The Day of ‘Aashooraa’ is the tenth day of the sacred month of Muharram and it is one of the blessed days. On that day, Allah, Exalted is He, saved His Prophet Moses (peace be upon him)s from Pharaoh and his army. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ venerated this day, fasted on it, and commanded Muslims to fast, to express gratitude to Allah, The Exalted. In this hadeeth, ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) informed us that the Prophet ﷺ fasted on the Day of ‘Aashooraa’ and commanded his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) to fast. Other narrations have been reported regarding the reasons why the Prophet ﷺ fasted the Day of ‘Aashooraa’, one of which was narrated on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him): “When the Prophet ﷺ came to Al-Madeenah, he found (the Jews) fasting on the Day of ‘Aashooraa’ (i.e., 10th of Muharram). They used to say: "This is a great day on which Allah, Exalted is He, saved Prophet Moosaa and drowned the people of Pharaoh. Moosaa observed the fast on this day, as a sign of gratitude to Allah." The Prophet ﷺ said, "I am closer to Moosaa than they!" So, he observed the fast (on that day) and ordered the Muslims to fast on it.” Another narration was reported by Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet ﷺ said: “That was a day on which the people of pre-Islamic days used to observe fast. So, he amongst you who likes to observe fast should do so, and he who does not like it should abandon it.” [Al-Bukhaaree and Muslim]. Narrations have been reported about the virtues of fasting on that day, stating that it expiates the sins committed in the preceding year, like the hadeeth narrated on the authority of Qataadah (may Allah be pleased with him)that has been cited in Saheeh Muslim. Moreover, Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) stated that when the obligatory fasting on Ramadan was prescribed in 2 A.H., people abandoned fasting the Day of ‘Aashooraa’ as an obligatory act of worship, but some Muslims observed fasting on it voluntarily. Naafi‘, the freed slave of Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), underlined that Ibn ‘Umar did not observe fasting on that day in particular unless it happened to coincide with days when he regularly fasted. He(may Allah be pleased with him) refrained from fasting on that day in particular fearing that people might mistakenly assume that it was obligatory, or that it would be venerated in the same (unprescribed) manner it was venerated in the pre-Islamic era. .