The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) encouraged fasting for those who cannot afford marriage; how is this fasting to be performed?

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The questioner : The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) encouraged fasting for those who cannot afford marriage. Is the duration of the fasting to be one day fasted and one day broken, or is it to be continuous?

The Shaykh : Yes, repeat, repeat?

The questioner : It says: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) encouraged fasting for those who cannot afford marriage. How is this fasting to be performed? Is it to be continuous?

The Shaykh : Yes, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

Young man, those of you who can support a wife should marry, for it keeps you from looking at strange women and preserves you from immorality; but those who cannot should devote themselves to fasting

يا معشر الشباب من استطاع منكم الباءة فليتزوج فإنه أغض للبصر وأحفظ للفرج ومن لم يستطيع فعليه بالصوم

Mishkat al-Masabih 3080

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not specify the amount of that fasting. However, if you know the cause, you know the specification. The cause is that a person’s desire should be broken and weakened until the matter becomes easy for him and he is safe from trial. Accordingly, if he fasts as much as Allah wills, and then he sees that his desire has weakened and the trial has gone away, he breaks his fast. This is not restricted to a specific number or a specific month. Yes.

Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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