What is the virtue of fasting the three white days?
Fasting the 13th, 14th, and 15th of each lunar month is a sunnah the Prophet ﷺ recommended to his companions. Its equivalence to fasting the entire year.
10 passages from 5 books in the library
The library's cited passages speak more to the discipline of fasting and self-restraint than to the three white days by name. Al-Ghazali, in the Iḥyāʾ, frames fasting as spiritual training of the self, relating a teacher's measure of maturity: "if God withholds sustenance from you for three days, your spirit would not weaken." Ibn Battuta records people of Damascus who "fasted for three days" in devotion. For the specific reward and method of fasting the ayyām al-bīḍ, it is best to open the chapters on fasting in the library and consult a qualified teacher.
Drawn from the classical sources below — in the scholars' own words.
The classical approach.
These passages are drawn from 5 books by Ibn Battuta and Imam al-Ghazali — part of the classical Sunni tradition that carries over a thousand years of reflection on the Qurʾān, the authentic Sunnah, and the consensus of the early community. Nothing below is a paraphrase. The words are the scholars' own, translated from the original Arabic manuscripts.
14th century · Tangier, Morocco
The Riḥlah — a 30-year, 75,000-mile journey across three continents, and the most important travel account of the pre-modern world.
More on Ibn Battuta →
· Provenance →
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"as hospitality must be no less than three days. So we stayed for three days. Then we proceeded to"
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"They sustained heavy losses and Khalil stayed in Malik for three days, then went on to root out the remaining Tatars, who submitted to him."
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"The Tatars appointed one from among themselves to lead and they met him three days' travel from Malik, near Atrur."
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"over three days. And so I refrained for three days. When I eventually entered upon her,"
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"He replied, when your spiritual training of yourself reaches the point where if God withholds sustenance from you for three days, your spirit would not weaken."
14th century · Tangier, Morocco
The Riḥlah — a 30-year, 75,000-mile journey across three continents, and the most important travel account of the pre-modern world.
More on Ibn Battuta →
· Provenance →
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"We departed after three days and reached the large city of Manjarur, situated on the great estuary Khor al-Dumb, the largest in the Malabar region."
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"We disembarked and were hosted most generously for three days in honor of the Sultan of India and to foster trade relations with us."
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"Thereafter, I traveled to Damascus, arriving on a Thursday, to find that the people had fasted for three days"
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"the island of Sandabur three days later, pronunciation s with a fatha, n with a sukun, d with a fatha,"
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"standing at Arafat and Muzdalifah, entering Mecca, the three days of Tashriq, the farewell circumambulation,"
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