Virtues of Ashura and How to Observe It

Virtues of Ashura and How to Observe It

أَمَّا بَعْدُ — Dear brothers and sisters, we begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for Him. And we bear witness that Muhammad ﷺ is His final messenger. We ask Allah to send His peace and blessings upon him, the prophets and messengers that came before him, his family and companions that served alongside him, and those that follow in their blessed path until the Day of Judgment.

And we ask Allah to make us amongst them. Allahumma ameen.

The Week of Ashura

As we enter into the week of Ashura, the week of a day that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has singled out for us as a day of great blessings, I wanted to spend the next few minutes insha'Allah ta'ala just speaking about how we approach this day insha'Allah ta'ala from a very practical standpoint.

And every year as we come across this day, we could choose to approach it from different angles. And it is important to note that when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us something — a command or an opportunity — whether it is a fard, a command to do something, as is the case of Ramadan, or an opportunity to do something, as in fasting the day of Arafah and now fasting the day of Ashura, the blessings that we learn from the Prophet ﷺ, and the blessings that are given to us through some of the authentic narrations of the pious predecessors, will not be able to encapsulate some of the things that perhaps we don't even know about these days, and some of the hidden blessings that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would bi'idhnillah envelope us in, embrace us in, through His infinite mercy subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Historical Significance of Ashura

And so when you talk about the day of Ashura, and what it is attributed to — first and foremost, there is a narration that we find in some of the books of Athar, the books where you have narrations of the previous prophets, that mention that this was the day that the Safina of Nuh ﷺ, the Ark of Noah, finally took its rest on Jabal al-Judi, on the mount.

So after circulating for however long Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala caused it to circulate, that this would have coincided with the day that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala caused the Ark of Nuh ﷺ to finally settle. And obviously the significance of that would be that this was a time where you had those that rebelled and transgressed — drowned in their disbelief, including the son of Nuh ﷺ, who was not spared due to his relationship to Nuh ﷺ — and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala saving the people of belief in an extraordinary way.

And so of course there is a connection of that to what is the authentically narrated hadith in multiple books — and that is the main cause of us fasting this day — found in al-Bukhari and Muslim, when the Prophet ﷺ saw the people of the book, particularly the Jewish community in Medina, fasting this day, and when he asked why they were fasting this day, they said: this is the day that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala saved Musa ﷺ and his people from the army of Fir'aun, when Allah saved Musa ﷺ and Bani Israel from the army of Fir'aun that were behind him.

So there is a connection there between Musa ﷺ and the believers being saved as a community, to what could perhaps also be a day in which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala saved humanity from the depths and the darkness of disbelief.

And of course what comes after that day often becomes revived in historical debates — and what that refers to is the istishhad of al-Husayn رضي الله تعالى عنه, the martyrdom of the grandson of the Prophet ﷺ, one of the two masters of the youth of paradise — and the sadness of his murder, but the joy of his istishhad, of his martyrdom. And what we take from that, of course, is what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala teaches us about Ashab al-Ukhdud, about the people of the ditch: ذَٰلِكَ الْفَوْزُ الْكَبِيرُ — that it was success. That even if Musa ﷺ and his army and his people escaped in this dunya, that what al-Husayn رضي الله تعالى عنه encountered of a shahada, of martyrdom, is a form of the ultimate success — that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala saved him from this world. And just as in the time of Uhud, when the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr and Umar رضي الله تعالى عنهما are standing there on Uhud: our dead are in paradise, your dead are in hellfire. True victory belongs with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

So we connect it back to — of course, from a prescriptive perspective, in terms of taking that day as a day of fasting — honoring Musa ﷺ and thanking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for that victory.

The Prophet ﷺ said — and both wordings are authentic, نَحْنُ أَحَقُّ and نَحْنُ أَوْلَى — we have greater rights and we are closer to Musa ﷺ than the people of the book.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3397; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1130)

We love Musa ﷺ, we follow the way of Musa ﷺ, we honor all of God's prophets, we honor their message by staying upon the creed of monotheism, the Abrahamic way, the way that is pleasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and most crystallized through the Prophet ﷺ as we have it today. So we honor the prophets of Allah, and we thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for that blessing, and we take the lessons of that day — that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grants success to those who maintain His way. And in a day where subhanAllah we see tyranny all over the world — you really cannot keep up, you really cannot keep up — then you once again ground yourself in that aqeedah, in that creed: that true belief in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala yields true victory, whether that victory manifests in this life or in the next. We base ourselves, ground ourselves in that creed, certainly.

Fasting Ashura: How Seriously Should We Take It?

The Prophet ﷺ, however, on this day — contrary to what many people know — used to also fast this day in Mecca. And this is authentically narrated: that Quraysh used to also fast this day. So the Jews in Medina fasted this day, Quraysh fasted this day, and the ulama mention some reasons for this — that just as some of the remnants of the hajj, the way of Ibrahim ﷺ, remain amongst the people of Mecca, and they had some adat, some traditions that they held on to that would have coincided with the truth, that this could possibly be one of those things. Just as, for example, when we talk about Ashura aligning with incidents in the past as well — when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allowed for the 30 days of Musa ﷺ, that he completed the period with his Lord by adding 10 days — that that could have coincided with the first 10 days of Dhul-Hijjah. It could also be that there was a remnant of that which guides people to the truth. And so the Prophet ﷺ used to fast that day even in Mecca, which is authentically narrated.

Now what do we take from this — from how we approach this day? How are we supposed to act on this day, and how seriously should we take the fast?

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2006; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1132)

Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه says: "I have not seen a day that the Prophet ﷺ singled out and took more seriously than this day — the day of Ashura — and this month," meaning the best month after Ramadan for fasting is Muharram. This is the best month after the month of Ramadan for voluntary fasting.

And subhanAllah, the day of Ashura comes on the 10th — it comes on Wednesday this year — and then you have Thursday, which is also a day of sunnah fasting for those that would like to do so, bi'idhnillah ta'ala. And then you get into, very quickly, Ayyam al-Bid — the white days, the middle days of the month — which also, insha'Allah ta'ala, are days that we could take as days of fasting. So it is the most blessed month of fasting, and this is the most blessed day.

To the point that Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه — some of the Tabi'een said to him: عَجَبًا لَكُمْ يَا أَصْحَابَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ — "How strange are you, O companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ! You fast this day even when you travel — you fast a day even when you travel — whereas Ramadan, which are obligatory fasts, you put them off and you make them up." And he responded and said: because Allah said about Ramadan:

That a person can make them up in days to come — but that is not the case for Ashura. So a person could even fast it when they are traveling, to take advantage of the blessed day. And of course, those who are prohibited due to circumstances out of their hands, bi'idhnillah ta'ala, the reward is written down for them as well.

Of course, we also know from the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ that this was a day that was initially mandatory for the believers to fast, and then the Prophet ﷺ made it voluntary with the obligation of Ramadan.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1126)

"This is one of the days of Allah. Whoever wishes to fast it can do so, and whoever wishes not to fast can do so."

And we know lastly that the Prophet ﷺ said that if he lived another year, he would add the ninth day to the tenth — he would fast both the ninth and the tenth. And one of the reasons that the ulema mentioned: one of them of course is to distinguish ourselves from the people of the book, and another one is خَشْيَةَ نَقْصِ الْهِلَالِ — Imam al-Nawawi رحمه الله says, in case the sighting of the Hilal was off. And we know that this year, by the way, some are fasting on Thursday and some are fasting on Wednesday. So perhaps it is an opportunity to fast both Wednesday and Thursday to make sure that Allah counts that day for you and that you reach that day.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1162)

"I seek from Allah that this day will expiate all of the sins of the previous year." How beautiful is that.

How to Honor the Day of Ashura

Now what I want to transition to, insha'Allah ta'ala, in conclusion to this: in general, a day of fasting should be honored with good deeds. In general, a day of fasting should be honored with sadaqah, should be honored with charity, should be honored — if you can — with praying janazah, if there is a janazah to pray, and following the janazah. It should be honored with visiting the sick, if you can visit the sick. This is a general day of fasting. It should be infused with good deeds and deprived of sins that would take away the blessings. So of course, a day that is the most preferred day of the most preferred days to fast after Ramadan — how will you honor that fast?

Spending Generously on One's Family

And so you find some of the narrations. One narration — which is in Ibn Abd al-Barr and al-Bayhaqi, and it is disputed in its authenticity, and I have no care to go into that dispute on the minbar; there have been entire books written about this — but just to say that some of the scholars considered it authentic and others did not:

(Narrated in Shu'ab al-Iman by al-Bayhaqi; cited by Ibn Abd al-Barr — disputed in authenticity)

That whoever spends generously on themselves and on their family on that day, in sadaqah, Allah will be generous to that person — will spend upon that person for the entire year. This is very interesting.

Many of the scholars of the sunnah spoke about this narration. And one of the proofs that they mentioned was that the narrators of the hadith itself said:

"We have practiced this and we have found that reward from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala."

Al-Hafidh Ibn Rajab رحمه الله تعالى narrates that Imam Ahmed رحمه الله heard Sufyan Ibn 'Uyaynah رحمه الله — who is not a sahabi but who is one of the Tabi'een — say:

"We have practiced this for 50 or 60 years and we only found good from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala." That as we gave in sadaqah, spent in charity — and the best of charity to spend on is your family — that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would increase that for you, and that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would spend on you, would reciprocate that generosity for the year as well.

Again, whether or not it is specific as this narration states or not — mark the day with ibadah. Mark the day with worship. Mark the day with charity.

"If you are grateful, I will increase you." It is a day of gratitude, and if you are grateful, Allah will increase you. It is not the day of Arafah, which is marked by a day of du'a, but it is a day that is legislated in the spirit of gratitude to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

So work — just like the family of Dawud ﷺ was commanded to work — work deeds of gratitude on that day. Give sadaqah on that day. Make du'a on that day, of course. Do the deeds that would infuse your fast with barakah, with blessing and the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And whether they are narrated or not, we know that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala — His mercy is greater than anything that we can comprehend. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to reach that day, and may Allah accept it from us and accept all of our good deeds in Ramadan and in Sha'ban and Shawwal and Muharram and Dhul-Hijjah and beyond, throughout the year. اللهم آمين.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ.

Du'a and Closing

فَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ يَذْكُرْكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوهُ عَلَى النِّعَمِ يَزِدْكُمْ وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ.