Islam Q&A: Fasting on the day of the Mi’raaj and the day of Shab-e-baraath

Question:

Is the following bid'ah? 1. praying more than 8 rak'ats in taraweeh? 2. fasting on the supposed day of mi'raj( for one who believes that that day is the day of mi'raj and for one who is sure that there is no specific date mentioned in hadeeth but he fasts on that day for the sake of Allah?) 3. fasting on the supposed day of shab'e baraath? 4. is it not bid'ah if some says that they are fasting it as a nafil fasting on the day of shab'e baraath? some muslim brothers say that the extra prayers we pray after 8 rakat in taraweeh and the fasting on various days such as shabe baraath and mi'raj and meelad un nabi are not bid'ah, because these form of worship is taught to us by prophet(saw) and what is wrong in praying or fasting on any day (other than forbidden days and times).what is the ruling? 5.praying salat tasbeeh nafil? (100 times surat al ikhlas in every rakat)

Praise be to Allaah.

1 – Praying more than 8 rak’ahs in Taraaweeh is not considered to be bid’ah, on the condition that one does not single out certain nights for increasing the number, such as the last ten nights. The number of raka’hs during the last ten nights should be the same as the number during the other nights. The last ten nights should be characterized by making the rak’ahs longer.

2 – Fasting on the day which one believes to be the day of the Mi’raaj is not permissible, and comes under the heading of bid’ah. Even if a person is not sure, but he fasts this day for the sake of being on the safe side, it is as if he is saying, ‘If it is really the day of the Mi’raaj, then I will have fasted it, and if it is not, it will still be a good action that I have done, and if I will not be rewarded for it then I will not be punished.’ This attitude means that a person is committing bid’ah, and he is a sinner who deserves to be punished. But if his fast is not because it is the day of the Mi’raaj, but is rather because it is his habit to fast alternate days, or to fast Mondays and Thursdays, and that happens to coincide with the day known as the day of the Mi’raaj, there is nothing wrong with him fasting it with that intention, i.e., the intention of fasting on Monday or Thursday, or a day on which he usually fasts.

3,4 – What we have said about fasting on the day of the Mi’raaj also applies to fasting on the day of Shab-e-baraath. If any Muslim says that fasting on the day of the Mi’raaj or on the day of Shab-e-baraath is not bid’ah because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) taught us these acts of worship, so what is wrong with fasting any day apart from the days on which it is haraam to fast? Our response to that is:

If the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) taught us these acts of worship, then where is the evidence (daleel) for singling out the day of the Mi’raaj or any other day for fasting? If there were any evidence that it is prescribed to fast on these two days, no one would be able to say that fasting on these days is bid’ah. But what is apparent is that those who say this mean that fasting is an act of worship in general terms, so that if he fasts he has done an act of worship for which he will be rewarded, so long as it is not on one of the days when fasting is not allowed, such as on Eid. This would be correct if the person who is fasting did not single out a day which he believes is a day of virtue, such as the day of the Mi’raaj or the day of Shab-e-baraath. What makes this the matter of bid’ah is the fact that one is singling out these days. If there was any virtue in fasting these two days, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) would have fasted them, and he would have urged us to fast them. It is known that the Companions of the Messenger of Allaah were more keen to do good than we are; if they had known that there was any virtue in fasting these two days, they would have fasted them. Since we find no reports to that effect from them, we know that this is an innovated bid’ah, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever does an action that is not a part of this matter of ours (Islam) will have it rejected,” i.e., it will be thrown back on the one who does it. Fasting these two days is an action which we find no report of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) enjoining, so it is to be rejected.

5 – The “salat tasbeeh nafil” is to be regarded in the same way as the matter discussed above, in the fullest sense. Acts of worship that have no evidence (daleel) to support them are to be rejected. It has not been proven in the Book of Allaah or in the Sunnah of His Chosen Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) that there is any prayer in which “Qul Huwa Allaahu Ahad” is to be recited 100 times, so doing that is an innovated bid’ah for which the one who does it will be punished. And Allaah knows best.

Shaykh Sa’d al-Humayd
Islam Q&A