al-Hadi wal-Khamsun min Amali Ibn Asakir
- Author died
- 571 AH
- Editions
- Manuscript published in the free Jawami' al-Kalim program affiliated with Islamweb
al-Hadi wal-Khamsun min Amali Ibn Asakir (The Fifty-First Session of the Dictations of Ibn Asakir) is a short hadith compilation (dictation session) by the Shafi'i hadith scholar Abu al-Qasim Ibn Asakir (d. 571 AH / 1176 CE) dedicated to the virtues of fasting .
Subject and Content
The work compiles sixteen transmitted reports (hadiths and narrations) centered on the merits and practice of voluntary fasting, particularly fasting three days of every lunar month and fasting during Ramadan (referred to as the "month of patience") . The text opens with a hadith stating that fasting is a shield from the Fire and encouraging the fasting of three days each month . It includes narrations from Companions such as Abu Hurayrah and Abu Dharr al-Ghifari relating the prophetic counsel regarding monthly fasting and its equivalence to fasting an entire lifetime when multiplied tenfold .
The compilation addresses differences among transmissions regarding the designated days:
- Fasting three days at the beginning of each month .
- Fasting the first Thursday followed by two subsequent Mondays, or the first two Mondays and two Thursdays .
- Fasting the "White Days" (Ayyam al-Bid), specifically the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth of the lunar month .
The text also examines explanations for the designation Ayyam al-Bid. It records a report attributed to Ibn Mas'ud regarding the story of Adam ﷺ, alongside an explanation transmitted from Nu'aym ibn Hammad al-Khuza'i stating that they are so named because the moon shines throughout those nights . The session concludes with three verses of poetry summarizing the reward of fasting three days each month and the month of patience .
Method and Transmission
Ibn Asakir presents each tradition with full chains of transmission (isnad) going back to the Prophet ﷺ or the Companions, using transmission paths he collected from teachers in learning centers such as Isfahan, Baghdad, Nishapur, and Herat . Throughout the text, he offers critical commentary (takhrij), pointing out corroborating narrations (mutaba'at), noting variant paths of transmitters, referencing parallel recordings in collections such as the Sunan of al-Nasa'i and the Sunan of Ibn Majah, and providing hadith gradings such as hasan gharib .
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