“Whoever fasts Ramadan then follows it with six days of Shawwal, it is as if he fasted for a lifetime.” — Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ)

أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏”‏ مَنْ صَامَ رَمَضَانَ ثُمَّ أَتْبَعَهُ سِتًّا مِنْ شَوَّالٍ كَانَ كَصِيَامِ الدَّهْرِ ‏”‏ ‏

As the sun has set on Ramadan we’ve moved into Shawwaal and we’re back to eating during the day and meeting friends for lunch. At times however we can’t help but feel like we’ve lost some of what made Ramadan special. Most of us have probably lost some of that singular focus we had during Ramadan, it’s to be expected, when we were fasting all day while also trying to read and pray more.

We can however revive some of that, even if it’s just briefly, in Shawwal. The Prophet (ﷺ) advised us in a Sahih hadith (Sahih Muslim) to follow the fasts of Ramadan with 6 fasts in Shawwal.

In another hadith we were advised that this is because:

“Fasting Ramadan is like fasting ten months, and fasting six days after it (in Shawwal) is like fasting for two months. That is like fasting a full year.”

“قال النَّبِيُّ ﷺ: صِيامُ شَهْرِ رَمَضانَ بِعَشْرَةِ أشْهُرٍ وسِتَّةُ أيّامٍ بَعْدَهُنَّ بِشَهْرَيْنِ، فَذَلِكَ تَمامُ سَنَةٍ”

In essence, through His benevolence He rewards us for ten-days of fasting for every single day we fast.

Hopefully through doing this we draw closer to Allah, gain some extra reward, recapture some of that Ramadan feeling and establish some good habits for the rest of our year until we reach Ramadan again insha’Allah

Further reading:
https://alsalam.ac.uk/women-missed-fasts/

https://www.virtualmosque.com/ummah/women/what-is-the-ruling-on-combining-the-six-fasts-of-shawwal-with-make-up-fasts-of-ramadan-answered-by-suhaib-webb/

https://muslim.sg/articles/fasting-6-days-after-ramadan-3-things-you-should-know