Jami' at-Tirmidhi
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 692
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو سَلَمَةَ، يَحْيَى بْنُ خَلَفٍ الْبَصْرِيُّ حَدَّثَنَا بِشْرُ بْنُ الْمُفَضَّلِ، عَنْ خَالِدٍ الْحَذَّاءِ، عَنْ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنِ أَبِي بَكْرَةَ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " شَهْرَا عِيدٍ لاَ يَنْقُصَانِ رَمَضَانُ وَذُو الْحِجَّةِ " . قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى حَدِيثُ أَبِي بَكْرَةَ حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ . وَقَدْ رُوِيَ هَذَا الْحَدِيثُ عَنْ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنِ أَبِي بَكْرَةَ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم مُرْسَلاً . قَالَ أَحْمَدُ مَعْنَى هَذَا الْحَدِيثِ " شَهْرَا عِيدٍ لاَ يَنْقُصَانِ " . يَقُولُ لاَ يَنْقُصَانِ مَعًا فِي سَنَةٍ وَاحِدَةٍ شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ وَذُو الْحِجَّةِ إِنْ نَقَصَ أَحَدُهُمَا تَمَّ الآخَرُ . وَقَالَ إِسْحَاقُ مَعْنَاهُ " لاَ يَنْقُصَانِ " يَقُولُ وَإِنْ كَانَ تِسْعًا وَعِشْرِينَ فَهُوَ تَمَامٌ غَيْرُ نُقْصَانٍ . وَعَلَى مَذْهَبِ إِسْحَاقَ يَكُونُ يَنْقُصُ الشَّهْرَانِ مَعًا فِي سَنَةٍ وَاحِدَةٍ .
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakrah narrated from his father that the Messenger of Allah said: The two festival months do not both fall short: Ramadan and Dhu al-Hijjah. Abu Isa said: The hadith of Abu Bakrah is hasan. This report has also been transmitted from Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakrah from the Prophet as a mursal report. Ahmad explained the hadith, The two festival months do not both fall short, to mean that Ramadan and Dhu al-Hijjah are not both deficient in the same year: if one of them has only twenty-nine days, the other is complete. Ishaq said that the meaning of they do not fall short is that even if a month has twenty-nine days, it is still complete, not deficient. According to Ishaq, both months may have twenty-nine days in the same year.
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The compiler records two different interpretations of the report: Ahmad takes it to mean that the two months are not both twenty-nine days in one year; Ishaq considers a twenty-nine-day month complete.
وَقَالَ إِسْحَاقُ مَعْنَاهُ " لاَ يَنْقُصَانِ " يَقُولُ وَإِنْ كَانَ تِسْعًا وَعِشْرِينَ فَهُوَ تَمَامٌ غَيْرُ نُقْصَانٍ .
The interpretation turns on whether deficient refers to the number of days or to the month being religiously incomplete.
Does complete convey Ishaqs sense that a 29-day month is valid and not deficient?