Hajja Amina Adil Sultanق: The Six Days of Shawwal

Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm

The month of Ramadan is followed by the month of Shawwal. There are tremendous rewards for those who fast an additional six days during Shawwal.

The Holy Prophet ﷺ said, “When Ramadan has ended, the nafs of man rejoices; the reins are slackened, it is once more permissible to eat and drink during the day, and also to enjoy sexual congress. To resume fasting at this moment is tantamount to waging a holy war (jihad).”

This struggle with the nafs is much greater and much more difficult than during the month of Ramadan, when fasting is an obligatory duty for all Muslims. That is why the elective fast of Shawwal and the voluntary tightening of the reins will be rewarded so highly, and Allah ﷻ alone knows how much reward it carries.

The reason for fasting six days in Shawwal is given in the Holy Qur’an where it is stated:

“It is He that created the heavens and the earth in six days, then seated Himself upon the Throne” (57:4).

The creation of the worlds occurred in the six days of the month of Shawwal. The heavens and the earth were created during the first week of Shawwal. The Holy Prophet ﷺ spoke, “Whoever fasts the six days of Shawwal will be rewarded with the number of things the Almighty has created in these six days.”

The Holy Prophet ﷺ also said, “Whoever fasts the thirty days of Ramadan, his fast is worth three hundred days of fasting. If he fasts the additional six days of Shawwal, his fast will amount to 360 days, that is to say, as if he had fasted the entire year. For fasting is forbidden on five days of the year: on the ‘Eid of Ramadan, and on the four days of the Eid of the Hajj, ‘Id al-Adha.”

The Holy Prophet ﷺ spoke: “The human body possesses three hundred parts. When death is approaching, Allah Almighty gives to each of these parts a particular kind of pain, and not one will be the same as the other. Were Allah to burden one part of the body with the entire agony of death, all of creation would perish on account of this. But Allah has distributed the pangs of death separately among all the parts of the body.”

If somebody has fasted Ramadan and the following six days of Shawwal, Allah ﷻ will reward him in this manner: as a sip of cool water is refreshing on a scorching hot summer’s day, so death will be for the one who has fasted the six days of Shawwal, as a drink of cool water on a hot summer’s day.

The Holy Prophet ﷺ said, “Allah has created an angel with a fourfold face. Between one aspect and another there lies a distance of a thousand years. With one of his faces the angel prostrates in sajda up until the Last Day, while he intones with his lips, ‘Praise be to Thee, O Lord, how great is Thy Beauty!’

The second face of this angel is turned towards Hell, and with it he says, ‘Woe to those who enter therein!’

The third face faces Paradise and its lips say, ‘Great joy for those who enter within!’

The fourth face is fixed on the Throne of the Almighty and it says, ‘O Lord, Thou alone art deserving of Praise! Do not punish those of the nation of Muhammad ﷺ who have spent the month of Ramadan fasting.’”

There are three levels of fasting: the level of the ordinary people, that of those destined for a special calling, and the level of the chosen ones among those of an especial calling.

Of what does the fasting of ordinary folk consist? It consists of abstaining from food and drink and sexual pleasures until the sun has set.

The fast of those destined for a special calling consists in their exercising watchfulness over all parts of their body, taking care that neither eye nor ear perceive anything unlawful, that their tongue utters no harmful or untrue word, that their hand does not reach for anything not permitted to them, and that their foot does not lead them to prohibited places.

But the chosen ones among those of special calling also impose a fast upon their hearts: they carry nothing in their hearts but Allah, no worldly thought disturbs their devotions, and even more than that, neither this world nor the prospect of the next can turn their attention from gazing at the Divine Omnipresence.

This level, however, is reserved for the prophets (AS) and saints. Of them it is said that they will each be intercessors for seventy thousand people on the Day of Judgment.

On the Day of Judgment, all souls will be resurrected and will stand for fifty thousand years before the Lord ﷻ of the Worlds, and they will suffer great hunger and thirst. Then those will be known who fasted during Ramadan in this life, for by the Command of Allah, food and drink will be brought to them from Paradise, and they will not suffer any discomfort. A voice will then be heard, calling:

“Eat and drink with wholesome appetite, for that you did long ago, in days gone by” (69:24).

Only Almighty Allah knows of the rewards He holds in store for those who used to fast. We pray all the days of our life that He might bestow a portion of His gifts upon us and admit us among those gathered in the realms of bliss.

May He in His Mercy grant us forgiveness. Amin.

• Hajja Amina Adil Sultanق

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