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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Combining the Hadiths of Hafsa and Aisha Regarding Fasting the First Ten Days of Dhul Hijjah

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Question:
Al-Nasa'i narrated in his Sunan from the Mother of the Believers, Hafsa (may Allah be pleased with her), that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) never left three things: fasting the first ten days, fasting three days of every month, and two rak'ahs before the dawn prayer.
And Muslim narrated in his Sahih from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) her statement: "I never saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) fasting in the first ten days at all." In another narration: "He never fasted the first ten days at all."
Al-Shawkani mentioned in Part 4, page 324 of Nail al-Awtar, the statement of some scholars regarding the reconciliation of the two hadiths: the hadith of Hafsa and the hadith of Aisha. However, the reconciliation is not convincing. Perhaps you have a convincing reconciliation between the two hadiths?

Answer:
I have examined the two hadiths, and it has become clear to me that the hadith of Hafsa contains some irregularity, and the hadith of Aisha is more authentic than it.
The reconciliation mentioned by Al-Shawkani is subject to scrutiny, and it is highly unlikely that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would fast the first ten days and that this would be hidden from Aisha, especially since he spent two nights and two days with her out of every nine days; because Sawda gave her day to Aisha, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) approved of that.
So Aisha had two days and two nights out of every nine, but his (peace and blessings be upon him) not fasting the first ten days does not indicate that fasting them is not superior; because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) may have been occupied with matters that prevented him from fasting.
And the virtue of righteous deeds in the days of the first ten is indicated by the hadith of Ibn Abbas, which is recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari, and fasting them is part of righteous deeds.
It becomes clear from this that fasting them is recommended based on the hadith of Ibn Abbas and what is in its meaning, and this is supported by the hadith of Hafsa, even though it contains some irregularity.
The reconciliation between them, assuming the authenticity of the hadith of Hafsa, is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to fast the first ten days at some times. Hafsa came to know of that and memorized it, while Aisha did not come to know of it, or she came to know of it and forgot it. And success is from Allah.
Source binbaz.org.sa

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

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