Sunan Abi Dawud

Mansur al-Kalbi said: Dihyah ibn Khalifah once went out from a village of Damascus at as much distance as it measures between Aqabah and al-Fustat during Ramadan; and that is three miles. He then broke his fast and the people broke their fast along with him. But some of them disliked to break their fast. When he came back to his village, he said: I swear by Allah, today I witnessed a thing of which I could not even think to see. The people detested the way of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and his Companions. He said this to those who fasted. At this moment he said: O Allah, make me die.

Ibn 'Umar used to go out to al-Ghabah (jungle), but he neither broke his fast, nor shortened his prayer.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: One of you should not say: I fasted the whole of Ramadan, and I prayed during the night in the whole of Ramadan. I do not know whether he disliked the purification; or he (the narrator) said: He must have slept a little and taken rest.

I attended the 'Id (prayer) along with 'Umar. He offered prayer before the sermon. He then said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) prohibited fasting on these two days. As regards Id al-Adha, you eat the meat of your sacrificial animals. As for 'Id al-Fitr, you break (i.e. end) your fast.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) forbade fasting on two days, al-Fitr (breaking the fast of Ramadan) and al-Adha (the day of sacrifice), and wearing a tight single garment the raising of which discloses private parts, and sitting with one's legs drawn up and wrapped in one's garment, and forbade praying at two hours, after the Fajr prayer and after the Asr prayer.

Eat. He said: I am fasting. 'Amr said: Eat, these are the days on which the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to command us to break fast, and forbid us to keep fast. The narrator Malik said: These are the day of al-tashriq (i.e. 11th, 12th, and 13th of Dhu al-Hijjah).

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The day of Arafah, the day of sacrifice, the days of tashriq are (the days of) our festival, O people of Islam. These are the days of eating and drinking.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: None of you must fast on Friday unless he fasts the day before or the day after.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Do not fast on Saturday except what has been made obligatory on you; and if one of you can get nothing but a grape skin or a piece of wood from a tree, he should chew it.

That the Prophet (ﷺ) entered upon her on Friday while she was fasting. He asked: Did you fast yesterday ? She said: No. He again asked: Do you intend to fast tomorrow ? She said: No. He said: So break your fast.

When it was mentioned to Ibn Shihab (al-Zuhri) that fasting on Saturday had been prohibited, he would say: This is a Himsi tradition.

I always concealed it, but I found that it became known widely, that is, the tradition on Ibn Busr about fasting on Saturday. Abu Dawud said: Malik said: This is a false (tradition).

A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: How do you fast, Messenger of Allah? The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) became angry at what he said. When Umar observed this (his anger), he said: We are satisfied with Allah as Lord, with Islam as religion, and with Muhammad as Prophet. We seek refuge in Allah from the anger of Allah, and from the anger of His Apostle. Umar continued to repeat these words till his anger cooled down. He then asked: Messenger of Allah, what is the position of one who observes a perpetual fast? He replied: May he not fast or break his fast. Musaddad said in his version: He has neither fasted nor broken his fast. The narrator, Ghaylan, doubted the actual wordings. He asked: What is the position of one who fasts two days and does not fast one day? He said: Is anyone able to do that? He asked: What is the position of one who fasts every second day (i.e. fasts one day and does not fasts the next day)? He (the Prophet) said: This is the fast that David observed. He asked: Messenger of Allah, what is the position of one who fasts one day and breaks it for two days? He replied: I wish I were given the power to observe that. Then the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: The observance of three days' fast every month and of one Ramadan to the other (i.e. the fast of Ramadan every year) is (equivalent to) a perpetual fast. I seek from Allah that fasting on the day of Arafah may atone for the sins of the preceding and the coming year, and I seek from Allah that fasting on the day of Ashura' may atone for the sins of the preceding year.

He said: Messenger of Allah, tell me about keeping fast on Monday and Thursday. He said: On it I was born, and on it the Qur'an was first revealed to me.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) met me and said: Have I not been informed that you told: I shall stand at prayer all the night, and I shall fast during the day ? He said: I think so. Yes, Messenger of Allah, I have said this. He said: Get up and pray at night and sleep ; fast and break your fast ; fast three days every month: that is equivalent to keeping perpetual fast. I said: Messenger of Allah, I have more power than that. He said: Then fast one day and break your fast one day. That is the most moderate fast ; that is the fast of Dawud (David). He said: I have more power than that. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: There is no fast more excellent that it.

The father or Uncle of Mujibah al-Bahiliyyah visited the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). He then went away and came to him (again) after one year when his condition and appearance had changed. He said: Messenger of Allah, do you not recognize me? He asked: Who are you? He replied: I am al-Bahili who came to you last year. He said: What has changed you? You were looking well, then you were good in appearance? He said: I have only food at night since I departed from you. Thereupon the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Why did you torment yourself? Fast during Ramadan (the month of patience) and fast for one day every month. He said: Increase it for me, for I have (more) strength. He said: Fast two days. He again said: Increase it for me. He said: Fast three days. He again said: Increase it for me. He said: Fast during the inviolable months and then stop; fast during the inviolable months and then stop; fast during the inviolable months and then stop. He indicated by his three fingers, and joined them and then opened them.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as saying: The most excellent fast after Ramadan is Allah's month al-Muharram, and the most excellent prayer after the prescribed prayer is the prayer during night.

I asked Sa'id b. Jubair about fasting during Rajab. He said: Ibn 'Abbas told me that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to fast to such an extent that we thought that he would never break his fast; and he would go without fasting to such an extent that we thought he would never fast.

The month most liked by the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) for fasting was Sha'ban. He then joined it with Ramadan.

I asked or someone asked the Prophet (ﷺ) about perpetual fasting. He replied: You have a duty to your family. Fast during Ramadan and the following month, and every Wednesday and Thursday. You will then have observed a perpetual fast.