Saturday 24/January/2026 – 07:40 AM
She replied Egyptian Fatwa House On a question she received, the text read: What is the ruling on fasting on the day of doubt? Which is the thirtieth of the month of Shaban?
The house said on its official website that fasting on the Day of Doubt has two cases: The first is that one fasts during Ramadan with the intention of taking precautions for it. This is what is meant by the prohibition according to the majority of scholars. Then some of them made it forbidden and it is not valid to fast it, like most of the Shafi’is, and among them are those who saw it as disliked, such as the Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali schools. If it appears that it is from Ramadan, it is sufficient according to Al-Layth bin Saad and the Hanafi school, but it is not sufficient according to the Maliki school of thought. Shafi’i and Hanbali.
According to the Hanbalis, on a day other than a cloudy day, as for a cloudy day, they made it obligatory to fast on the day of Ramadan according to the apparent meaning of their narration, and they did not make it a day of doubt. In accordance with the doctrine of the narrator of the hadith, Abdullah bin Omar, may God be pleased with them both, and Imam Ahmad has another narration that agrees with the majority, and many of their investigators have accepted it. Due to the occurrence of authentic and explicit narrations on this, until Sheikh Ibn Taymiyyah Al-Hanbali, may God Almighty have mercy on him, said – in what Al-Hafiz Ibn Abdul-Hadi Al-Hanbali reported from him in “Tanqih Al-Tahqeeq” -: [الَّذِي دَلَّتْ عَلَيْهِ الأَحَادِيثُ في هذه المسألة -وَهُوَ مُقْتَضَى الْقَوَاعِدِ- أَنَّ أَيَّ شَهْر غُمَّ أُكْمِلَ ثَلاثِينَ؛ سَوَاءٌ فِي ذَلِكَ شهر شَعْبَان أو شهر رَمَضَان أو غَيْرهمَا] Oh.
Dar Al-Iftaa added that the second case is to fast during days other than Ramadan. The majority is that it is permissible to fast it if it coincides with a habit of voluntary fasting, and this is joined in their view with the fasting of a make-up and a vow. As for absolute voluntary fasting without a habit, it is forbidden according to the correct view according to the Shafi’is, unless it is connected to what preceded it from the second half, in which case it is permissible, and there is nothing wrong with it according to the Hanafis and Malikis.
Ruling on fasting on the day of doubt and its circumstances
So fasting on the day of doubt, if it is part of Ramadan, with the intention of being cautious; The scholars differed regarding its ruling. Some of them considered it forbidden and not valid, like most of the Shafi’is, and among them were those who saw it as disliked, such as the Hanafis, Malikis, and Hanbalis. If it appears that it is part of Ramadan, it is sufficient according to Al-Layth bin Saad and the Hanbalis, but it is not sufficient according to the Malikis, Shafi’is, and Hanbalis. As for fasting on the day of doubt for something other than Ramadan; The majority are of the opinion that it is permissible to fast if it coincides with the habit of voluntary fasting, and the fasting of make-up and vows. As for absolute voluntary fasting without habit, it is forbidden according to the correct opinion of the Shafi’is, unless it is connected to what preceded it from the second half, in which case it is permissible, and there is nothing wrong with it according to the Hanafi and Maliki schools.
