- Fast the ninth and tenth of Muḥarram.[1]
- Expand on yourself and your family by way of making some extra food, buying small presents, inviting family over for dinner, etc. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said that whosoever expands on themselves and their families on the day of 'Āshurā', Allah will expand on them the rest of the year. This has been tried by the Companions and proven to be true.[2]
- Say 70 times throughout the day: “ḥasbiya Allahu wa ni‘ma’l wakīl, n‘ima’l mawla wa ni‘ma’l naṣīr”[3]
حسبي اللهُ و نِعمَ الوكيل، نِعمَ المَولَى وَ نِعمَ الوكيل
- To recite the following prayer on the day of 'Ashūra:
Subḥān Allahi mil'a al-mizān, wa muntaha al-'ilmi, wa mablagh al-riḍā, wa 'adad al-ni'am, wa zinat al-'arsh. Lā malja' wa lā manjā min Allahi illa ilayhi. Subḥān Allah 'adad al-shafi' wa'l witr, wa 'adad kalimātihi al-tāmmāt kuliha, as'aluka al-salāmata biraḥmatika ya arḥam al-rāḥimīn, wa la ḥawla, wa la quwwata illa billahi al-'aliy al-'aẓīm, wa Huwa ḥasbī wa ni'ma'l wakīl, n'ima al-mawla wa ni'ma'l wakīl, wa ṣalla Allahu 'ala khayr khalqihi sayyiduna Muḥammad wa ālihi wa ṣaḥbihi Ajma'īn
سبحان الله مِلءَ المِيزان، و منتَهَى العلمِ، و مبلغَ الرِّضا، و عدد النِّعَم، و زنةِ العرشِ، لا مَلجَا و لا مَنجا من اللهِ إلا
إليهِ، سبحان الله عدد الشفعِ و الوترِ، عدد كلماته التَّامَّات كُلِها، أسألُكَ السَّلامةَ برحمتِكَ ياأرحم الراحمين، و لا
حولَ و لا قُوةَ ألا باللهِ العَلي العظيم، و هو حسبي و نِعمَ الوكيل، نِعمَ المولي و نِعمَ النَّصير، و صلَّ اللهُ علي خَيرِ
خَلقِهِ سيِّدنا مُحمَّدٍ وَ آلِهِ و صحبِهِ أجمَعين
- Recite Surah Ikhlāṣ 1000 times:
Bismillah al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm
Qul huwa Allahu aḥad
Allahu ṣamad
Lam yalid wa lam yūlad
Wa lam yakun lahu kufuwwan aḥad
بِسْمِ اللَّـهِ الرَّحْمَـٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
قُلْ هُوَ اللَّـهُ أَحَدٌ ﴿١﴾ اللَّـهُ الصَّمَدُ ﴿٢﴾ لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ ﴿٣﴾ وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ ﴿٤)
- Pray two or four units of prayer, reciting in each unit after the fātiḥa sura al-ikhlāṣ 11 or 15 times.
- Pray two units of prayers and say afterwards the following supplication (this could also be said after the completion of the prayers cited in 6 above):
yā awwal al-'awwalīn, wa yā ākhir al-ākhirīn, lā ilāha illa anta, khalaqta awwail mā khalaqta fī hadha al-yawm, wa takhluqu ākhir mā takhluqu fī hadha al-yawm, 'aṭinī fīhi khayra mā awlaytahu minhu awaliyāka wa anbiyā'aka wa aṣfiyā'ka min thawābi'l barāya, wa khari mā 'aṭaytahum fihi mina'l karāmati biḥaqi sayyiduna Muḥammad wa ālihi wa aṣḥābihi.
يا أولَ الأَّلينَ، و يا آخِرَِِ الآخرينَ لا إلَهَ ألا أنتَ، خَلَقتَ أوَّلَ ما خَلَقتَ في هذا اليَوم،و تَخلُقٌ آخِرَ ما تَخلُقُ في هذا اليوم، أعطِِني
فيه خيرَ ما أولَيتَهُ مِنهُ أوليَاءَكَ و أنبيادك و أصفياءَكَ من ثوابِ البَرَايا و خير ما أعطَيتَهُم فيه من الكرامة بحقِّ سيِّدنا محمدٍ
و آله و أصحابه
[1] 1. Saḥīḥ Muslim, Book of Fasting
[2] This hadith is narrated by Ibn 'Abd al-Barr in his al-Istidhkār. The Companion Jābir who narrated this hadith said, "I tried this hadith and found it to be true." Aḥmad Ibn Siddīq al-Ghmuārī said in his treatise on this hadith, that it is sound on the conditions of Muslim. See: Aḥmad al-Ghumārī, Hidayat al-Ṣaghrā' bitaṣḥīḥ Ḥadīth Tawsi'a Yawm 'Āshurā' (Cairo: Maktabat al-Qahira, 2006).
[3] This prayer and the rest in this article are taken from the advice of Muḥammad 'Amīr al-Ṣaghīr in his treatise on the day of 'Ashūra. In his extensive commentary on this work, al-'Adawi provides copious notes to sources for these devotional acts and the permissibility of acting on them even if they stem from weak hadith. See: Ḥasan al-'Adawi al-Ḥamzāwī, al-Nafaḥāt al-Nabawiyya fī Faḍā'il al-'Āshūriyya liman huwa li'l Ma'ārif Ḥafī (Cairo: Bulāq Press, 1272 AH).
