8/6. Chapter:
Jami at-Tirmidhi 689 — A Month May Be Twenty-Nine Days
What Has Been Related About: The Month Is Twenty-Nine Days
Ramadan Can Be Twenty-Nine Days Hadith
Jami at-Tirmidhi : 689
Jami at-TirmidhiHadith Number 689
حَدَّثَنَا أَحْمَدُ بْنُ مَنِيعٍ، حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ زَكَرِيَّا بْنِ أَبِي زَائِدَةَ، أَخْبَرَنِي عِيسَى بْنُ دِينَارٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ عَمْرِو بْنِ الْحَارِثِ بْنِ أَبِي ضِرَارٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ مَسْعُودٍ، قَالَ مَا صُمْتُ مَعَ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم تِسْعًا وَعِشْرِينَ أَكْثَرُ مِمَّا صُمْنَا ثَلاَثِينَ . قَالَ وَفِي الْبَابِ عَنْ عُمَرَ وَأَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ وَعَائِشَةَ وَسَعْدِ بْنِ أَبِي وَقَّاصٍ وَابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ وَابْنِ عُمَرَ وَأَنَسٍ وَجَابِرٍ وَأُمِّ سَلَمَةَ وَأَبِي بَكْرَةَ أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " الشَّهْرُ يَكُونُ تِسْعًا وَعِشْرِينَ " .
Ibn Mas'ud Narrated from:
What I Fasted With The Prophet That Was Twenty-Nine (Days), Was More Than What We Fasted That Was Thirty. (He Said): There Are Narrations On This Topic From `Umar, Abu Hurairah, `A'Isha, Sa`D Bin Abi Waqqas, Ibn `Abbas, Ibn `Umar, Anas, Jabir, Umm Salamah, Abu Bakrah, That The Prophet (ﷺ) Said: "The Month Is Twenty Nine (Days)."
[1] Meaning, in most cases the month was twenty-nine days.Reference : Jami` at-Tirmidhi 689In-book reference : Book 8, Hadith 8English translation : Vol. 2, Book 3, Hadith 689
Summary of Jami at-Tirmidhi Hadith 689
This hadith about a twenty-nine-day month teaches that a lunar month does not always have thirty days. Ibn Mas'ud said that the times he fasted with the Prophet when the month was twenty-nine were more than the times they fasted thirty. The report also mentions narrations on the topic that the month is twenty-nine days. The point is not that every month must be twenty-nine. Rather, it shows that a month of twenty-nine days is a normal part of the Islamic lunar calendar. This helps remove doubt when Ramadan ends after twenty-nine days by proper sighting and counting.
What we learn from this hadith
- A lunar month can be twenty-nine days.
- A twenty-nine-day Ramadan is not treated as strange in this report.
- The hadith helps people accept variation in the Islamic calendar.
