M introduced me to Ayyamul Bidh, a sunnah fasting conducted in the middle of Hijriyah months or on the 13-14-15 of each month. At first, it felt weird to fast outside of the normally Monday and Thursday sunnah fasting. But then a colleague followed, saying that she used to do ayyamul bidh when she was younger (she's 50-something now) and another one who is in his early 20s even asked me to wake him up via phonecall for sahur (pre-dawn meal) on those days (I really feel like I'm everyone's auntie now).
Sometimes the days fall between Monday and Thursday, so I usually combine the two types of fasting. There is a je-ne-sais-quoi peaceful state of mind when doing fasting, either Ramadhan or other sunnah fasting.
Since the world uses Gregorian calendar system and Muslims use our own lunar calendar system, there is an 11-day difference. Here is this year's calendar for ayyamul bidh. Feel free to use it, but again, ayyamul bidh is sunnah. There is no expulsion :)
There is a big dua that one has to recite after breaking the fast.
ReplyDelete