Chapter on Merit of Fasting the Day of Doubt and Taking Precaution for Fasting the Month of Ramadan

Abu al-Hasan Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Walid, from his father, from Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Saffar, from Ali ibn Muhammad al-Qasani, from al-Qasim ibn Muhammad Kasula, from Sulayman ibn Dawud al-Shadhakuni, from Abd al-Razzaq, from Mamar, from Muhammad ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, who said: I (narrator) heard Imam Ali ibn al-Husayn عليه السلام, peace be upon him, saying: “The day of doubt (yawm al-shakk) is a day concerning which we were commanded to fast and forbidden from fasting. We were commanded that a person fast it on the basis that it is from Shaban, and we were forbidden that a person fast it on the basis that it is from the month of Ramadan while he has not seen the crescent.”