with fasting; because they are two days that the disbelievers venerate, so singling them out for fasting to the exclusion of other days constitutes an alignment with them in their veneration, and it is therefore disliked, just like Saturday. By this analogy, [this applies to] every festival of the disbelievers, or any day they single out for veneration (15).
Section: It is disliked to single out Rajab for fasting. Ahmad said: If a man fasts it (16), he should break his fast during it for a day or for some days, to the extent that he does not fast the entirety of it. The rationale for this is what Ahmad (17) narrated with his isnad from Kharashah ibn al-Hurr, who said: I saw Umar striking the palms of those who used to fast Rajab until they placed them in the food, and he would say: Eat, for it is only a month that the Jahiliyyah (19) used to venerate. And with his isnad from Ibn Umar, that when he used to see the people and what they were preparing for Rajab, he disliked it and said: Fast part of it and break your fast [during part of it]. A similar [statement] is reported from Ibn Abbas, and with his isnad from Abu Bakrah, that he entered upon his family and they had new baskets and jars, and he said: What is this? They said: Rajab, we are fasting it. He said: Have you made Rajab like Ramadan? And he overturned the baskets and broke the jars. Ahmad said: Whoever fasts throughout the year may fast it, but otherwise, he should not fast it consecutively; he should break his fast during it, and he should not liken it to Ramadan.
Section: Abu Qatadah narrated that it was said: O Messenger of Allah, what about the one who fasts for his entire life? He said: "He has neither fasted nor broken his fast," or "He did not fast and he did not break his fast." Al-Tirmidhi (20) said: This
(15) Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah devoted a section to the command to oppose the festivals of the polytheists in his book, Iqtida' al-Sirat al-Mustaqim, page 177 and following. (16) In the original, A and B: "fasted". (17) Al-Haythami mentioned it in: The Chapter on Fasting Rajab, from the Book of Fasting, and attributed it to al-Tabarani in al-Awsat. Majma' al-Zawa'id 3/191. See: Hashiyat al-Fath al-Rabbani 10/193. (18) In the original and A: "was". (19) In a marginal note of the Taqyid, it is mentioned that Sa'id ibn Mansur narrated it in his Sunan, and that its isnad is in accordance with the conditions of the two Shaykhs [al-Bukhari and Muslim]. (20) In: The Chapter on What Has Been Mentioned Regarding Fasting the Entire Life, from the Chapters of Fasting. 'Aridat al-Ahwadhi 3/297. It was also recorded by Muslim, in: The Chapter on the Recommendation of Fasting Three Days of Every Month..., from the Book of Fasting. Sahih Muslim 2/818, 819; and Abu Dawud, in: The Chapter on Fasting the Entire Life Voluntarily, from the Book of Fasting. Sunan Abi Dawud 1/565; and al-Nasa'i, in: The Chapter on the Prohibition of Fasting the Entire Life, from the Book of Fasting. Al-Mujtaba 4/176; and Imam Ahmad, in: Al-Musnad 5/297, 311.
