Sunnah Fasting Days: The Complete List

These categories overlap — a Monday can also be a White Day, and the 9th of Dhul Hijjah is both Arafah and one of the first nine days. One fast covers both.

The most frequently kept voluntary fast, and the easiest to build a habit around because it lands on the same two days every week.

It is reported that deeds are presented to Allah on Mondays and Thursdays, and that the Prophet ﷺ said he liked his deeds to be presented while he was fasting. Asked specifically about Monday, he mentioned it as the day he was born and the day he was sent as a prophet. Both reports are found in the well-known collections, including Sahih Muslim and the Sunan.

Two days a week comes to a little over a hundred fasts a year — a substantial amount of voluntary worship from a habit that requires no calendar checking at all.

The 13th, 14th and 15th of every Hijri month. They take their name from the whiteness of those nights, when the moon is full and the night stays bright.

Fasting three days of every month is itself an established recommendation, and the White Days are the three the Sunnah specifies. Twelve Hijri months at three days each comes to roughly 36 fasts a year.

Bear in mind that communities differ over the start of a Hijri month depending on whether they follow calculation or local moon sighting, so the White Days can land a day apart in different places. Follow your local authority.

Ashura — 10 Muharram

Reported in Sahih Muslim as expiating the sins of the year before it. It is recommended to fast the 9th alongside the 10th — the day known as Tasu'a — to distinguish the practice from that of others who fasted the 10th alone.

The Day of Arafah — 9 Dhul Hijjah

For those not performing Hajj, this fast is reported in Sahih Muslim as expiating the year before and the year after. Pilgrims standing at Arafah do not fast it, following the Prophet's ﷺ own practice on that day.

Six days of Shawwal

Fasted after Eid al-Fitr, at any point during Shawwal. It is reported that whoever fasts Ramadan and follows it with six days of Shawwal is as one who fasted the whole year. They may be kept consecutively or spread out — both are acceptable to the majority.

The first nine days of Dhul Hijjah

The first ten days of Dhul Hijjah are described in the Sunnah as the days in which righteous deeds are most beloved to Allah. The first nine may be fasted; the tenth is Eid al-Adha, on which fasting is not permitted.

Muharram and Sha'ban

Muharram is reported as the best month for fasting after Ramadan. Sha'ban is the month in which the Prophet ﷺ fasted more than any other outside Ramadan, as reported by Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her.

Fasting on alternate days — one day fasting, the next not. The Prophet ﷺ described it as the most beloved fasting to Allah, and in the same conversation cautioned against fasting more than that.

It is demanding, and that caution is part of the guidance rather than a footnote to it. Build up to it gradually if it is something you intend, and stop short of what damages your health, your work or your family.

Discouraged rather than forbidden

• Friday on its own. Singling out a Friday for fasting is discouraged. Fasting it together with the Thursday before or the Saturday after is fine — and a Friday that happens to fall on a White Day or in Shawwal is not being "singled out".
• Fasting continuously without a break, or fasting the entire year, is discouraged — the guidance points consistently toward a sustainable middle.
• The day of doubt — fasting the last day of Sha'ban out of caution that Ramadan may have begun.

Fasts missed in Ramadan through illness, travel, menstruation, pregnancy or nursing are made up afterwards. These are obligatory, not voluntary, and are a separate matter from everything above.

The usual guidance is to complete them before the next Ramadan arrives. They are easy to lose track of, particularly when the days missed were spread across the month, which is why keeping a count matters.

Scholars differ on whether voluntary fasts may be kept while qada fasts are still owed. Some hold that the obligation comes first; others permit voluntary fasting as long as the make-up days are completed before the next Ramadan. Follow the position of the scholar or school you follow.

The difficulty with Sunnah fasting is rarely the intention — it is that the White Days move every month, Ashura and Arafah come round once a year, and missed Ramadan fasts are easy to forget once the month has ended.

The Fasting Tracker in the Tawhid app handles the bookkeeping:

• Sunnah days marked automatically on the calendar, including every Monday and Thursday
• Upcoming fasting days listed ahead of time, so nothing arrives unannounced
• A qada counter that keeps a running total of the make-up fasts you still owe
• A yearly total of the fasts you have kept, alongside your prayer tracker and streak