Shawwal and the Six Days of Fasting: Timing and Dates

The six days of Shawwal are six voluntary fasts kept in Shawwal, the tenth month of the Hijri calendar, after the obligatory fast of Ramadan. They rest on a hadith in Sahih Muslim: whoever fasts Ramadan and follows it with six days of Shawwal, it is as if they fasted perpetually. The 1st of Shawwal is Eid al-Fitr, a day on which fasting is not allowed, so the six days can begin from 2 Shawwal at the earliest. They can be kept one after another or spread across the month, as long as they fall within Shawwal.

Key Takeaways

• The six days are a recommended (voluntary) fast based on Sahih Muslim 1164a, not an obligation.
• 1 Shawwal is Eid al-Fitr. The Prophet ﷺ forbade fasting on it, so the earliest start is 2 Shawwal.
• Scholars accept both consecutive and spread-out days. Some prefer starting right after Eid.
• After Eid, Shawwal has 28 or 29 fasting days left. Aim to finish by 29 Shawwal, because a 30th day is not guaranteed.
• By the calculated Umm al-Qura calendar, Shawwal 1448 runs from Tuesday 9 March to Wednesday 7 April 2027.

Shawwal begins with Eid al-Fitr

Shawwal follows Ramadan, and its first day is Eid al-Fitr, the festival of breaking the fast. Like every Hijri date, 1 Shawwal begins at sunset the evening before. So the night after the last fast of Ramadan already belongs to Eid.

Fasting on Eid itself is not permitted. In Sahih al-Bukhari 1990, Umar ibn al-Khattab says at an Eid gathering that the Prophet ﷺ forbade fasting on two days: "the day on which you break fasting" (Eid al-Fitr) and the day of the sacrifice (Eid al-Adha). That is why the six days start on 2 Shawwal or later.

Because Shawwal begins when Ramadan ends, its start date depends on how your community decides the end of Ramadan. Communities that follow a local sighting, a regional announcement or a calculated calendar can mark Eid on different days. The sister post on why Eid al-Fitr can fall on different days explains why. For the six fasts, the practical rule is simple: count from the Eid your community keeps.

The hadith on the six days

The main source is Sahih Muslim 1164a, narrated by Abu Ayyub al-Ansari. In the sunnah.com translation, the Prophet ﷺ said: "He who observed the fast of Ramadan and then followed it with six (fasts) of Shawwal. it would be as if he fasted perpetually." On sunnah.com it sits under the chapter heading "It is recommended to fast Six Days in Shawwal following Ramadan."

A second narration explains the arithmetic. In Sunan Ibn Majah 1715, graded Sahih (Darussalam) on sunnah.com, Thawban reports the Prophet ﷺ saying that whoever fasts six days after the Fitr "will have completed the year," then cites the principle that a good deed is rewarded with ten like it. That principle is in the Quran, 6:160, in the Clear Quran translation of the meaning on quran.com: "Whoever comes with a good deed will be rewarded tenfold."

Egypt's Dar al-Ifta spells out the usual reading in its fatwa on fasting six days of Shawwal: with each day counted tenfold, a month of Ramadan plus six days comes to about 360 days, roughly a full year.

A voluntary fast, with one recorded reservation

Dar al-Ifta notes that many scholars consider the six days commendable. The Muwatta of Imam Malik records a more cautious view. In Muwatta Malik, Book 18 (Fasting), hadith 60 in the USC-MSA numbering, Malik says he never saw people of knowledge fasting these days. He explains his concern: that ordinary people might come to think the six days are part of Ramadan.

Consecutive or spread across the month

The hadith says "six of Shawwal." It does not say the days must be in a row or must start right after Eid. Scholars agree that both ways count, and differ only on which is better.

• Consecutive, straight after Eid. The Mufti of the Federal Territories in Malaysia, in its Irsyad al-Fatwa on whether the six days must be consecutive, quotes al-Nawawi's al-Majmu' that it is sunnah to fast them consecutively in early Shawwal, while separate days or days at the end of the month are also permissible.
• Either way, equally. The same article quotes Ibn Qudamah's al-Mughni, a Hanbali reference work, that it does not matter whether they are consecutive or separate. It concludes that they can be kept "consecutively or separately, at the beginning or at the end."
• Spread, with an early start preferred. Dar al-Ifta's fatwa states that "it is not a condition to fast the six days from Shawwal consecutively." It suggests spreading them over Mondays and Thursdays or the 13th to 15th of the month, and adds that starting right after Eid is best.

If you are unsure which approach fits your situation, ask a scholar or your local mosque. The calendar side is the same either way: all six days must fall between 2 Shawwal and the last day of Shawwal.

Making up missed Ramadan days

Many people also owe days from Ramadan, for travel, illness, menstruation or another valid reason. Scholars discuss two questions here: which comes first, and whether one fast can carry both intentions.

On order, a separate Dar al-Ifta fatwa on combining the two intentions calls it preferable to make up Ramadan first for someone able to. It also allows the six days first, as long as the missed days are completed before the next Ramadan. The same fatwa reports a Shafi'i view that the two intentions can be combined in one fast. Since scholars discuss this differently, it is a point to settle with a scholar you trust.

The flexibility on make-up days has a precedent. In Sahih al-Bukhari 1950, Aisha says that she sometimes owed days from Ramadan and could only make them up in Sha'ban.

Counting the days in a 29- or 30-day month

A Hijri month has 29 or 30 days. In Sahih al-Bukhari 1913, the Prophet ﷺ describes the month as "sometimes of 29 days and sometimes of thirty days." Shawwal is no exception, and the sister post on why an Islamic month has 29 or 30 days covers the reasons.

Subtract Eid, and the fasting window is:

Three practical points follow from the table:

1. Do not count on the 30th. Whether Shawwal has a 30th day is often settled only on the evening of the 29th. If the next month's crescent is seen or announced, that evening begins 1 Dhu al-Qi'dah. Plan to finish by 29 Shawwal.
2. Make-up days still fit. Someone who owes 10 days from Ramadan and wants all six Shawwal fasts needs 16 days. That fits inside 28, with room for rest days. Someone who owes more than 22 days cannot fit both into one Shawwal. Since the Dar al-Ifta fatwa allows make-up days until the next Ramadan, the remainder can go later in the year.
3. Count each fast as you keep it. If you spread the days out, keep a simple tally on a calendar.

Shawwal 1448: calculated dates

By the calculated Umm al-Qura calendar, Ramadan 1448 has 29 days and Eid al-Fitr (1 Shawwal 1448) falls on Tuesday 9 March 2027. Eid begins at sunset on Monday 8 March. The calculated Shawwal has 30 days and ends on Wednesday 7 April 2027. Dates are calculated from the Umm al-Qura tables in the open-source hijri-converter library that this site uses. Local announcements may differ by a day, which shifts every date below by the same amount.

The Monday-and-Thursday plan is one of the spread-out options Dar al-Ifta names. It finishes on 21 Shawwal, which leaves a week of margin. The sister post on fasting on Mondays and Thursdays covers that habit for the rest of the year.

Plan your six days

1. Confirm Eid. Wait for the Eid announcement your community follows, then treat the next day as 2 Shawwal.
2. Pick a pattern. Choose six days in a row, or a spread such as Mondays and Thursdays, and write the dates down.
3. Fit in make-up days. If you owe days from Ramadan, decide the order with guidance from a scholar, and check the total fits within 28 days.
4. Finish by the 29th. Keep the last fast on or before 29 Shawwal.

The Shawwal 1448 calendar shows each day of the month with its Gregorian date, and the Hijri date converter checks any single date if your local Eid differs from the calculated one.