She asked Ayesha, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, "Did the Messenger of Allah ﷺ fast three days of every month?"Ayesha replied, "Yes."She then asked, "Which days of the month did he fast?"Ayesha answered, "He did not mind which days of the month he fasted."
أنها سألت عائشة زوج النبي ﷺ: أكان رسول الله ﷺ يصوم من كل شهر ثلاثة أيام؟ قالت: نعم، فقلت لها: من أي أيام الشهر كان يصوم؟ قالت: لم يكن يبالي من أي أيام الشهر يصوم.
Muslim narrated it in the Book of Fasting (1160) from Shayban bin Farroukh, who said, Abdul-Warith narrated to us, from Yazid Rishk, who said, Muaza Adawiyya narrated to me, and he mentioned it. This unrestricted wording is preferable to the restricted wording because of the variety it contains. As for the restricted wording, it contains four types of fasting. The first, fasting one day out of every ten days. The second, fasting the white days, which are the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth. The third, fasting three days at the beginning of every month. The fourth, fasting Monday and Thursday of every month. The hadiths reported concerning these are all sahih.As for what was reported from Ayesha, that she said, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to fast, in one month, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and in another month, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday," the correct view is that this is mawquf.Tirmidhi narrated it in the Sunan (746), and in Shamail (300), from Mahmud bin Ghaylan, who said, Abu Ahmad and Muawiya bin Hisham narrated to us, they said, Sufyan narrated to us, from Mansur, from Khaythama, from Ayesha, who said, and he mentioned it. Tirmidhi said, "This is a hasan hadith, and Abdul-Rahman bin Mahdi narrated this hadith from Sufyan without raising it to the Prophet."Hafiz said in Fath al-Bari (4/227), "The mawquf version is more likely correct."I say, the hadith of Abdul-Rahman was reported by Ibn Jareer Tabari in Tahzib Athar (984) from Ibn Bashar, who said, Abdul-Rahman narrated to us, who said, Sufyan narrated to us, from Mansur, from Khaythama, who said, "Ayesha used to fast, in one month, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and in another month, as mentioned before."