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.
4 passages from 3 books in the library
The classical approach.
These passages are drawn from 3 books by Imam al-Ghazali and Ibn Battuta — 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.
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.
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· 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.
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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."
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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"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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