Virtues of Voluntary Fasts - Shaykh Zakaullah Saleem
By Shaykh Zakaullah Saleem | 2026-07-06T18:52:03.210134+00:00 | Topic: Worship
Khutbah Opening
Praise be to Allah. We praise Him, ask His help, and ask His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds.
I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.
O you who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims.
O you people! Fear your Lord, Who created you from one soul, and He created his wife from her, and He spread among them many men and women. And fear Allah, in Whom you ask for help and mercy. Verily, Allah watches over you.
O you who believe! Fear Allah and say the right words. He will set right your deeds for you and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has won a great triumph.
As for what follows — the best speech is the Book of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. And the worst of things are their innovations, and every innovation is a newly invented matter, and every newly invented matter is a misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.
Two Categories of Acts of Worship
My dear respected brothers in Islam, Allah, out of His mercy for His slaves, has legislated many acts of worship in the religion of Islam. And all those acts of worship and all those good deeds can be divided mainly into two categories.
The first one is the obligations — the good deeds that we are obliged to perform, such as five daily prayers, fasting during the month of Ramadan, paying zakah once a year, and performing Hajj once in your lifetime, and many other obligations.
The second category is what is called nafl or tatawwu' — voluntary acts. The good deeds and the acts of worship that are not obligatory, but they are recommended. And there are many benefits in that, as the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, has mentioned. And he, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, used to encourage his companions, رضوان الله عليهم أجمعين, and his Ummah to perform as many voluntary acts as possible.
The Prophet's Voluntary Acts
He, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, himself used to perform many voluntary acts of worship, many voluntary good deeds — such as the night prayer. Rasulullah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, used to perform the night prayer every single night. Although some of the scholars are of the opinion that it was compulsory upon the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, to perform the tahajjud prayer. It was compulsory for him, and it is based on the ayah of the Quran:
But other scholars hold the opinion that it was not fard upon the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, but he, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, did perform it and he never missed it. And also he, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, used to fast frequently on a regular basis — not only during the month of Ramadan — and actually throughout the year he, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, used to fast voluntary fasts.
The Hadith Qudsi: Drawing Close Through Voluntary Acts
There are many reasons that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, has informed us of these voluntary acts. One of them is what is mentioned in the Hadith Qudsi, in which the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said that Allah says — and part of the hadith is:
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6502)
Allah says: "My servant continues performing voluntary acts on a regular basis, constantly, frequently, until I love him." So Allah loves the servant who performs voluntary acts — he does not restrict himself to obligatory acts of worship and good deeds, rather he goes further and he performs voluntary acts as well. And as we can understand from this hadith, the servant of Allah who continues performing voluntary acts — Allah loves him. So this is one of the best means and ways of gaining the love of Allah.
Nawafil Fill the Deficiencies in Obligatory Deeds
He, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, has told us about another benefit of performing voluntary acts. He, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 864; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 413)
The very first act of worship, the very first good deed that you will be asked about on the Day of Judgment is Salah. And then he, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, says: if you have performed all of your obligatory prayers perfectly, then Alhamdulillah, it is good. But if there is going to be any deficiency, any shortcoming in your obligatory prayer, then that shortcoming, that deficit will be filled with your nawafil.
And this is one of the benefits of performing nawafil. That is why he, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, encouraged us to perform 12 additional raka'at — the Sunnah prayer before or after the fard prayer: two before Fajr, four before Dhuhr, two after Dhuhr, two after Maghrib, and two after Isha. They are known as Sunan Mu'akkadah — highly recommended Sunnah.
And one of the greatest benefits of these nawafil and these sunnah prayers is that whenever we perform our obligatory prayer, if there is any shortcoming — and we know that none of us can claim that he has performed his salah perfectly, 100% according to the Sunnah of Rasulullah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, although we must try our best to perform our salah according to his teaching — those voluntary prayers fill that gap.
The Virtues of Voluntary Fasting
Likewise, he, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, used to encourage his companions, رضوان الله عليهم أجمعين, to perform voluntary fasts. Voluntary fasting has many benefits.
First of all, the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1624)
Whoever fasts for one day in the way of Allah, for the sake of Allah, Allah creates a trench between him and the Fire, and the depth of that trench is as the distance between the heaven, the sky, and this earth. And this is the reward of fasting for just one day.
In another hadith, the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, says:
Whoever fasts for one single day for the sake of Allah, Allah keeps that person away from the Fire of Hell at the distance of 70 years. This is the reward of fasting for one day.
Fasting on Mondays and Thursdays
That is why Rasulullah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, used to fast every Monday and Thursday — يَوْمَ الِاثْنَيْنِ وَيَوْمَ الْخَمِيسِ. And one of the reasons that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, gave for these two fasts, he said:
(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 747)
Every single Monday and every single Thursday, the good deeds of the slaves of Allah are presented before Allah. So the angels present your salah, your fasting, your charity — whatever you have done in those days — every Monday and Thursday your deeds are presented before Allah. And he, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, says: "I love that my good deeds are presented before Allah while I am fasting."
Fasting the Three White Days
He, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, also encouraged us to fast for the three white days of every month — the 13th, 14th, and 15th of every lunar month. They are called white days because the moon is very bright in those nights. He, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, encouraged his companions and he himself used to fast these days as well.
In a hadith reported by Abdullah ibn 'Amr, may Allah be pleased with him, it is said that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, advised him to fast for three days every single month — the three white days. Abdullah ibn 'Amr, may Allah be pleased with him, who was very healthy and had a great desire to perform more and more good deeds, said: "O Messenger of Allah, I want to fast for more than this." He, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: "If this is the case, then you should fast one day and miss the next day — fast every other day."
And he, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said that this was the way of fasting that Dawud, peace be upon him, observed. The Prophet of Allah Dawud, peace be upon him, used to fast every other day — he would fast one day, miss the next, and then fast the following day. So he, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: "This is the best way of fasting. If you have energy, if you are healthy, Alhamdulillah, then try to fast this way."
Abdullah ibn 'Amr said: "O Messenger of Allah, I believe that I can do more than this." He, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: "Nothing is better than this. You cannot fast more than this." Which means that every single month you should fast for 15 days and miss 15 days.
And he, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said in another hadith that whoever fasts every single day — other than Ramadan, every single day — then it is as if he has not fasted for any day, because this type of fast is not accepted by Allah. And this shows us the balance that our Nabi, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, has taught us. Even when it comes to acts of worship and good deeds, we must have balance.
Rulings Specific to Voluntary Fasting
When it comes to voluntary fasting, there are some rulings that are different from the obligatory fast.
Making the Intention After Fajr
One of them is that for voluntary fasting, you do not have to make the intention before Fajr. Although it is recommended to do so before the time of Fajr starts — as we know, the actual fasting starts when the time of suhoor ends and the time of Fajr starts, all the way up to sunset, and this is the complete fast — for nafl fasting, if you make your intention after Fajr prayer, it is permissible.
Our mother Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, says that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, would sometimes go to the masjid for Salatul Fajr. After performing Salatul Fajr, it was a sunnah of Rasulullah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, to stay at his prayer mat in the place of his prayer until sunrise. Then he, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, would come back home. Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, says that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, would sometimes come back and ask if there was anything to eat or drink. And if she said: "O Messenger of Allah, we have nothing to eat or drink," he, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, would say:
"Then today I am fasting." So at that time he, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, would make the intention of fasting. And this is particularly for voluntary fasting. As for obligatory fasting, you have to make the intention at night — meaning before Fajr.
Breaking a Voluntary Fast
Another ruling related to voluntary fasting is that if you have begun your voluntary fast in the morning and during the day you want to break it for any reason — for example, you are invited to a meal by one of your relatives or friends — then it is permissible for you to break it, and there is no sin. Because this is something that our Nabi, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, has allowed us.
Fasting in Winter: An Easy Booty
And when we have all these benefits, then we should take advantage of these very short days. The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said in a hadith reported by Imam al-Tirmidhi:
(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 797)
Fasting in winter days is a cool, easy booty — a benefit that Allah has made readily available for you. So we should take advantage of these days.
We ask Allah that He gives us tawfiq and ability to fast as many fasts as we can, and that Allah accepts our voluntary acts along with our obligatory acts. Indeed He is the All-Hearing, the Near, the Responsive.