Duas & Fazilat
Most of us think of fasting as a Ramadan thing: one intense month, and then back to normal eating for the rest of the year. But the Prophet (peace be upon him) kept a gentler rhythm all year round. Twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, he fasted — not as an obligation on his community, but as a sunnah he loved and kept. Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) reported that he was keen to fast on Mondays and Thursdays. It was not a grand gesture. It was a habit, woven into ordinary weeks, and that is exactly why it is so powerful: it is a small act that anyone can actually keep.
This article looks at why those two days, what fasting does to the heart, the one warning attached to these days that most people miss, and how to start — perhaps as early as tomorrow morning.
1.Why Mondays and Thursdays?
Monday has a special place in the Prophet's life. When he was asked about fasting on Mondays, he answered, in a narration in Sahih Muslim (1162), that on that day he was born, and on it revelation came to him. Think about what that means: the day the world received its greatest blessing, and the day the Quran began to descend, became a day of gratitude expressed through fasting. Fasting on Monday is, in that sense, a weekly thank-you — a way of marking the beginning of revelation with an act of worship rather than a celebration.
Thursday shares the second reason, and it applies to both days equally. In a narration reported in Sunan al-Tirmidhi (747), graded authentic by al-Albani, the Prophet said that deeds are presented to Allah on Mondays and Thursdays, and that he loved for his deeds to be presented while he was fasting. Imagine that picture for a moment: twice a week, the record of your week is laid open, and on those very days you have chosen to stand before Allah hungry, patient and obedient. The fast becomes a kind of cover note on your deeds — "I was fasting when this was shown." It does not erase bad deeds, but it frames the week in worship, and that framing changes how you live the other five days too.
That is why the habit is weekly rather than yearly. Ramadan trains you intensely for a month; Monday and Thursday fasting keeps a little of that training alive all year. It is the difference between a single long run and a short walk every few days — the second one quietly reshapes your whole life.
2.What Fasting Is Actually For
It is easy to think of fasting as only about food. The Quran gives it a deeper purpose. In the meaning of Quran 2:183, fasting was prescribed for believers "so that you may attain taqwa" — God-consciousness, the careful awareness of Allah that guards a person from sin. Hunger is not the goal; it is the tool. A stomach that is used to saying no at suhoor learns to say no to anger at noon, to gossip in the evening, to a glance or a word that should not be said. The fast trains the same muscle all day long.
That is also why a fast that only changes what you eat, but not how you speak or behave, has missed its point. The scholars have always stressed this: fasting is a shield, in the well-known hadith image, only when it shields the tongue and the temper as well as the stomach. A Monday fast that leaves you snapping at your family in the afternoon has kept the letter and lost the spirit. The real test of the fast is not how hungry you feel at sunset, but how gentle you were at midday.
Seen this way, voluntary fasting is not an extra burden on an already busy life. It is a weekly reset button. Twice a week, you step back from your appetites and remember who you are serving. For more on that daily remembering, see our article on dhikr, how remembering Allah brings the heart to rest.
Deeds are presented to Allah on Mondays and Thursdays, and I love for my deeds to be presented while I am fasting. — Sunan al-Tirmidhi 747, in meaning
3.The Day Your Deeds Are Presented
There is a second narration about these same two days that deserves more attention than it usually gets. In Sahih Muslim (2565), we learn that on Mondays and Thursdays, people are forgiven — except for two people between whom there is enmity. For them, the instruction is: leave these two until they reconcile. Read that slowly. The days when deeds are presented are also days when grudges block forgiveness.
This turns Monday and Thursday fasting into something more searching than a diet of the stomach. It asks an uncomfortable question twice a week: is there someone you are not speaking to, someone you have cut off, someone whose message you keep ignoring? The fast will not paper over that. In fact, the narration suggests the opposite: the presentation of deeds on these days is the perfect moment to ask whether your heart is clean towards other people, not just towards Allah.
So here is a practical pairing worth adopting: when you fast on Monday or Thursday, use a quiet moment of the day to think of one relationship that needs repair — a message to send, an apology to make, a misunderstanding to clear up. You do not have to fix everything in one day. But a fast that ends with a reconciled heart is worth far more than a fast that only ends with a full stomach at iftar. The two go together: worship of Allah and kindness to His servants, on the very days both are presented.
4.How to Fast Them Well
1. Make the intention the night before. For a voluntary fast, the intention can be formed before dawn; decide at night, or at suhoor, that tomorrow is a fast day. A small decision made the evening before is much easier to keep than a decision made while staring at breakfast.
2. Do not skip suhoor. The pre-dawn meal carries blessing — the Prophet encouraged it in a narration in Sahih al-Bukhari (1923) and Sahih Muslim (1095), saying in meaning that there is blessing in suhoor. Even a few dates and water count. Suhoor is not only fuel; it is part of the sunnah itself, and it separates our fast from a mere skipped meal.
3. Guard the fast, not just the hunger. Plan for the hard hours. If afternoons are when your patience runs thin, decide in advance how you will respond: a pause before answering, a walk, a glass of water at iftar to look forward to. Keep the tongue busy with dhikr instead of complaints about the fast — the fast is a gift, not a grievance.
4. Break it simply and gratefully. Dates and water, following the sunnah, then a normal meal. There is no reward in turning iftar into a feast that undoes the whole point. The joy of breaking the fast is real and promised — enjoy it, but keep it simple.
5. Pair it with something small. A fast day is a good day for one extra act: a few pages of Quran, a longer prayer, charity, or that message of reconciliation from the last section. The fast opens the heart; put something good into the opening.
5.If You Miss a Day, or Cannot Fast
Voluntary fasting is voluntary. That sounds obvious, but it matters, because guilt is the fastest way to kill a good habit. If you miss a Monday, Thursday is still there. If you miss a whole week, next week is still there. Allah does not need your fast; you need its training, and training resumes the moment you return to it.
And some people should not fast these days at all. The Quran itself gives the principle in the meaning of Quran 2:184-185: those who are ill or travelling are excused from obligatory fasting and make it up later — and if that mercy applies to Ramadan, it certainly applies to a voluntary fast. Pregnant or nursing mothers, people with medical conditions, those whose work or health makes fasting harmful: your exemption is not a failure. Worship has many doors, and fasting is only one of them. If you cannot fast, you can still honour Mondays and Thursdays with extra prayer, charity, Quran or a reconciled relationship.
One more caution from the scholars: do not single out Friday alone for fasting, and do not turn a voluntary fast into a burden on others. A fast that makes you miserable company at home, or that you announce to everyone for praise, has lost its reward to showing off. Keep it quiet, keep it kind, and keep it for Allah.
6.Starting This Week: A Quiet Anchor
Here is the simplest way to begin. Tonight, before you sleep, decide: tomorrow, Monday, I will fast. Eat suhoor, even if it is small. Go through your day a little more slowly, a little more carefully. When you feel hunger, let it remind you of why you are doing this — gratitude for a Monday long ago when revelation began, and hope that when your deeds are presented today, they are presented while you are fasting.
Then do it again on Thursday. Two days, and you have a rhythm. Keep it for a month, and you will notice something: the weeks start to feel different. Mondays stop being the dreaded start of the work week and become a day of worship. Thursdays stop being a tired slide into the weekend and become a day of presentation and reconciliation. The rest of the week steadies around these two anchors.
That is the quiet power of this sunnah. It does not ask you to change your whole life at once. It asks for two days, twice a week, every week — and in return it gives you a heart that remembers Allah a little more often, a record presented a little more beautifully, and a life with two built-in moments of return. For a nightly habit that pairs well with it, see our article on muhasabah, the nightly self-account. And for all our articles, visit our blog.