The White Days or Ayyām al-Bīḍ (Arabic: ایّام البیض) are specific days of each Islamic month; they are holy days according to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. These days are the 13th, 14th and 15th of every month in the Islamic calendar.[2] Shia Muslims believe that the white days of the lunar months of Rajab, Sha'ban and Ramadan are very virtuous.[3][4]
In the idiom Ayyam al-Beed (Arabic: ایّام البیض), Ayyam (Arabic: ایّام) is the Arabic plural of "یوم", meaning "days" and al-Beed is the Arabic plural of "ابیض", meaning "white" and "bright". "The white days" is its equivalent to English.
There are couple of views on the etymology of this idiom:[5]
Muslims believe the most virtuous practices to perform on the White Days are fasting and spiritual retreat.[6]
Fasting on the White Days is recommended according to many Islamic schools of jurisprudence. Muslims believe the reward for fasting on them is as great as fasting the entire year, as the reward for fasting three days is multiplied by 10 times as much or more, making it equaivalent to a month, and, if done every month, makes it equivalent to a year, without subtracting from the reward of fasting the entire month.
Abu Dharr narrated the Islamic prophet Muhammad said to him, "If you fast three days from the month, fast the 13th, 14th, and 15th.”[7] Similarly, Qatadah ibn Malhan al-Qaysi narrated Muhammad used to command his companions to fast the days of the white nights: the 13th, 14th, and 15th of the month, saying it is equal to keeping a perpetual fast.[8] It is also narrated Muhammad himself used to consistently fast for three days every month.[7]
The Arabic word badr (بدر) means 'full moon', and is often translated as 'white moon.' A traditional nasheed, Talaʽ al-Badru ʽAlayna, celebrates the badr. The main stanza is:
Tala’al-badru ‘alayna |
O the white moon rose over us |