Dear respected Shaykh, assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Whoever fasts the day of ‘Arafah with the intention of making up for a missed fast, does he gets the reward for fasting on the day of ‘Arafah? حقن الدم للصائم

Praise be to Allah, and may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family and his companions.   Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu   To proceed:   The fast of the day of ‘Arafah has the greatest reward among the voluntary fasts, because no virtues like those which were transmitted for the day of ‘Arafah were transmitted for any other voluntary  fasting. It has been transmitted in Saheeh Muslim from the hadeeths of Aboo  Qataadah that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Fast the Day of Arafah, for indeed I anticipate that Allah will forgive (the sins) of the year after it, and the year before it."[1]   This great virtue of the forgiveness of the sins of two years is attained by the one who voluntarily fasts on the day of ‘Arafah, with sincere faith and seeking Allah’s reward. There is no difference of opinion among the scholars about this.   As for the person who fasts on the day of ‘Arafah with the intention of making up for a missed day, expiation or vow and in addition makes an intention to fast the day of ‘Arafah so as to get its virtue; the scholars have differed and have two opinion about that:   The first opinion: Whoever fasts for a day with the intention of fasting a compulsory fast and an optional one; his fasting is valid, and he will get what he made an intention for in the two fasts. Thus whoever fasts the day of ‘Arafah with the intention of making up for a missed fast and a voluntary fast will get two rewards: the reward for fasting the day of ‘Arafah and the reward of fasting to make up for a missed fast. This was the opinion of a group of scholars from the Malikites and Shaafi’tes[2] and others. From the contemporary scholars; this opinion was chosen by our Shaykh Muhammad al-‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) and he said, “If a person makes an intention on this day- the day of ‘Arafah- to make up for the missed fast of Ramadaan, he will get two rewards: the reward for fasting on the day of ‘Arafah and the rewards for making up for a missed fast”. [3]   This is also understood from the answer of our Shaykh Ibn Baaz when he said, “If a person fasts on the day of ‘Arafah to make up for a missed day, and fasts during the first nine days of Thul Hijjah to make up for missed fasts, that is good.” [4]   The proof for this opinion is that the Prophet (peace be upon him) set a reward on the day of ‘Arafah for fasting, thus whatever intention of fasting is made, it realizes the reward which was set. This goes under what the scholars stated that it is permissible to have more than one intention in doing a good deed, or having overlapping acts of worship. They stated that this is divided into two sections:   Firstly: Where the action itself is intended; in this case it is not allowed to have more than one intention or to have overlapping acts of worship, rather each act of worship should be performed independent of the other like the Sunnah rak’aats of Zuhr and Maghrib for example, all of them are intended to be done separately. Secondly: When what was is intended is the action not the act of worship itself, like the voluntary prayer of tahiyyatul masjid, because what is meant  by the statement of the Prophet (peace be upon him) "If anyone of you enters a Mosque, he should not sit until he has offered a two rak’aat prayer”[5] is that the person who has entered the mosque should not sit down except after performing prayer, and this is achieved by performing a compulsory prayer, specific optional prayer or a general optional prayer, and this applies to fasting on the day of ‘Arafah. Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said, “What is meant by the fasting on the day of ‘Arafah is that this day must come upon you while you are fasting, whether you have made an intention that this day will be part of the three days that are fasted optionally every month, or you have intended it to be fasting on the day of ‘Arafah”. [6]   The second opinion: An act of worship which combines the intention of a compulsory deed and an optional deed is not valid, thus whoever fasts the day of ‘Arafah with the intention to make up for a missed fast and with an intention to fast a voluntary fast, his intention for fasting optionally attains no virtue because the virtue of fasting on the day of ‘Arafah cannot be attained except with an intention to fast voluntarily according to the form on which the reward was set, and that is fasting on the day because it is the day of ‘Arafah. This was the opinion held by the Malikites, the Shaafi’tes and others. [7]   The proof for this statement is that: an act of worship cannot be performed with a combined intention for a compulsory and voluntary act of worship because these things have different rulings.   The nearest of these opinions to the truth-and Allah knows best- is that whoever fasts on the day of ‘Arafah with the intention to make up for a missed fast and also with the intention for a voluntary fast will attain the reward for performing a compulsory deed and a voluntary deed. Thus he will have fasted for a missed day and a voluntary fast. This can be supported by what was transmitted by al-Bukhaari and Muslim from the hadeeth of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaabthat “The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended.” [8] Thus the person who fasted the day of ‘Arafah to make up for a missed fast and also as a voluntary fast, will get the reward of what he intended for and Allah’s grace is extensive. As for the opinion of some scholars that the intention for a compulsory deed cannot  be combined with a voluntary; this is not admissible. If a person enters the mosque and offers the compulsory prayer, he will have followed a compulsory command and another command which is recommended . And Allah knows best.   Your brother Dr. Khaalid al-Mosleh 5/12/1434   [1] Saheeh Muslim (no. 1162) [2] Haashiyat ad-Dasooqi 5/95, Haashiyat ‘I’aanah at-Taalibeen  2/252, al-Fataawa al-Fiqhiyyah al-Kuwaitiyyah 2/83 [3] Majmoo’ Fataawa ibn ‘Uthaymeen 20/29 [4] Majmoo’ Fataawa Ibn Baaz 15/406 [5] Transmitted by al-Bukhaari (no. 1167) and Muslim (no. 714) [6] Majmoo’ Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (20/13) [7] Bulghat as-Saalik li ‘Aqrab al-Masaalik 1/449, Mughni al-Muhtaaj (5/186) [8] Transmitted by al-Bukhaari (1) and Muslim (4962)