“If there is any ill omen ...” It has already been cited under no. 799. In another wording: “If ill omen is to be found in anything ...” This is the correct wording, as I mentioned there, and further clarified in the discussion of hadith no. 993, which addresses the hadith: “May Allah curse the Jews; they say, ‘Ill omen ...’” Refer to it, for it is important. An explicit hadith has also been reported that negates ill omen and affirms auspiciousness in the three things mentioned above. This accords with the general import of the hadiths that negate omen superstition. Refer to the hadith cited below under no. 1930. The hadiths concerning omen superstition have already been cited with different wordings and numerous benefits (nos. 777 and 780–789).

1898 — “Shaʿbān, which falls between Rajab and Ramadan, is a month to which people pay little attention. During it, the deeds of Allah’s servants are raised, and I love for my deeds to be raised while I am fasting.”

Al-Nasāʾī related it (1/322), as did Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Muqriʾ al-Ḥiyārā (!) al-Ṭabarī al-ʿAbbād in al-Amālī (3/2), from Thābit ibn Qays al-Ghifārī, who said: Abū Saʿīd al-Maqburī narrated to me from Abū Hurayrah, from Usāmah ibn Zayd. Al-Nasāʾī did not say, “from Abū Hurayrah.” He said: I said, “O Messenger of Allah, I see you fast in one month as I have not seen you fast in any other month.” He said, “Which month?” I said, “Shaʿbān.” He then cited it. He said: “I see you fast on Mondays and Thursdays and never omit them.” He said: “Indeed, the deeds of Allah’s servants ...”—the hadith.

I say: This is a good chain of transmission. Thābit ibn Qays is truthful, though prone to error, as stated in al-Taqrīb; all the rest of its narrators are trustworthy.