Can I simultaneously make up for a missed Ramadan fast and observe one of the six days of Shawwal, or should I prioritize them separately?

Uploaded Jan 20, 2024
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Question

Questioner: With regards to, my beloved brother, fasting the six days of Shawwal, I may have broken my fast in one of the days of Ramadan that which precedes Shawwal, and I wanted to fast the six days of Shawwal. Is it permissible for me to intend to make up (the day I broke my fast in Ramadan) and fast one of these six days at the same time?

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Sheikh Al-Albani
Sheikh: If you are asking about permissibility, the answer is yes, it is permissible. And I now mention to you here three levels, so the Muslim chooses he likes from them. The first level, and it is the highest, that he fasts the days he is making up by separately than the days of Shawwal by separately. Why is that? Because we know that a good deed is rewarded ten times as much, so if he fasts a day of Ramadan, he is rewarded with at least 10 hasanat (good deeds). And fasting a day from Shawwal for Shawwal is ten good deeds, (added together) they become twenty, which is the best and highest situation. The second case: he is not ready, he does not have time, and he does not have energy for one reason or another, he wants to fast one day of what he owes, for example, or six days of what he owes from Ramadan and he wants to include the six of Shawwal in them. For this second level we say: He intends to make up for what he owes from Ramadan and he does so, and includes to this intention the intention of six of Shawwal, for this, ten plus ten good deeds are not recorded for him. Rather, it is ten plus one good deed, this one deed is the good intention. Based on his saying ﷺ in the Hadith Qudsi: “When my slave thinks about doing a good deed and then does not do it, record it as one good deed for him, and if he does it, record it as ten good deeds for him,” up to a hundred good deeds, up to seven hundred, up to many times over that, and Allah multiplies [the reward] for whomever He wills. The third and final level: He only fasts only what he owes. He does not prepare himself for the six of Shawwal, or it’s possible he does not know he is in the month of Shawwal. As is the case for many Arabs who are living abroad. Clear?