan; because Ramadan is limited in its days. He only fasted to implement that prescribed custom he was upon.
So this hadith, whose authenticity is agreed upon by the scholars, directly includes what the scholars differed on regarding fasting the Day of Doubt. Some of them say it is prescribed, also as a precaution, and some of them say its fasting is not prescribed. The hadith that preceded is evidence and support for this opinion which says that fasting the Day of Doubt is not prescribed; because it will come in the authentic hadiths that Ramadan is established by sighting. If there is no sighting, then completing the month—that is, the month of Sha'ban—is thirty days. So why would a person fast the Day of Doubt?