41 – Hamzah ibn al-‘Abbās narrated to me; ‘Alī ibn Ḥujr narrated to us; he said: Yūsuf ibn Ziyād narrated to us, from Hammām ibn Yahyā al-Muljimī, from ‘Alī ibn Zayd, from Sa‘īd ibn al-Musayyab, from Salmān (may Allah be pleased with him), who said:

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ addressed us on the last day of Sha‘bān and said:

“O people, a momentous month has cast its shade over you— a blessed month, a month containing a night better than a thousand months. Allah has made the fasting of its days obligatory and the standing in prayer during its nights voluntary. Whoever draws near to Allah during it with a single act of goodness receives the reward of one who performs an obligatory act at any other time; and whoever performs an obligatory act in it receives the reward of one who performs seventy obligatory acts at any other time.

It is the month of patience, and the reward of patience is Paradise; the month of mutual care; and a month in which the believer’s provision is increased. Whoever gives a fasting person something with which to break his fast, that will bring him forgiveness for his sins and emancipation of his neck from the Fire, and he will receive a reward equal to the fasting person’s reward without that reward being diminished in the least.”

They said, “O Messenger of Allah, not all of us have the means to give a fasting person something to break his fast.” He replied, “Allah Most High grants this reward to anyone who provides a fasting person with even a sip of milk mixed with water, a single date, or a drink of water. And whoever satisfies a fasting person fully, Allah will give him to drink from my Basin a draught after which he will never thirst until he enters Paradise.

It is a month whose beginning is mercy, whose middle is forgiveness, and whose end is freedom from the Fire. Whoever lightens the burden on his servant during it, Allah will forgive him and free him from the Fire.

So increase within it four matters: two by which you will please your Lord, and two that you cannot do without. The two by which you please your Lord are: bearing witness that there is no deity but Allah, and seeking His forgiveness. The two you cannot do without are: asking Allah for Paradise and seeking refuge in Him from the Fire.”