Question:
Assalamu Alaikum Shaykhana,
May Allah preserve you and your family. I am Zaid Mujtaba, a student at Al-Salam.
I have a question regarding the origin of ‘Ashura’, based on three authentic hadith: the hadith of Aisha (RA), the hadith of Abu Musa (RA), and the hadith of Ibn Abbas (RA). Additionally, how do we reconcile the hadith of Ibn Abbas (RA), which states that the Jews fasted on ‘Ashura’ to commemorate the saving of Musa (AS), with known Jewish practices today? The Jews celebrate that event during Passover, on the 15th of Nisan, which falls in Spring and is based on a lunisolar calendar. They also fast on Yom Kippur, the 10th of Tishrei, a significant day but not linked to the story of Musa (AS).
How should we understand and reconcile these hadith in light of historical and current Jewish practice?
Jazakum Allahu Khayran for your time and guidance.
Answer:
The observance of fasting on the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ, the 10th of Muharram, predates Islam and was practised by the Quraysh, who regarded it as a day of particular religious significance. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ himself would fast on this day while residing in Makkah, following the established practice of the righteous members of his community. Following the Prophet’s migration to Madinah and the subsequent revelation obligating the fast of Ramaḍān, the fast of ʿĀshūrāʾ remained as a recommended but non-obligatory act of devotion for the Muslim community.
It was during his time in Madinah that the Prophet ﷺ became aware that the Jewish tribes residing in the region also observed fasting on ʿĀshūrāʾ. Upon inquiry, they explained that this practice commemorated the day on which Allah granted victory to the Prophet Musa (AS) over Pharaoh, an event of profound historical and theological significance in both the Islamic and Judaic traditions. In response, the Prophet ﷺ affirmed the Muslims’ greater claim to the legacy of Musa (AS), stating, “We are more entitled to Musa than they are,” and he encouraged the Muslim community to fast on that day.
Over time, the Prophet ﷺ, in line with a broader divine instruction to distinguish the Muslim community from the People of the Book, expressed his intention to add an additional day to the fast. His statement, “If I live until next year, I will certainly fast on the ninth [of Muharram] as well,” reflects an explicit effort to introduce a subtle yet meaningful distinction between Muslim and Jewish religious practices, especially given the Jews’ rejection of his prophethood and message. It is further reported that in subsequent generations, the Jewish communities abandoned the practice of fasting on ʿĀshūrāʾ altogether, thereby removing the practical significance of this distinction. Nonetheless, fasting on the 10th of Muharram remains a recommended act for Muslims, with the Sunnah further encouraging the fasting of the 9th or 11th of Muharram alongside it.
The reconciliation of the well-documented hadith of Ibn ʿAbbās (RA), which states that the Jews fasted on ʿĀshūrāʾ to commemorate the deliverance of Musa (AS), with the known practices of contemporary Judaism requires a nuanced, historically informed approach. It is essential to acknowledge that Jewish religious practice in 7th-century Arabia, particularly among the Jewish tribes of Madinah, may not have been entirely identical to the formalised practices of Rabbinic Judaism as preserved and codified in later centuries. Jewish communities in the Arabian Peninsula existed in relative isolation from the centralised religious structures that once operated in Jerusalem, particularly following the destruction of the Second Temple. Consequently, localised interpretations, adaptations, and even calendar variations are entirely plausible.
Moreover, the Jewish calendar follows a lunisolar system, wherein lunar months are adjusted through the periodic addition of leap months to align with the solar year. By contrast, the Islamic calendar is purely lunar, resulting in the months of the Islamic year, including Muharram, rotating through the solar seasons. This divergence in calendrical systems allows for the possibility that, in certain years, the 10th of Muharram coincided with significant Jewish observances such as Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which falls on the 10th of Tishrei. While Yom Kippur is primarily associated with atonement and spiritual reflection within Jewish theology, it remains one of the most important fasting days in the Jewish religious calendar. It is plausible that the Jewish community in Madinah attributed additional historical meanings to this day, possibly including events such as the deliverance of Musa (AS), even if such associations are not explicitly preserved in later Rabbinic sources.
Scholars and historians have noted that historical coincidences of dates between the Jewish and Islamic calendars did occur during the Prophet’s ﷺ time, further substantiating the possibility that the fasting of the Jews on or near ʿĀshūrāʾ was both historically accurate and contextually understandable. Furthermore, it is entirely conceivable that the Prophet ﷺ was addressing the religious practices of the Jews as they existed in his immediate socio-historical context, rather than making a definitive theological statement regarding formal Jewish observance across all times and places.
In light of these historical, calendrical, and socio-religious considerations, the hadith of Ibn ʿAbbās (RA) harmonises with the historical reality of the Prophet’s time, even if Jewish practice, both then and now, reflects the evolution of religious tradition. Such an approach reflects both academic rigour and respect for the integrity of the Prophetic narrations, while acknowledging the complex dynamics of intercommunal religious practice in 7th-century Arabia.
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