Shaykh al-Islām said:

Section: Dividing the Quran into Portions for Recitation, How Long It Should Take to Recite It, and the Prescribed Extent of Fasting and Night Prayer

ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr, may Allah be pleased with them both, reported:

“My father married me to a woman of noble lineage. He would regularly visit his daughter-in-law and ask her about her husband. She would say, ‘What a fine man! He has neither shared my bed nor approached me intimately since I came to him.’

“When this continued for a long time, my father mentioned it to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who said, ‘Bring him to meet me.’ I subsequently met him, and he asked, ‘How do you fast?’

“I replied, ‘Every day.’

“He asked, ‘When—or how—do you complete the Quran?’

“I replied, ‘Every night.’

“He said, ‘Fast three days each month, and recite the Quran once each month.’

“I replied, ‘I can manage more than that.’

“He said, ‘Fast three days each week.’

“I replied, ‘I can manage more than that.’

“He said, ‘Do not fast for two days, then fast for one day.’

“I replied, ‘I can manage more than that.’

“He said, ‘Observe the best form of fasting, the fast of David: fasting one day and not fasting the next. And recite the Quran once every seven nights.’”

He said, “If only I had accepted the concession granted by the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace!” This was because he had grown old and weak.

He would therefore recite to