Shawwal
Eid Al Fitr celebration in Bangladesh
Native name	شَوَّال (Arabic)
Calendar	Islamic calendar
Month number	10
Number of days	29-30 (depends on actual observation of the moon's crescent)
Significant days	Eid al-Fitr

Shawwal (Arabic: شَوَّال, Šawwāl) is the tenth month of the lunar based Islamic calendar. Shawwāl stems from the verb shāla (شَالَ) which means to 'lift or carry',^[1] generally to take or move things from one place to another, so named because a female camel normally would be carrying a fetus at this time of year.

Fasting during Shawwāl

The first day of Shawwāl is Eid al-Fitr, fasting is prohibited. Some Muslims observe six days of optional fasting during Shawwāl beginning the day after Eid ul-Fitr since fasting is prohibited on this day. These six days of fasting together with the Ramadan fasts, are equivalent to fasting all year round. The reasoning behind this tradition is that a good deed in Islam is rewarded 10 times, hence fasting 30 days during Ramadan and 6 days during Shawwāl is equivalent to fasting the whole year in fulfillment of the obligation.^[2]

The Shia scholars do not place any emphasis on the six days being consecutive while among the Sunnis the majority of Shafi`i scholars consider it recommended to fast these days consecutively. They based this on a hadith related by Tabarani and others wherein Muhammad is reported to have said, "Fasting six consecutive days after Eid al-Fitr is like fasting the entire year."^[1] Other traditional scholarly sources among the Hanafiyya and Hanbaliyya do not place an emphasis on consecutive days, while the strongest opinion of the Malikiyya prefers any six days of the month, consecutively or otherwise.

Timing

The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, and months begin when the first crescent of a new moon is sighted. Since the Islamic lunar calendar year is 11 to 12 days shorter than the solar year, Shawwāl migrates throughout the seasons. The estimated start and end dates for Shawwāl, based on the Umm al-Qura calendar of Saudi Arabia, are:^[3]

Islamic events

• Every 1st day of Shawwāl, Eid al-Fitr is celebrated throughout the Muslim World for three consecutive days until the 3rd day of this month (but celebrations of the festival lasts until the 29th/30th day as per the festive season's duration).
• 07 Shawwāl 3 AH, early Muslims took part in the Battle of Uhud.
• 10 Shawwal, birth of Ahmed Raza Khan.
• 13 Shawwāl, primary traditionist of the Sunni Muslims, Muhammad al-Bukhari, was born in 194 AH.
• 18 Shawwal, urs of Sufi Mystic And Poet Amir Khusro.
• 22 Shawwāl 1284 AH, death of Haji Dost Muhammad Qandhari, an Afghan Sufi master of Naqshbandi tradition.
• 25 Shawwāl 148 AH, martyrdom of Imām Ja‘far as-Sādiq.
• 27 Shawwāl 1391 AH, Surrender of the Pakistan Armed Forces Eastern Command to the Joint Indo-Bangladeshi Armed Forces on 16th December 1971 CE, Thursday, thus ending the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

Notes

External links

• Islamic-Western Calendar Converter (Based on the Arithmetical or Tabular Calendar)