A magazine published a fatwa from you stating that it is permissible to fast the day of Ashura alone without it being disliked. Is this fatwa correct, and how do we reconcile it with the command of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to differ from the disbelievers and his prohibition of imitating them?

The questioner : Regarding the fasting of Ashura, he said: “My esteemed Shaykh, one of the Islamic magazines published a fatwa from your eminence stating that it is permissible to fast the day of Ashura alone without it being disliked. If the fatwa attributed to you is correct, how do we reconcile it with the command of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to differ from the disbelievers and his prohibition of imitating them? Please give us a ruling, may you be rewarded. May Allah reward you with good.”

The Shaykh : Unfortunately, the newspapers do not fear Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and write headlines as they please. When you read the headlines and then read the content of the headline, you find it is completely contradictory. This is a mistake. It is obligatory to be trustworthy. We said: It is not disliked to fast it alone, and this is what our jurists (may Allah have mercy on them) explicitly stated, saying that fasting it alone is not disliked. Among them was Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him). However, we also said: A person should not fast it alone, due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): meaning: along with the tenth. The Jews today do not follow the Hijri calendar; rather, they have a specific calendar of their own that may not coincide with the day on which Allah saved Musa and his people and drowned Fir‘awn and his people, which is the tenth of the month of Muharram. Among the things by which they deceive people with headlines is the magazine al-Furqan, a good magazine with no harm in it, published from Kuwait. I had an interview with some of its correspondents, and they asked me a question: about a health institute where women read without free mixing, without displaying their adornment, and without anything forbidden, but they practice some physical exercises that have benefit and utility, because they work in matters related to health. I said: As long as there is benefit and nothing forbidden, there is no harm. It is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he raced Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), and racing is a type of exercise. But what appeared in the bold headline? It said: So-and-so says: There is no harm in opening sports institutes for women. A great difference! This is a betrayal in reporting. We wanted to alert you so that this magazine does not fall into your hands. Otherwise, we have written to them a refutation of what they did, and we said: This is contrary to trustworthiness. They also made errors in reporting the speech, even in the verses and hadiths, but that is not the main concern, because everyone knows that the verses are incorrect. The important thing is that they attribute to a person what he did not say and make it a headline, because most people, when they read newspapers, what do they read? The headlines, and they leave what is inside the headlines. Therefore, I wanted you not to be deceived by the headlines. Journalists, we ask Allah for guidance for us and for them, make the headlines according to their mood. Yes.