Why do we fast on Mondays and Thursdays? — credits

Usama ibn Zayd (may Allah be pleased with him) remarked to the Prophet ﷺ that he kept Mondays and Thursdays whether or not he was in a stretch of fasting; the Prophet ﷺ replied that deeds are presented to the Lord of the worlds on these two days and that he loved his deeds to be presented while he was fasting. On another occasion, asked about Monday, he said it was the day he was born and the day revelation came to him. A voluntary sunnah. A hand-made-style paper-collage animation, rendered live in your browser with plain JavaScript and canvas.

Sources for the story

Sunan an-Nasaʾi 2358 (Usama ibn Zayd): the Prophet ﷺ fasted long stretches and left fasting long stretches, except two days; “Which two days?”; “Monday and Thursday”; “Those are two days on which deeds are presented to the Lord of the worlds, and I love that my deeds be presented while I am fasting.”
Jamiʿ at-Tirmidhi 747 (Abu Hurayrah; graded hasan): “Deeds are presented on Monday and Thursday, and I love that my deeds be presented while I am fasting.”
Jamiʿ at-Tirmidhi 745 (ʿAʾishah): the Prophet ﷺ used to try to fast Mondays and Thursdays.
Sahih Muslim 1162 (Abu Qatadah): asked about fasting on Monday, he said: “On it I was born, and on it revelation came down to me.”
al-Nawawi, al-Majmūʿ 6/386: al-Ithnayn is “the second” day and al-Khamīs “the fifth”; fasting both is recommended (a voluntary sunnah).

Out of respect, the Prophet ﷺ is never depicted, and no people appear; his words are shown as stitched text, Usama’s on paper slips.

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 series.

Sound

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

amb_palm_orchard_breeze — #423800 "Wind through Palm Trees.wav" by klangfabrik, CC0 1.0; #517526 "dove calling with out other side noise" by idreesbari, CC0 1.0. Edits: palm wind src 4.0-78.5 s, HPF 120 Hz, LPF ~4.2 kHz, -3 dB high shelf, -4 dB at 560 Hz; 72 s seamless loop (2.5 s crossfade) with slow loop-periodic ±4 dB swells that darken in the lulls; 3 laughing-dove phrases (src 0.60-1.75, 6.15-7.60, 17.50-18.90 s; band-limited 250 Hz-3 kHz, short diffuse echo) placed at 11.0 / 34.5 / 55.0 s; -24 LUFS. Made for fasting-monday-thursday (Madinah palm orchard, late morning)
sfx_cloth_drop — #844390 "Cloth flaps" by Maraboop, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.02-0.72 s (soft double flap); HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
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_cloth_swish_3 — #320144 "Blanket Movement 6" by OwlStorm, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.00-1.16 s; HPF 80 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_dream_shimmer_short — synthesized for this series: Same engine, 1.6 s dense sparkle sting.
sfx_paper_rustle_1 — #181774 "rustling paper.wav" by keweldog, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.30-2.55 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_rustle_3 — #449127 "Rustling Paper" by HarpyHarpHarp, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 1.45-2.15 s; HPF 80 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -60); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_paper_rustle_4 — #449127 "Rustling Paper" by HarpyHarpHarp, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 5.70-6.41 s; HPF 80 Hz,FFT denoise 10 dB (floor -60); trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_paper_rustle_5 — #211246 "PageRustle" by Tomoyo Ichijouji, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.10-1.90 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_roller_thunk — #812363 "Knocking once on wood, single footstep" by CuboRodante, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.35-0.66 s (one dry knock + small settle); HPF 60 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_rope_creak — #231438 "hamp rope creaks" by 6polnic, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 6.64-7.38 s; HPF 90 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS (true peak about +0.3 dBTP)
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_thread_pull — #408578 "27.Needle_thread.wav" by miguelab1998, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 1.24-1.76 s; HPF 150 Hz; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_tick — synthesized for this series: A short synthesized key click for typing in the Qaf app screen (made for this series). Non-instrumental.
sfx_whoosh_1 — #701104 "Whoosh stereo light (transition)" by xkeril, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 0.10-2.32 s; no EQ; 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_3 — #369698 "Whoosh.wav" by crackles04, CC0 1.0. Edits: cut 2.40-6.20 s; no EQ; trim, fades, peak -1 dBFS
sfx_whoosh_soft_synth — synthesized for this series: White noise through a time-varying log-Gaussian band-pass sweeping 300 Hz -> 2.2 kHz, swell envelope, slow L->R pan.