What Is the Benefit of Fasting for 40 Days?

Is it Disliked to Fast on Fridays? If So, What to Do if the Day of Arafa Falls on a Friday?


Hanafi Fiqh

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Question: Assalaamu alaikum,
Is it disliked to fast the day of Arafah only if it happens to be on a Friday? Do you also then have to fast the day before, on thursday?
Answer: walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,
There is no inherent dislike with fasting Friday on its own. Rather, what is disliked is to “single out” Fridays with fasting–such that one considers this particularly virtuous, for example. [Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]
Thus, there would be nothing disliked about fasting on Friday if the Day of Arafa (9th of Dhu’l Hijja, a recommended day of fasting) falls on a Friday.
And Allah alone gives success.
wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani