Why do we fast on Mondays and Thursdays? — credits

Sources for the story

• Sunan an-Nasāʾī 2358 (Usāma ibn Zayd, Hasan): the Prophet ﷺ would fast until it was said he would not stop, and leave fasting until it was said he would not fast, except two days; “Those are two days in which deeds are presented to the Lord of the worlds, so I love that my deeds be presented while I am fasting.”
• Jāmiʿ at-Tirmidhī 747 (Abū Hurayra): “Deeds are presented on Monday and Thursday, and I love that my deeds be presented while I am fasting.”
• Sahih Muslim 1162 (Abū Qatāda): asked about fasting on Monday, he ﷺ said: “That is a day on which I was born, and a day on which I was sent, or revelation came down to me.”
• Sahih Muslim 2565 (Abū Hurayra): “The gates of Paradise are opened on Monday and Thursday, and every servant who associates nothing with Allah is forgiven, except a man between whom and his brother there is enmity: ‘Hold these two back until they reconcile.’”
• Jāmiʿ at-Tirmidhī 745 and Sunan Ibn Mājah 1739 (ʿĀʾisha): the Prophet ﷺ made a point of fasting Mondays and Thursdays.
• Fasting these days is a recommended (Sunnah), voluntary fast by agreement of the scholars (al-Nawawī, al-Majmūʿ 6/386).
• Research and verification with Qaf, which retrieves classical sources with citations (including al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaḥīḥ lil-Sunan wa al-Masānīd, al-Targhīb wa al-Tarhīb, Sharḥ ʿUmdat al-Fiqh and Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif). The app screen shows Qaf’s real answer to this question, as an unedited excerpt.

Out of respect, the Prophet ﷺ is never depicted, and the companions are shown only from behind.

Made with

• Narration: Google Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS (voice “Algieba”), directed and edited for this film.
• Illustrations: Google Gemini 3.1 Flash Image (backgrounds) and OpenAI GPT Image 2.5 (cut-outs), art-directed and reviewed frame by frame.
• Typefaces (SIL Open Font License): Caveat Brush, Caveat, Patrick Hand, Aref Ruqaa.
• Animation engine, sound design and mix: written for this film.

Sound

No music is used. All sound effects are CC0 unless noted.

• amb_dawn_birds — #573080 "Dawn Chorus Birdsong" by squashy555, CC0 1.0. Edits: 10 s, 0.8 s fade-in/1.2 s fade-out, -24 LUFS
• amb_dawn_birds_loop — #573080 "Dawn Chorus Birdsong" by squashy555, CC0 1.0. Edits: 10 s seamless loop, -24 LUFS
• amb_night — #522299 "Crickets At Night - Raw sound"
  #165526 "Wind singing in the mountain, some night cricket in background" by Defelozedd94
  felix.blume, CC0 1.0
  CC0 1.0. Edits: mixed 55/45 (RMS matched), 20 s seamless loop (2 s crossfade), -26 LUFS
• athan_3 — Adhan Recordings from Doha, Qatar - 04 Maghrib Adhan (recorded 2013-2014) (Internet Archive) by Uploader "Doha, Qatar" (muezzin not named), Public Domain Mark 1.0 (as labelled by uploader). Edits: source 0-139.6 s; trimmed (final t = source t - 0.010 s), 70 Hz high-pass, -16 LUFS, fades, 48k/16-bit stereo
• sfx_cloth_swish_1 — #391448 "Shirt Whoosh 1.wav" by saturdaysoundguy, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 6.70-7.40 s; HPF 80 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -72); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
• sfx_cloth_swish_2 — #391448 "Shirt Whoosh 1.wav" by saturdaysoundguy, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 9.60-10.30 s; HPF 80 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -72); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
• sfx_dream_glitter — #211624 "Magic Wand Glitter" by qubodup, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 4.70-7.95 s; no EQ; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
• sfx_dream_shimmer_1 — synthesized for this film: Sparkle texture: ~190 tiny decaying inharmonic sine grains (2.5-9 kHz, random pitch/pan/length) + band-swept airy noise swell, short cross-channel diffusion taps. Non-instrumental.
• sfx_dream_shimmer_2 — synthesized for this film: Same engine, 6 s, 3-10 kHz, sparser - for the dream sequence.
• sfx_dream_shimmer_short — synthesized for this film: Same engine, 1.6 s dense sparkle sting.
• sfx_footsteps_run_sand — #249933 "walking slow, walking fast and running on sand" by launemax, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 139.00-144.75 s; HPF 60 Hz,FFT denoise 8 dB (floor -70); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
• sfx_page_turn_1 — #136778 "Page Turn" by davidbain, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-1.98 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
• sfx_page_turn_2 — #397548 "Page Turn 01" by LilMati, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-0.50 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
• sfx_paper_rustle_2 — #181774 "rustling paper.wav" by keweldog, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 2.50-4.45 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
• sfx_paper_slide_1 — #464302 "PaperSlide.wav" by eyesonlegs, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-1.64 s; HPF 60 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -55); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
• sfx_paper_slide_2 — #444431 "Sliding Envelope.wav" by MTJohnson, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.20-1.10 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -3 dBFS
• sfx_paper_tear_1 — #272028 "Ripping Paper" by aldenroth2, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-1.96 s; HPF 60 Hz,FFT denoise 8 dB (floor -60); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
• sfx_paper_tear_2 — #342541 "Fast Paper Rip" by sgrowe, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-0.89 s; HPF 60 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
• sfx_paper_tear_3 — #170311 "Tearing paper" by ludde44, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.20-1.52 s; HPF 60 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
• sfx_pencil_scribble_1 — #257518 "Scribble_short.wav" by waldram, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-1.27 s; HPF 150 Hz,FFT denoise 12 dB (floor -50); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
• sfx_pencil_scribble_2 — #85703 "Pencil_scibble.aif" by tmkappelt, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-3.20 s; HPF 150 Hz,FFT denoise 12 dB (floor -62); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
• sfx_rooster_crow_1 — #435508 "Rooster Crow 1" by BenjaminNelan, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-2.16 s; HPF 150 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
• sfx_stamp_thump_1 — #448474 "es-stamp.wav" by eddies2000, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.95-1.65 s; HPF 40 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
• sfx_stamp_thump_2 — #470710 "traditional stamp.wav" by I.fekry, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.40-1.20 s; HPF 40 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
• sfx_whoosh_2 — #683101 "quick woosh" by florianreichelt, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.05-2.05 s; no EQ; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
• sfx_whoosh_4 — #60013 "Whoosh" by qubodup, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-0.43 s; no EQ; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
• sfx_whoosh_soft_synth — synthesized for this film: White noise through a time-varying log-Gaussian band-pass sweeping 300 Hz -> 2.2 kHz, swell envelope, slow L->R pan.