2329 — Ibrahim ibn al-‘Ala’ al-Zubaydi narrated to us from his book: al-Walid ibn Muslim narrated to us: ‘Abdullah ibn al-‘Ala’ narrated to us, from Abu al-Azhar al-Mughirah ibn Farwah, who said:
Mu‘awiyah stood before the people at Dayr Mishal, which is at the gate of Hims, and said: "O people, we have indeed seen the crescent moon on such-and-such a day, and I am hastening to begin the fast. So whoever wishes to do so, let him do so." He said: Then Malik ibn Hubayrah al-Saba’i stood up to him and said: "O Mu‘awiyah, is this something you heard from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, or is it something from your own opinion?" He said: "I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: 'Fast the month and its sirr.'" (1)
2330 — Sulayman ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Dimashqi narrated to us regarding this hadith, saying: al-Walid said: I heard Abu ‘Amr — meaning al-Awza‘i — saying: "Its sirr: its beginning." (2)

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= A man may have made it obligatory upon himself by a vow, so he was commanded to fulfill it; or it may have been a habit he had accustomed himself to, fasting the latter part of months, and he abandoned it due to the arrival of the new month, so the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, recommended that he make it up. As for what is prohibited in the hadith of Ibn ‘Abbas, it is that a man begins fasting voluntarily without having obligated it by a vow or without it being a habit he had previously accustomed himself to.
(1) Its chain is good. Al-Walid ibn Muslim explicitly stated that he heard it, and his shaykh likewise explicitly stated that he heard it in al-Tabarani 19/(901), and Abu al-Azhar al-Mughirah ibn Farwah — a number narrated from him, and Ibn Hibban mentioned him in al-Thiqat.
And al-Tabarani narrated it in al-Kabir 19/(901), and Musnad al-Shamiyyin (795), and al-Bayhaqi in al-Kubra 4/210, via the chain of al-Walid ibn Muslim, with this isnad.
And Malik ibn Hubayrah: he had companionship (suhbah), his kunyah was Abu Sa‘id, and it is said: Abu Sulayman. He resided in Egypt, and it is said that he witnessed the conquest of Egypt, and he is counted among the Himsis because he was appointed over Hims by Mu‘awiyah.
(2) Al-Khattabi said: I reject this interpretation and consider it an error in transmission, and I know no basis for it in the language. The correct view is that its sirr is its end. Thus our companions narrated to us from Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Isma‘il: Mahmud ibn Khalid al-Dimashqi narrated to us, from al-Walid, from al-Awza‘i, who said: "Its sirr: its end." And this is the correct view.