Shawwal

Shawwāl (Arabic: شوّال‎‎) is the tenth month of the lunar Islamic calendar. Shawwāl means to 'lift or carry'; so named because a female camel normally would be carrying a fetus at this time of year.

Fasting during Shawwāl

The first day of Shawwāl is Eid al-Fitr. Some Muslims observe six days of fasting during Shawwāl beginning the day after Eid ul-Fitr since fasting is prohibited on this day. These six days of fasting together with the Ramadan fasts, are equivalent to fasting all year round. The reasoning behind this tradition is that a good deed in Islam is rewarded 10 times, hence fasting 30 days during Ramadan and 6 days during Shawwāl is equivalent to fasting the whole year in terms of reward.[1]

The Shia scholars do not place any emphasis on the six days being consecutive while among the Sunnis the majority of Shafi`i scholars consider it recommended to fast these days consecutively. They based this on a hadith related by Tabarani and others wherein Muhammad is reported to have said, "Fasting six consecutive days after Eid al-Fitr is like fasting the entire year." Other traditional scholarly sources among the Hanafiyya and Hanbaliyya do not place an emphasis on consecutive days, while the strongest opinion of the Malikiyya prefers any six days of the year, consecutively or otherwise.

Timing

The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, and months begin when the first crescent of a new moon is sighted. Since the Islamic lunar calendar year is 10 to 11 days shorter than the solar year, Shawwāl migrates throughout the seasons. The actual and estimated start and end dates for Shawwāl are as follows:

CE / AD AH First day Last day
2014 1435 28 July 26 August
2015 1436[2] 17 July 15 August
2016 1437[2] 6 July 3 August
2017 1438[2] 25 June 23 July
2018 1439[2] 15 June 13 July
2019 1440[2] 4 June 3 July
2020 1441[2] 24 May 21 June
2021 1442[2] 13 May 10 June
2022 1443[2] 2 May 30 May
2023 1444[2] 21 April 20 May
2024 1445[2] 10 April 8 May
Shawwāl dates between 2014 and 2024 are estimates. Dates may vary.

Islāmic Events

Notes

  1. ↑ Islam online. Archived February 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Predicted by the Umm al-Qura calendar of Saudi Arabia


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