Merits of the Month of Ramaḍān

Faḍāʾil al-Ashhar al-Thalātha|Volume 1|Book 3|Chapter 1

Faḍāʾil al-Ashhar al-Thalātha

Book 3, Chapter 1

Merits of the Month of Ramaḍān
92 Aḥadīth
Ḥadīth 1

أخبرنا الشيخ أبو جعفر محمد بن علي بن الحسين بن موسى بن بابويه الفقيه رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا أبي رحمه الله، عن محمد بن يحيى العطّار، عن أحمد بن محمد بن عيسى، عن الحسن بن محبوب، عن أبي أيّوب، عن أبي الورد، عن أبي جعفر (عليه السلام)، قال: خطب رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) في آخر جمعة من شعبان، فحمد الله وأثنى عليه، ثم قال: أيها الناس إنه قد أظلكم شهر فيه ليلة خير من الف شهر، وهو شهر رمضان، فرض الله صيامه وجعل قيام ليلة منه بتطوع صلاة كمن تطوع بصلاة سبعين ليلة فيما سواه من الشهور، وجعل لمن تطوع فيه بخصلة من خصال الخير والبر كأجر من أدى فريضة من فرائض الله عز وجل، ومن أدى فيه فريضة من فرائض الله كان كمن أدى سبعين فريضة فيما سواه من الشهور، وهو شهر الصبر، وأن الصبر ثوابه الجنة، وهو شهر المساواة [المساواة]، وهو شهر يزيد الله فيه في رزق المؤمنين، ومن فطر فيه مؤمناً صائماً كان له بذلك عند الله عتق رقبة ومغفرة لذنوبه فيما مضى. فقيل له: يا رسول الله ليس كلنا يقدر على أن يفطر صائماً، فقال: إن الله تعالى كريم يعطي هذا الثواب منكم من لا يقدر إلا على مذقة من لبن ففطر بها صائماً، أو شربة من ماء عذب، أو تمرات لا يقدر على أكثر من ذلك، ومن خفف فيه عن مملوكه خفف الله عنه حسابه، وهو شهر أوله رحمة ووسطه مغفرة وآخره إجابة وعتق من النار، ولا غنى بكم فيه عن أربع خصال خصلتين ترضون الله تعالى بهما، وخصلتين لا غنى بكم عنهما، أما اللتان ترضون الله تعالى بهما فشهادة أن لا إله إلا الله وأني رسول الله، وأما اللتان لا غنى بكم عنهما فتسألون الله حوائجكم والجنة، وتسألون فيه العافية وتتعوذون من النار.

The elder and jurist, Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn b. Mūsā b. Bābuwayh (ra) has informed us, saying that his father (rh) narrated to him among others, from Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā al-ʿAṭṭār, from Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. ʿĪsā, from al-Ḥasan b. Maḥbūb, from Abī Ayyūb, from Abī’l-Ward, from Abī Jaʿfar al-Bāqir (as), who has narrated: “On the last Friday of Shaʿbān, the Messenger of Allāh (sawa) delivered a sermon wherein he praised Allāh and extolled Him. Then he said: “O’ people, a month is about to come over you in which there is a night greater than a thousand months. It is the month of Ramaḍān, and Allāh has made its fasts obligatory and made standing up for prayer during one of its nights—as a voluntary prayer—as if one were performing voluntary prayers for seventy nights in any of the other months. Allāh has also made for he who voluntarily does a good deed of those that involve charity and generosity a reward equivalent to that of fulfilling one of the obligations of Allāh (azwj) in other months. And whoever fulfills one of the obligations of Allāh in the month of Ramaḍān is as if he fulfilled seventy obligations in any other month. Ramaḍān is the month of patience, and Paradise is the reward of patience. Ramaḍān is the month of compassion, and the month in which Allāh increases the believers in sustenance. Whoever helps a fasting believer break his fast during the month of Ramaḍān earns with Allāh the reward of that as the freedom of his neck (from Perdition) and forgiveness for what has passed of his sins.” Some of the attendees of the Prophet’s sermon complained to him: “O’ Messenger of Allāh, not every one of us is capable of helping a fasting believer break their fast!,” so he replied: “Indeed, Allāh (taa) is innately Generous, so He will give this reward to he among you who is not able to do anything except give the fasting person a taste of milk or a drink of water with which to break their fast, if he is unable to do anything more than that. Allāh lightens the accounting of whoever lightens (the burden of) his servant. Ramaḍān is a month whose beginning is mercy, whose middle is forgiveness, and whose end is an answer (to prayers) and freedom from the Fire. There are four things in this month that you are not free of needing—two by which you will please Allāh (taa), and two that you personally are not free of needing. As for the two by which you will please Allāh (taa), they are the testimony that there is no deity besides Allāh and that I am the Messenger of Allāh, and that you ask Allāh for Heaven and to fulfill your needs, and ask Him for salubrity and amnesty from Hell.”

Ḥadīth 2

حدثنا أبي رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، عن أحمد بن الحسين، عن محمد بن جمهور، عن محمد بن زياد، عمن سمع [عن مسمع]، عن محمد بن مسلم الثقفي، يقول: سمعت أبا جعفر محمد بن علي الباقر (عليه السلام) يقول: إن لله تعالى ملائكة موكلين بالصائمين يستغفرون لهم في كل يوم من شهر رمضان إلى آخره، وينادون الصائمين كل ليلة عند إفطارهم: أبشروا عباد الله فقد جعتم قليلاً وستشبعون كثيراً بوركتم وبورك فيكم، حتى إذا كان آخر ليلة من شهر رمضان نادى: أبشروا عباد الله غفر لكم ذنوبكم، وقبل توبتكم فانظروا كيف تكونون فيما تستأنفون.

My father (ra) narrated to us, saying that Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to him among others, from Aḥmad b. al-Ḥusayn, from Muḥammad b. Jumhūr, from Muḥammad b. Ziyād, from the person who heard from him (i.e., from the hearer of his narration), from Muḥammad b. Muslim al-Thaqafī, saying: “I heard Abā Jaʿfar Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Bāqir (as) saying: “Indeed, for Allāh (taa) there are angels serving as agents on behalf of those who fast, seeking forgiveness for their sakes every day of the month of Ramaḍān until it ends. Every day they call out to those who fast at the time of their breaking their fast: “We bring you glad tidings, o’ servants of Allāh! You have hungered a little and will be satiated much. Blessed you all are, and blessings are among you!,” until the last night of the month of Ramaḍān, when they call out: “Rejoice, o’ servants of Allāh! Forgiven are your sins, and accepted is your repentance, so see how you go in what you choose to do moving forward.”

Ḥadīth 3

حدثنا محمد بن إبراهيم بن إسحاق [رض]، قال: حدثنا أحمد بن محمد الكوفي، قال: حدثنا علي بن الحسن بن علي بن فضّال، عن أبيه، عن أبي الحسن علي بن موسى الرضا، عن آبائه (عليه وعليهم السلام)، قال: قال رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله): إن شهر رمضان شهر عظيم يضاعف الله فيه الحسنات، ويمحو فيه السيئات ويرفع فيه الدرجات، من تصدق في هذا الشهر بصدقة غفر الله له، ومن أحسن فيه إلى ما ملكت يمينه غفر الله له. ثم قال (عليه السلام): إن شهركم هذا ليس كالشهور إذا اقبل إليكم اقبل بالبركة والرحمة، وإذا أدبر عنكم أدبر بغفران الذنوب، هذا شهر الحسنات فيه مضاعفة، وأعمال الخير فيه مقبولة ومن صلى منكم في هذا الشهر لله عز وجل ركعتين يتطوع بهما غفر الله له. ثم قال (عليه السلام): إن الشقي حق الشقي من خرج عنه هذا الشهر ولم يغفر ذنوبه فحينئذ يخسر حين يفوز المحسنون بجوائز الرب الكريم.

Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. Isḥāq—may Allāh be pleased with him—narrated to us, saying that Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Kūfī narrated to him among others, saying that ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Faḍḍāl narrated to him among others, from his father, from Abī’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Mūsā al-Riḍā, from his forefathers (as-p), who said: “The Messenger of Allāh (sawa) has stated: “Indeed, the month of Ramaḍān is an exalted month in which Allāh doubles (the reward of) goodness, erases iniquities, and raises (people’s) degrees (of spiritual proximity, nobility, etc.). In this month, whoever gives charity will be forgiven by Allāh, as will whoever does good to that which his right hand possesses.” Imam al-Riḍā (as) then said: “Verily, this month of yours is unlike any other. When it arrives, it comes with blessing and mercy, and when it departs, it leaves with the forgiveness of sins. This is the month in which (the rewards of) good deeds are multiplied, and acts of goodness are accepted. Whoever among you voluntarily performs two units of prayer in this month for Allāh (azwj) has thereby earned Allāh’s forgiveness.” The Imam (as) concluded: “The wretched is truly wretched. Whoever emerges from this month without having his sins forgiven has utterly lost, while the doers of good have succeeded with the rewards of the Noble Lord.”

Ḥadīth 4

حدثنا محمد بن الحسن بن أحمد بن الوليد رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا الحسين بن الحسن، عن الحسين بن سعيد، عن ابن أبي عمير، عن جميل بن صالح، عن محمد بن مروان، قال: سمعت الصادق جعفر بن محمد (عليه السلام) يقول: إن لله تعالى في كل ليلة من شهر رمضان عتقاء وطلقاء من النار إلا من أفطر على مسكر فإذا كان آخر ليلة منه أعتق فيها مثل ما أعتقه في جميعه.

Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. Aḥmad b. al-Walīd (ra) narrated to us, saying that al-Ḥusayn b. al-Ḥasan narrated to him among others, from al-Ḥusayn b. Saʿīd, from Ibn Abī ʿUmayr, from Jamīl b. Ṣāliḥ, from Muḥammad b. Marwān, who said: “I heard al-Ṣādiq, Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad (as), saying: “Indeed, for Allāh (taa) there is—on every night of the month of Ramaḍān—(the responsibility of) freeing and releasing people from the Fire, except for those who break their fast on an intoxicant. When the last night occurs, Allāh frees as many people (from Perdition) as He has done throughout the rest of the month.”

Ḥadīth 5

حدثنا أبي رحمه الله، قال: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، قال: حدثنا أحمد بن محمد بن عيسى، عن الحسن بن علي بن فضّال، عن سيف بن عميرة، عن عبيد الله بن عبد الله، عمن سمع أبا جعفر الباقر (عليه السلام) يقول: قال رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) لما حضر شهر رمضان وذلك لثلاث بقين من شعبان قال لبلال: ناد في الناس فجمع الناس، ثم صعد المنبر فحمد الله وأثنى عليه، ثم قال: أيها الناس إن هذا الشهر قد حضركم وهو سيد الشهور، فيه ليلة خير من الف شهر، تغلق فيه أبواب النيران، وتفتح فيه أبواب الجنان، فمن أدركه فلم يغفر له فأبعده الله، ومن أدرك والديه فلم يغفر له فأبعده الله، ومن ذكرت عنده فصلى علي فلم يغفر له فأبعده الله.

My father (rh) narrated to us, saying that Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to him among others, saying that Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. ʿĪsā narrated to him among others, from al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Faḍḍāl, from Sayf b. ʿUmayra, from ʿUbayd Allāh b. ʿAbd Allāh, from the one who heard from Abā Jaʿfar al-Bāqir (as), who said: “The Messenger of Allāh (sawa) said to Bilāl as the month of Ramaḍān approached and three nights yet remained of Shaʿbān: “Call out to the people,” so Bilāl gathered the people. The Holy Prophet (sawa) ascended the pulpit, praised Allāh and extolled Him, then said: “O’ people! This month has approached you, and it is the master of the months. In it is a night better than a thousand months, in which the gates of Perdition are closed and the gates of Paradise are opened. Whoever reaches it and is not forgiven—may Allāh distance him! Whoever reaches it and does not seek forgiveness for his parents—may Allāh distance him! And whoever hears mention of me and does not send blessings upon me yet is not forgiven—may Allāh distance him!”

Ḥadīth 6

حدثنا محمد بن إبراهيم، قال: حدثني علي بن سعيد العسكري، قال: حدثنا الحسين بن علي بن الأسود العجلي، قال: حدثنا عبد الحميد بن يحيى الحماني، قال: حدثنا أبو بكر الهذلي، عن الزهري، عن عبيد الله بن عبد الله، عن ابن عبّاس، قال: كان رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) إذا دخل شهر رمضان أطلق كل أسير وأعطى كل سائل.

Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm narrated to us, saying that ʿAlī b. Saʿīd al-ʿAskarī narrated to him, saying that al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī b. al-Aswad al-ʿIjlī narrated to him among others, saying that ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd b. Yaḥyā al-Ḥamānī narrated to him among others, saying that Abū Bakr al-Hadhalī narrated to him among others, from al-Zuhrī, from ʿUbayd Allāh b. ʿAbd Allāh, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: “When the month of Ramaḍān would come, the Messenger of Allāh (sawa) would free every captive and grant every seeker (of assistance) that which they asked for.”

Ḥadīth 7

حدثنا جعفر بن علي بن الحسن بن علي بن عبد الله بن المغيرة، عن إسماعيل بن أبي زياد، عن الصادق جعفر بن محمد، عن أبيه، عن آبائه (عليهم السلام)، قال: قال رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) لأصحابه: ألا أخبركم بشئ إن أنتم فعلتموه تباعد الشيطان عنكم كما تباعد المشرق من المغرب؟ قالوا: بلى، قال: الصوم يسود وجهه والصدقة تكسر ظهره والحب في الله والمؤازرة على العمل الصالح يقطع دابره والاستغفار يقطع وتينه، ولكل شئ زكاة وزكاة الأبدان الصيام.

Jaʿfar b. ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Mughīra narrated to us, from Ismāʿīl b. Abī Ziyād, from al-Ṣādiq, Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad, from his father, from his forefathers (as-p), who said: “The Messenger of Allāh (sawa) once said to his companions: “Shall I inform you of something which, if you were to do it, would drive Shayṭān as far away from you as the East is from the West?” They replied: “Yes!” He continued: “Fasting blackens his face, charity breaks his back, love for Allāh and supporting one another in righteous deeds cuts off his roots, and seeking forgiveness (from Allāh) severs his lifeline. And for everything, there is an alms-tax, and fasting is the alms-tax of the body.”

Ḥadīth 8

حدثنا محمد بن علي ماجيلويه، قال: حدثنا عمي محمد بن أبي القاسم، عن أحمد بن أبي عبد الله البرقي، عن أبيه، عن محمد بن سنان، عن المفضّل بن عمر، عن يونس بن ظبيان، قال: قلت للصادق جعفر بن محمد (عليه السلام): يا ابن رسول الله ما الذي يباعد عنا إبليس؟ قال: الصوم يسود وجهه، والصدقة تكسر ظهره، والحب في الله والمؤازرة على العمل الصالح يقطعان دابره، والاستغفار يقطع وتينه.

Muḥammad b. ʿAlī Majīlawayh narrated to us, saying that his paternal uncle, Muḥammad b. Abī’l-Qāsim, narrated to him among others, from Aḥmad b. Abī ʿAbd Allāh al-Barqī, from his father, from Muḥammad b. Sinān, from al-Mufaḍḍal b. ʿUmar, from Yūnus b. Ẓibyān, who said: “I said to Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq (as): “O’ son of the Messenger of Allāh, what is that which will drive Iblīs away from us?” So he replied: “Fasting blackens his face, charity breaks his back, love for Allāh and supporting one another in righteous deeds cuts off his roots, and seeking forgiveness (from Allāh) severs his lifeline.”

Ḥadīth 9

حدثنا أبي رحمه الله، قال: حدثنا علي بن موسى الكميذاني، قال: حدثنا أحمد بن محمد بن عيسى، عن علي بن الحسين، عن محمد بن عبيد، عن عتبة بن هارون، قال: حدثنا أبو يزيد، عن حصين، عن الصادق جعفر بن محمد، عن أبيه، عن آبائه (عليهم السلام)، قال أمير المؤمنين (عليه السلام): عليكم في شهر رمضان بكثرة الاستغفار والدعاء، فأما الدعاء فيدفع عنكم به البلاء، فأما الاستغفار فتمحى به ذنوبكم.

My father (rh) narrated to us, saying that ʿAlī b. Mūsā al-Kumaydhānī narrated to him among others, saying that Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. ʿĪsā narrated to him among others, from ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn, from Muḥammad b. ʿUbayd, from ʿUtba b. Hārūn, saying that Abū Yazīd narrated to him among others, from Ḥaṣīn, from al-Ṣādiq, Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad, from his father, from his forefathers (as-p), for Amīr al-Muʾminīn (as) has said: “Upon you in the month of Ramaḍān is much seeking of forgiveness and supplication. As for supplication, it draws away affliction from you, and as for seeking forgiveness, it erases your sins.”

Ḥadīth 10

حدثنا محمد بن الحسن بن أحمد بن الوليد رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا محمد بن الحسن الصفّار، عن أحمد بن محمد بن عيسى، عن الحسين بن موسى، عن غياث بن إبراهيم، عن الصادق جعفر بن محمد، عن أبيه، عن آبائه (عليهم السلام)، قال: قال رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله): إن الله تبارك وتعالى كره لي ست خصال وكرهتهن للأوصياء من ولدي وأتباعهم من بعدي: العبث في الصلاة، والرفث في الصيام والمن بعد الصدقة، وإتيان المساجد جنباً، والتطلع في الدور، والضحك بين القبور.

Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. Aḥmad b. al-Walīd (ra) narrated to us, saying that Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Ṣaffār narrated to him among others, from Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. ʿĪsā, from al-Ḥusayn b. Mūsā, from Ghiyāth b. Ibrāhīm, from al-Ṣādiq, Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad, from his father, from his forefathers (as-p), who reported: “The Messenger of Allāh (sawa) has said: “Indeed, Allāh (twt) declared six things abhorrent for me, and I declare them abhorrent for the Successors from my progeny and those who follow them after me: purposeless playfulness during prayer, obscenity during fasting, reminding others of one’s charity, entering the mosques in a state of major ritual impurity (from sexual activity), intruding into people’s residences, and laughing in graveyards.”

Ḥadīth 11

حدثنا محمد بن إبراهيم بن إسحاق، قال: حدثنا أحمد بن محمد الهمداني، قال: حدثنا علي بن الحسن بن علي بن فضّال، عن أبيه، عن أبي الحسن علي بن موسى الرضا (عليه السلام)، عن أبيه موسى بن جعفر، عن أبيه الصادق جعفر بن محمد، عن أبيه الباقر، عن أبيه زين العابدين، عن أبيه سيد الشهداء الحسين بن علي، عن أبيه سيد الوصيين أمير المؤمنين علي بن أبي طالب (عليهم السلام)، قال: إن رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) خطبنا ذات يوم، فقال: أيها الناس إنه قد أقبل إليكم شهر الله بالبركة والرحمة والمغفرة، شهر هو عند الله أفضل الشهور، وأيامه أفضل الأيام، ولياليه أفضل الليالي، وساعاته أفضل الساعات، هو شهر دعيتم فيه إلى ضيافة الله، وجعلتم فيه من أهل كرامة الله، أنفاسكم فيه تسبيح، ونومكم فيه عبادة، وعملكم فيه مقبول، ودعائكم فيه مستجاب. فاسألوا الله ربكم بنيات صادقة، وقلوب طاهرة، أن يوفقكم لصيامه وتلاوة كتابه، فإن الشقي من حرم من غفران الله في هذا الشهر العظيم، واذكروا بجوعكم وعطشكم فيه جوع يوم القيامة وعطشه، وتصدقوا على فقرائكم ومساكينكم، ووقروا كباركم وارحموا صغاركم، وصلوا أرحامكم واحفظوا ألسنتكم، وغضوا عما لا يحل النظر إليه أبصاركم، وعما لا يحل الاستماع إليه أسماعكم. وتحننوا على أيتام الناس يتحنن على أيتامكم، وتوبوا إلى الله من ذنوبكم، وارفعوا إليه أيديكم بالدعاء في أوقات صلواتكم، فإنها أفضل الساعات ينظر الله عز وجل فيها بالرحمة إلى عباده، يجيبهم إذا ناجوه، ويلبيهم إذا نادوه، ويستجيب لهم إذا دعوه. يا أيها الناس إن أنفسكم مرهونة بأعمالكم، ففكوها باستغفاركم وظهوركم ثقيلة من أوزاركم، فخففوا عنها بطول سجودكم، واعلموا أن الله تعالى ذكره أقسم بعزته أن لا يعذب المصلين والساجدين، ولا يروعهم بالنار يوم يقوم الناس لرب العالمين، أيها الناس من فطر منكم صائماً مؤمناً في هذا الشهر كان له بذلك عند الله عتق نسمة ومغفرة لما مضى من ذنوبه. فقيل: يا رسول الله وليس كلنا يقدر على ذلك فقال (عليه السلام): اتقوا النار ولو بشق تمرة، اتقوا النار ولو بشربة من ماء، أيها الناس من حسن منكم في هذا الشهر خلقه، كان له جوازاً على الصراط يوم تزل فيه الاقدام، ومن خفف في هذا الشهر عما ملكت يمينه خفف الله عنه حسابه ومن كف فيه شره كف الله فيه غضبه يوم يلقاه. ومن أكرم فيه يتيماً أكرمه الله يوم يلقاه، ومن وصل فيه رحمه وصله الله برحمته يوم يلقاه، من قطع رحمه قطع الله عنه رحمته يوم يلقاه ومن تطوع فيه بصلاة كتب له براءة من النار، ومن أدى فيه فرضاً كان له ثواب من أدى سبعين فريضة فيما سواه من الشهور، ومن أكثر فيه من صلاة علي ثقل الله ميزانه يوم تخفف الموازين، ومن تلا فيه آية من القرآن كان له مثل أجر من ختم القرآن في غيره من الشهور. أيها الناس إن أبواب الجنان في هذا الشهر مفتحة فاسألوا ربكم [إن] لا يغلقها عليكم، وأبواب النيران مغلقة فاسألوا ربكم [إن] لا يفتحها عليكم، والشياطين مغلولة فاسألوا ربكم [أن] لا يسلطها عليكم. قال أمير المؤمنين (عليه السلام) [فقمت خ ل] فقلت: يا رسول الله ما أفضل الأعمال في هذا الشهر؟ فقال: يا أبا الحسن أفضل الأعمال في هذه الشهر الورع عن محارم الله، ثم بكى، فقلت: يا رسول الله ما يبكيك؟ فقال: يا علي أبكي لما يستحل منك في هذا الشهر كأني بك وأنت تصلي لربك وقد أنبعث أشقى الأولين والآخرين شقيق عاقر ناقة ثمود، فضربك ضربة على فرقك [قرنك] فخضب منها لحيتك، قال: أمير المؤمنين (عليه السلام) فقلت: يا رسول الله ذلك في سلامة من ديني؟ فقال: في سلامة من دينك، ثم قال (عليه السلام): يا علي من قتلك فقد قتلني ومن أبغضك فقد أبغضني، ومن سبك فقد سبني، لأنك مني كنفسي روحك من روحي وطينتك من طينتي، إن الله تبارك وتعالى خلقني وإياك واصطفاني وإياك واختارني للنبوة واختارك للإمامة، ومن أنكر إمامتك فقد أنكرني نبوتي، يا علي أنت وصيي وأبو ولدي وزوج ابنتي، وخليفتي على أمتي في حياتي وبعد موتي، أمرك أمري ونهيك نهي، أقسم بالذي بعثني بالنبوة وجعلني خير البرية إنك لحجة الله على خلقه وأمينه على سره وخليفته على عباده.

Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. Isḥāq narrated to us, saying that Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Hamadānī narrated to him among others, saying that ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Faḍḍāl, from his father, from Abī’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Mūsā al-Riḍā (as), from his father, Mūsā b. Jaʿfar, from his father, al-Ṣādiq, Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad, from his father, al-Bāqir, from his father, Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn, from his father, the Master of the Martyrs, al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī, from his father, ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, the Master of the Successors (as-p), who has said: “The Messenger of Allāh (sawa) delivered a sermon to us one day, in which he said: “O’ people, indeed the month of Allāh has come to you with forgiveness, mercy, and blessing, and it is the most favoured month in the sight of Allāh. Its days are the most favoured days, its nights are the most favoured nights, and its hours the most favoured hours. It is a month in which you are invited to be Allāh’s guests and one in which Allāh has made you the people of honour. Your breaths in the month of Ramaḍān are glorification (of Allāh), your sleeping is worship, your deeds are accepted, and your supplications answered. So ask Allāh, your Lord, with charitable intentions and pure hearts, that He grant you success in fasting for His sake and in recitation of His Book. Indeed, the wretched is he who is debarred from the forgiveness of Allāh in this great month. Remember with your hunger and your thirst during the month of Ramaḍān the hunger and thirst that will ensue on the Day of Reckoning. Be charitable to your paupers and your destitute ones, respect your elders, be merciful to your youngsters, keep relations with your kin, and guard your tongues. Turn the other cheek to that which is impermissible to look at with your eyes or hear with your ears. Have compassion upon the orphans of people so that they may have mercy upon your orphans, and repent to Allāh for your sins. Raise your hands to Him in supplication in the times of your prayers, for it is the best of hours, in which Allāh (azwj) looks upon His servants with mercy, answers them when they invoke Him, responds to them when they call upon Him, and rejoins them when they supplicate to Him. O’ people, your souls are held hostage by your deeds, so pay their ransom by seeking forgiveness, and your backs are weighed down by your burdens, so free them with long prostrations. Know that Allāh—may His remembrance be exalted—has sworn by His grandeur that He will not punish those who pray and prostrate, nor will He terrify them with the Fire on the Day on which men will be made to stand before the Lord of the Worlds. O’ people, he who helps a fasting believer break their fast in this month is, in the eyes of Allāh, like someone who frees a slave and has earned forgiveness for what has already passed of his sins.” It was said: “O’ Messenger of Allāh, not all of us are capable of that.” He (as) continued: “Fear the Fire, even if it is by means of a split date. Fear the Fire, even if it is by means of a drink of water. O’ people, he among you who improves his character during this month will have a means of safe passage upon the Bridge on the Day when feet upon the Bridge will shake (having found no firm grounding). Whoever lightens the burden of that which his right hand possesses will have Allāh lighten his accountability. Whoever restrains the evil of his hands in this month, Allāh will restrain the wrath of His hands on the Day he meets Him. Whoever honours an orphan during this month, Allāh will honour him on the day he meets Him. Whoever keeps ties with his kin, Allāh will keep ties between him and His mercy on the Day he meets Him, while whoever cuts ties with his kin, Allāh will cut ties between him and His mercy on the Day he meets Him. Whoever performs voluntary prayers will have absolution from the Fire written for him. Whoever fulfils an obligation in this month will have the reward of seventy obligations fulfilled in any other month. Whoever abundantly sends salutations upon me in this month, Allāh will make the Scale heavy with good deeds attributed to him when the Scales will be light (for everyone else). Whoever recites one verse of the Qurʾān in this month will be rewarded with the likeness of completing the entire Qurʾān in any other month. O’ people, the gates of the Paradisiacal realms are opened to you in this month, so ask your Lord not to shut them, while the gates of the Fires of Perdition are shut to you, so ask your Lord not to open them. And the devils are shackled, so ask your Lord not to let them gain mastery over you.” Amīr al-Muʾminīn (as) reported that he [stood up—according to some manuscripts—and] said: “O’ Messenger of Allāh, what is the best action to do in this month?” so he replied: “To abstain from that which Allāh has prohibited.” Then he began weeping. I said: “Why are you weeping, o’ Messenger of Allāh?,” so he replied: “O’ ʿAlī, I weep for what will be facilitated against you in this month. It is as if I am with you, as you pray to your Lord, while the most wretched among the first and the last, the brother (in perdition) of he who hamstrung the she-camel of Thamūd, shall strike you on your head between your “horns” with such a strike that stains your beard with blood.” Amīr al-Muʾminīn is reported to have asked: “O’ Messenger of Allāh, will that happen while I am secure in my religion?,” so the Holy Prophet (sawa) replied: “(Aye, it will happen while) you are secure in your religion.” He (as) continued: “O’ ʿAlī, whoever kills you has killed me, and whoever despises you has despised me, and whoever insults you has insulted me, because you are from me as if you are my own soul, and your spirit is from my spirit, and your clay is from my clay. Indeed, Allāh (twt) has created you and I in particular, chosen you and I in particular, and selected me for prophethood and you for Divine leadership/imāma. So whoever disputes your imāma has disputed me in my prophethood. O’ ʿAlī, you are my successor, the father of my offspring, my daughter's husband, and my caliph presiding over my community in my lifetime and after my death. Your commands are (truly) my commands, and your prohibitions are (truly) my prohibitions. By He Who sent me forth with prophethood and made me the best of creatures, you are the decisive argument of Allāh upon His creation, the safekeeper of His secrets, and His caliph presiding over His servants.”

Ḥadīth 12

حدثنا محمد بن الحسن بن أحمد بن الوليد، قال: حدثنا الحسين بن الحسن بن أبان، عن الحسين بن سعيد، عن الحسين بن علوان، عن عمرو بن شمر، عن جابر، عن أبي جعفر الباقر (عليه السلام)، قال: كان رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) إذا نظر إلى هلال شهر رمضان استقبل القبلة بوجهه ثم قال: « اللهم أهله علينا بالأمن والايمان، والسلامة والاسلام، والعافية المجللة، والرزق الواسع، ودفع الأسقام، وتلاوة القرآن، والعون على الصلاة والصيام. اللهم سلمنا لرمضان وسلمه لنا وسلمه منا حتى ينقضي شهر رمضان وقد غفرت لنا »، ثم يقبل بوجهه على الناس ويقول: يا معشر المسلمين إذا طلع هلال شهر رمضان غلت مردة الشياطين [الشيطان]، وفتحت أبواب السماء وأبواب الجنان وأبواب الرحمة، وغلقت أبواب النيران، واستجب الدعاء، وكان لله عز وجل عند كل فطرة عتقاء يعتقهم من النار ونادى [ينادي خ ل] مناد كل ليلة هل من سائل؟ هل من مستغفر؟ « اللهم اعط كل منفق خلفاً وأعط كل ممسك تلفاً » حتى إذا طلع هلال شوّال نودي المؤمنون أن اغدوا إلى جوائزكم فهو يوم الجائزة، ثم قال أبو جعفر (عليه السلام): أما والذي نفسي بيده ما هي بجائزة الدنانير والدراهم.

Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. Aḥmad b. al-Walīd narrated to us, saying that al-Ḥusayn b. al-Ḥasan b. Abān narrated to him among others, from al-Ḥusayn b. Saʿīd, from al-Ḥusayn b. ʿUlwān, from ʿAmrū b. Shimr, from Jābir (b. Yazīd al-Ju‘fī), from Abū Jaʿfar al-Bāqir (as), who said: “When the Messenger of Allāh (sawa) would spy the crescent moon of the month of Ramaḍān, he would turn his face towards the Qibla and then say: “O’ Allāh, let this appear to us with security and faith, peace and Islam, good health and wellness, expansive provision, the repulsion of diseases, recitation of the Qurʾān, and assistance in prayer and fasting. O’ Allāh, secure us for Ramaḍān, secure it for us, and secure it from us until the month of Ramaḍān passes on and You have forgiven us.” Then he would turn his face to the people and state: “O’ throng of Muslims, when the crescent moon heralding the month of Ramaḍān arises, the devils are shackled [or the Devil is shackled], and the gates of the sky, the gates of the Heavens, and the gates of mercy are opened while the gates to the fires of Hell are shut, and supplications are answered. Every time the fast is broken at sunset, there are people with Allāh (azwj) due for exoneration from the Fire, so He would exonerate them, and then a caller calls out every night: “Is there anyone who wants to ask (Me for something)? Is there anyone seeking forgiveness?” O’ Allāh, give every benefactor a replacement (for what he had freely given others) and give every miser ruination.” When the crescent moon appeared heralding the month of Shawwāl, the believers would be called out: “Proceed to your rewards, for it is the day of reward.” Abū Jaʿfar al-Bāqir (as) then concluded: “By He in Whose hand is my soul, it is not a reward (counted) in dinars and dirhams.”

Ḥadīth 13

حدثنا محمد بن إبراهيم المعاذي، قال: حدثنا أحمد بن متويه [حيويه] الجرجاني المذكّر، قال: حدثنا أبو إسحاق إبراهيم بن بلال، قال: حدثنا أبو عبد الله محمد بن كرّام، قال: حدثنا أحمد بن عبد الله، قال: حدثنا سفيان بن عيينة، قال: حدثنا معاوية بن أبي إسحاق، عن سعيد بن جبير، قال: سألت ابن عبّاس: ما لمن صام شهر رمضان وعرف حقه؟ قال: تهيا يا ابن جبير حتى أحدثك بما لم تسمع أذناك ولم يمر على قلبك وفرغ نفسك لما سألتني عنه فما أردته فهو علم الأولين والآخرين، قال سعيد بن جبير: فخرجت من عنده فتهيأت له من الغد فبكرت إليه مع طلوع الفجر فصليت الفجر، ثم ذكر الحديث فحول وجهه إلي فقال: إسمع مني ما أقول سمعت رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) يقول: لو علمتم مالكم في شهر رمضان لزدتم لله شكراً إذا كان أول ليلة غفر الله تعالى لأمتي الذنوب كلها سرها وعلانيتها ورفع لكم ألفي الف درجة وبنى لكم خمسون مدينة. وكتب الله عز وجل لكم يوم الثاني بكل خطوة تخطونها في ذلك اليوم عبادة سنة وثواب نبي، وكتب لكم صوم سنة. وأعطاكم الله يوم الثالث بكل شعرة على أبدانكم جنة في الفردوس من درة بيضاء في أعلاها اثني عشر الف بيت من النور وفي أسفلها اثنا عشر الف بيت في كل بيت الف سرير على كل سرير حوراء يدخل عليكم كل يوم الف ملك مع كل ملك هدية. وأعطاكم الله يوم الرابع في جنة الخلد سبعين الف قصر في كل قصر سبعون الف بيت في كل بيت خمسون الف سرير على كل سرير حوراء بين يدي كل حوراء الف وصيفة خمار إحداهن خير من الدنيا وما فيها. وأعطاكم الله يوم الخامس في جنة المأوى الف الف مدينة في كل مدينة سبعون الف بيت في كل بيت سبعون الف مائدة على كل مائدة سبعون الف قصعة في كل قصعة سبعون الف نوع من الطعام لا يشبه بعضه بعضاً. وأعطاكم الله عز وجل يوم السادس في دار السلام مائة الف مدينة في كل مدينة مائة دار في كل دار مائة الف بيت في كل بيت مائة الف سرير من ذهب طول كل سرير الف ذراع على كل سرير زوجة من الحور العين عليها ثلاثون الف ذؤابة منسوجة بالدر والياقوت يحمل كل ذؤابة مائة جارية. وأعطاكم الله يوم السابع في جنة النعيم ثواب أربعين الف شهيد وأربعين الف صديق. وأعطاكم الله يوم الثامن عمل ستين الف عابد وستين الف زاهد. وأعطاكم الله عز وجل يوم التاسع ما يعطي الف عالم وألف معتكف وألف مرابط. وأعطاكم الله عز وجل يوم العاشر قضاء سبعين الف حاجة واستغفر لكم الشمس والقمر والنجوم والدواب والطير والسباع وكل حجر ومدر وكل رطب ويابس والحيتان في البحار والأوراق على الأشجار. وكتب الله عز وجل لكم يوم أحد عشر ثواب أربع حجات وعمرات كل حجة مع نبي من الأنبياء وكل عمرة مع صديق وشهيد. وجعل الله عز وجل لكم يوم اثنا عشر إيماناً يبدل الله سيئاتكم حسنات ويجعل حسناتكم أضعافاً ويكتب لكم لكل حسنة الف حسنة. وكتب الله عز وجل لكم ثلاثة عشر مثل عبادة أهل مكّة والمدينة وأعطاكم الله بكل حجر ومدر ما بين مكّة والمدينة شفاعة. ويوم أربعة عشر فكأنما لقيتم آدم ونوحاً وبعدهما إبراهيم وموسى وبعده داود وسليمان وكأنما عبدتم الله عز وجل مع كل نبي مائتي سنة. وقضى لكم عز وجل يوم خمسة عشر حوائج الدنيا والآخرة وأعطاكم الله ما يعطي الله أيّوب واستغفر لكم حملة العرش وأعطاكم الله عز وجل يوم القيامة أربعين نوراً عشرة عن يمينكم وعشرة عن يساركم وعشرة أمامكم وعشرة خلفكم. وأعطاكم الله يوم ستة عشر إذا خرجتم من القبر ستين حلة تلبسونها وناقة تركبونها وبعث الله إليكم غمامة تظلكم من حر ذلك اليوم. ويوم سبعة عشر يقولون الله عز وجل: إنني قد غفرت لهم ولآبائهم ودفعت عنهم شدائدهم يوم القيامة. وإذا كان يوم ثمانية عشر أمر الله عز وجل جبرئيل وميكائيل وإسرافيل وحملة العرش والكروبيين أن يستغفروا لأمة محمد (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) إلى السنة القابلة وأعطاكم الله عز وجل ثواب البدريين. فإذا كان يوم التاسع عشر لم يبق ملك في السماوات والأرض الا استأذنوا ربهم في زيارة قبوركم في كل يوم ومع كل ملك هدية وشراب. فإذا تم لكم عشرون يوما بعث الله عز وجل إليكم سبعين الف ملك يحفظونكم من كل شيطان رجيم وكتب الله عز وجل لكم بكل يوم صمتم صوم مائة سنة وجعل بينكم وبين النار خندقاً وأعطاكم ثواب من في التوراة والإنجيل والزبور والفرقان وكتب الله عز وجل لكم بكل ريشة على جبرئيل (عليه السلام) عبادة سنة وأعطاكم ثواب تسبيح العرش والكرسي وزوجكم بكل آية في القرآن الف حوراء. ويوم أحد وعشرين وسع الله عليكم القبر الف فرسخ ويرفع عنكم الظلمة والوحشة ويجعل قبوركم كقبور الشهداء ويجعل وجوهكم كوجه يوسف بن يعقوب (عليهما السلام). ويوم اثنين وعشرين يبعث الله عز وجل إليكم ملك الموت كما يبعث إلى الأنبياء (عليهم السلام) ويرفع عنكم هول منكر ونكير ويرفع عنكم هم الدنيا والآخرة. ويوم ثلاث وعشرين تمرون على الصراط مع النبيين الصديقين والشهداء فكأنما اشبعتم كل يتيم في أمتي وكسوتم كل عريان من أمتي. ويوم أربعة وعشرين لا تخرجون من الدنيا حتى يرى كل واحد منكم مكانه من الجنة ويعطى كل واحد ثواب الف مريض وألف غريب خرجوا في طاعة الله عز وجل وأعطاكم ثواب الف رقبة من ولد إسماعيل. ويوم خمس وعشرين منه بنى الله عز وجل لكم تحت العرش الف قبة خضراء على رأس كل قبة خيمة من نور يقول الله تبارك وتعالى: يا أمة محمد أنا ربكم وأنتم عبيدي وإمائي استظلوا بظل عرشي في هذه القباب وكلوا واشربوا هنيئاً فلا خوف عليكم ولا أنتم تحزنون يا أمة محمد وعزتي وجلالي لأبعثنكم إلى الجنة يتعجب منكم الأولون والآخرون ولأتوجن كل واحد منكم بألف تاج من نور ولأركبن كل واحد منكم على ناقة خلقت من نور، زمامها من نور، وفي ذلك الزمام الف حلقة من ذهب في كل حلقة ملك قائم عليها من الملائكة بيد كل ملك عمود من نور حتى يدخل الجنة بغير حساب. وإذا كان يوم ستة وعشرين ينظر الله إليكم بالرحمة فيغفر لكم الذنوب كلها الا الرشاد والأموال وقدس بيتكم كل يوم سبعين الف مرة من الغيبة والكذب والبهتان. ويوم سبعة وعشرين فكأنما نصرتم كل مؤمن ومؤمنة وكسوتم سبعين الف عار وخدمتم الف مرابط وكأنما قرأتم كل كتاب أنزل الله عز وجل على أنبيائه. ويوم ثمانية وعشرين جعل الله لكم في جنة الخلد مائة الف مدينة من نور وأعطاكم الله عز وجل في جنة المأوى مائة الف قصر من فضة وأعطاكم الله عز وجل في جنة الجلال ثلاثة آلاف منبر من مسك في جوف كل منبر الف بيت من زعفران في كل بيت سرير من در وياقوت على كل سرير زوجة من الحور العين. فإذا كان يوم تسعة وعشرين أعطاكم الله عز وجل الف الف محلة في جوف كل محلة قبة بيضاء في كل قبة سرير من كافور أبيض على ذلك السرير الف فراش من السندس الأخضر فوق كل فراش حوراء عليها سبعون الف حلة وعلى رأسها ثمانون الف ذؤابة مكللة بالدر والياقوت. فإذا تم ثلاثون يوماً كتب الله عز وجل لكم بكل يوم مر عليكم ثواب الف شهيد وألف صديق وكتب الله عز وجل لكم عبادة خمسين سنة وكتب الله عز وجل لكم بكل يوم صوم ألفي يوم ورفع لكم على قدر ما أنبت النيل درجات وكتب الله عز وجل لكم براءة من النار وجوازاً على الصراط وأماناً من العذاب وللجنة باب يقال لها الريان لا يفتح ذلك [إلى خ ل] الا يوم القيامة ثم يفتح للصائمين والصائمات من أمة محمد (صلى الله عليه وآله) ثم ينادي رضوان خازن الجنة: يا أمة محمد (صلى الله عليه وآله) هلماً إلى الريان فيدخل أمتي في ذلك الباب إلى الجنة فمن لم يغفر له في شهر رمضان ففي أي شهر يغفر له ولا حول ولا قوة الا بالله العلي العظيم.

Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm al-Maʿādhī narrated to us, saying that Aḥmad b. Mutawayh [or Ḥaywayh] al-Jurjānī al-Mudhakkir narrated to him among others, saying that Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm b. Bilāl narrated to him among others, saying that Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Karrām narrated to him among others, saying that Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to him among others, saying that Sufyān b. ʿUyayna narrated to him among others, saying that Muʿāwiya b. Abī Isḥāq narrated to him among others, from Saʿīd b. Jubayr, who narrated: “I asked Ibn ʿAbbās: “What is for he who fasted the whole month of Ramaḍān, while recognizing its reality?” Ibn ʿAbbās replied: “Ready yourself, o’ son of Jubayr, for I will narrate to you that which your ears have never heard, nor has your heart conceived of, and free yourself for what you have asked me about, for I am intending to give you knowledge of the first matters and the last.” Saʿīd b. Jubayr said: “I left his presence and readied myself for (the conversation with him) the next day, on which I set out to meet him at the outbreak of the false dawn. I performed the Fajr prayer and then I mentioned the narration. He turned his face to me and said: “Hear from me what I say—I heard the Messenger of Allāh (sawa) say: “Had you known your goods to come of the month of Ramaḍān you would have increased in expressing gratitude to Allāh. On the first night, Allāh (taa) forgives all the sins of my community, whether they be private or public, raises you people two million degrees in honor, and builds for you fifty cities. And on the second day, Allāh (azwj) will have it written down for you on this day for every step you take the reward of a year’s worth of worship and the reward of a Prophet, and also inscribed is the reward of a year’s worth of fasting. On the third day, for every hair upon your bodies, Allāh gives you a garden of white pearls in Paradise, at whose foundations there are twelve thousand houses of light, and at whose summit there are also twelve thousand houses. In every such house there are a thousand thrones, and upon every throne a heavenly maiden. Every day, a thousand angels will pay court to you and every angel will come bearing a gift. On the fourth day, Allāh shall give you each seventy thousand castles in the Eternal Garden. In every castle there are seventy thousand houses, and in every house fifty thousand thrones. Upon each throne sits a celestial maiden, and before every celestial maiden attend a thousand veiled maids-of-honour. The veil of each one of them is better than the world and what is in it. On the fifth day, Allāh shall give you, in the Garden of Refuge, a million cities. In each city there are seventy thousand houses, and in each house seventy thousand tables. Laid upon each table are seventy thousand platters, and in each platter seventy thousand types of food, none of which resemble any other. On the sixth day, Allāh (azwj) shall give you in the Abode of Peace a hundred thousand cities, in each of which there are a hundred abodes, and in every abode there are a hundred thousand houses, and in every house a hundred thousand beds of gold, each a thousand cubits long. Upon each bed lies a spouse from among the celestial damsels, wearing thirty thousand tassels woven from pearl and rubies, each carried by a hundred maidservants. On the seventh day, Allāh shall give you the reward of forty thousand each of the martyrs and the truth-speakers, in the innately blessed Paradise. On the eighth day, Allāh shall give you the reward of the actions of sixty thousand worshippers and sixty thousand ascetics. On the ninth day, Allāh (azwj) shall give you the reward of what He has given a thousand scholars, a thousand devotees, and a thousand sentinels (in the way of Allāh). On the tenth day, Allāh (azwj) shall grant seventy thousand of your desiderata, and the Sun, the Moon, the stars, the creatures, the birds and the beasts, and every stone and mortar, and every wet and dry thing, and all the whales in the seas and the leaves on the trees shall seek forgiveness on your behalf. On the eleventh day, Allāh (azwj) shall inscribe for you the reward of four greater and lesser pilgrimages, as if you had performed each greater pilgrimage (ḥajj) with a prophet from among the prophets, and each lesser pilgrimage (ʿumra) with a truth-speaker and a martyr. On the twelfth day, Allāh (azwj) shall establish for you a state of faith by which your misdeeds shall be transformed into benedictions by Allāh, and He will also double the value of your benedictions, and inscribe for you the reward of a thousand benedictions for each singular benediction. On the thirteenth day, Allāh (azwj) shall have inscribed for you a reward equivalent to the worship of all the people of Mecca and Medina, and Allāh shall also grant you intercession according to the value of every stone and mortar between Mecca and Medina. On the fourteenth day, it shall be as if you had met Ādam and Nūḥ, and after the two of them, Ibrāhīm and Mūsā, and after them two, Dāwūd and Sulaymān, and as if you had worshipped Allāh (azwj) with every prophet for two hundred years. On the fifteenth day, He (azwj) shall fulfill all of your desiderata of the world and the afterlife. Allāh shall grant you all that was granted to Ayyūb by Allāh, and the carriers of the Throne shall seek forgiveness for you on your behalf. Allāh (azwj) shall give you on the Day of Judgement forty illuminations, of which ten shall accompany you to your right, ten to your left, ten in front of you, and ten behind. On the sixteenth day, Allāh shall grant you, when you emerge from the grave, sixty robes to wear and a she-camel to ride, and He shall send to you a cloud to shade you from the heat of that day. On the seventeenth day, Allāh (azwj) shall say: “Indeed, I have forgiven them and their fathers, and I have warded off from them the terrors of the Day of Judgement.” On the eighteenth day, Allāh (azwj) shall command Jibraʿīl, Mīkāʿīl, Isrāfīl, the carriers of the Throne, and the cherubim to seek forgiveness for the nation of Muḥammad (sawa) until the following year, and He shall grant you the reward of the warriors of Badr. On the nineteenth day, there shall not remain a single angel in the heavens or the earth except that they seek permission from their Lord to visit your graves every day, each angel bringing with them a gift and a drink. When twenty days have been completed for you, Allāh (azwj) shall send to you seventy thousand angels to protect you from every accursed devil, and He shall inscribe for you, for each day that you fasted, the reward of fasting a hundred years, and He shall place a trench between you and Hellfire, and He shall grant you the reward of those mentioned in the Tawrāt (Torah), the Injīl (Gospel), the Zabūr (Psalms), and the Furqān. Allāh (azwj) shall inscribe for you, for every feather upon Jibraʿīl (as), a year’s worth of worship, and He shall grant you the reward of the glorification of the Throne and the Footstool, and He shall wed you to a thousand celestial maidens for every verse in the Qurʾān. On the twenty-first day, Allāh (azwj) shall expand your grave by a thousand leagues, remove from you darkness and dread, make your graves like the graves of the martyrs, and make your faces like the face of Yūsuf b. Yaʿqūb (as-d). On the twenty-second day, Allāh (azwj) shall send the Angel of Death to you as He sends him to the prophets (as-p), and He shall remove from you the terror of Munkar and Nakīr, and He shall lift from you the worries of this world and the Hereafter. On the twenty-third day, you shall pass over the Bridge (al-Ṣirāṭ) with the prophets, the truthful, and the martyrs, as if you had fed every orphan in my nation to satiety and clothed every naked one among them. On the twenty-fourth day, you shall not leave this world until each one of you sees his place in Paradise, and each one of you shall be given the reward of a thousand sick persons and a thousand strangers who went forth in obedience to Allāh (azwj), and He shall grant you the reward of freeing a thousand captives from the descendants of Ismāʿīl. On the twenty-fifth day, Allāh (azwj) shall build for you beneath the Throne a thousand green domes, at the top of each dome a pavilion of light, and Allāh (twt) shall say: “O’ nation of Muḥammad! I am your Lord, and you are My servants, so take shade under the shadow of My Throne in these domes, and eat and drink blissfully, for there is no fear upon you, nor shall you grieve. O’ nation of Muḥammad! By My Might and My Majesty, I shall surely resurrect you into Paradise in such a state that the first and the last shall be amazed at you, and I shall surely crown each one of you with a thousand crowns of light, and I shall surely mount each one of you upon a she-camel created from light, whose bridle is of light. On that bridle are a thousand golden rings, upon each ring stands an angel from among the angels, in whose hand is a staff of light, until you enter Paradise without reckoning.” On the twenty-sixth day, Allāh (azwj) shall gaze upon you with mercy and forgive all your sins except for enmity and misappropriated wealth, and He shall purify your houses every day seventy thousand times from backbiting, lies, and slander. On the twenty-seventh day, it shall be as if you have aided every believing man and woman, clothed seventy thousand destitute ones, served a thousand frontier sentinels, and as if you have recited every book that Allāh (azwj) has revealed upon His prophets. On the twenty-eighth day, Allāh (azwj) shall grant you a hundred thousand cities of light in the Eternal Garden, a hundred thousand castles of silver in the Garden of Refuge, and three thousand pulpits of musk in the Garden of Glory, inside each pulpit a thousand houses of saffron, in each house a throne of pearl and ruby, upon each throne a spouse from the celestial maidens. On the twenty-ninth day, Allāh (azwj) shall grant you a million abodes, inside each abode a white dome, inside each dome a throne of white camphor, upon which are a thousand green brocade cushions, upon each cushion a celestial maiden, upon whom are seventy thousand robes, and upon her head are eighty thousand tassels adorned with pearls and rubies. When thirty days are completed, Allāh (azwj) shall inscribe for you, for every day that has passed, the reward of a thousand martyrs and a thousand truthful ones, and He shall inscribe for you the worship of fifty years, and He shall inscribe for you, for each day, the reward of fasting two thousand days, and He shall raise you in rank according to what the Nile has caused to grow, and He shall inscribe for you a declaration of innocence from the Hellfire, and a passage across the Bridge (al-Ṣirāṭ), and security from torment. There is a door in Paradise called al-Rayān, which shall not be opened except on the Day of Judgement. It shall then be opened for the fasting men and the fasting women of the nation of Muḥammad (sawa). Riḍwān, the custodian of Paradise, shall then call out: “O’ community of Muḥammad (sawa)! Come forth to al-Rayān!” My community shall then enter Paradise through that door. So whoever is not forgiven in the month of Ramaḍān, then in which month shall he be forgiven? And there is no power nor strength except in Allāh, the Most High, the Most Great.”

Ḥadīth 14

حدثنا محمد بن الحسن بن أحمد بن الوليد رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا محمد بن الحسن الصفّار، عن محمد بن الحسين بن أبي الخطّاب، عن علي بن النعمان، عن عبد الله بن طلحة النهدي، عن جعفر بن محمد، عن أبيه، عن آبائه، عن علي (عليهم السلام)، قال: قال رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله): أربعة لا ترد لهم دعوة ويفتح لهم أبواب السماء ويصير إلى العرش دعاء الوالد لولده، والمظلوم على من ظلمه والمعتمر حتى يرجع والصائم حتى يفطر.

Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. Aḥmad b. al-Walīd (ra) narrated to us, saying that Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Ṣaffār narrated to him among others, from Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn b. Abī’l-Khaṭṭāb, from ʿAlī b. al-Nuʿmān, from ʿAbd Allāh b. Ṭalḥa al-Nahdī, from Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad, from his father, from his forefathers, from ʿAlī (as-p), who said: “The Messenger of Allāh (sawa) said: “Four supplications are not rejected; rather, the gates of the sky are opened for them, and they are lifted towards the Throne: the supplication of a parent for his child, the supplication of the oppressed against the one who wronged him, the supplication of one performing the lesser pilgrimage (ʿumra) until he returns, and the supplication of one fasting until he breaks his fast.”

Ḥadīth 15

حدثنا محمد بن موسى بن المتوكّل رحمه الله، قال: حدثنا علي بن الحسين البغدادي، عن أحمد بن أبي عبد الله البرقي، عن أبيه، عن محمد بن سنان، عن المفضّل بن عمر، عن الصادق جعفر بن محمد (عليه السلام)، قال: بني الإسلام على خمس دعائم، على الصلاة والزكاة والصوم والحج وولاية أمير المؤمنين والأئمة من ولده صلوات الله عليهم.

Muḥammad b. Mūsā b. al-Mutawakkil (rh) narrated to us, saying that ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn al-Baghdādī narrated to him among others, from Aḥmad b. Abī ʿAbd Allāh al-Barqī, from his father, from Muḥammad b. Sinān, from al-Mufaḍḍal b. ʿUmar, from al-Ṣādiq, Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad (as), who said: “Islam is built upon five pillars: prayer, the obligatory alms-tax, fasting, the pilgrimage, and the Divine authority of Amīr al-Muʾminīn and the Imams from among his progeny (saa-p).”

Ḥadīth 16

حدثنا أحمد بن علي بن إبراهيم، قال: حدثنا أبي، عن أبيه إبراهيم بن هاشم، عن عبد الله بن المغيرة، عن عمر الشامي، عن الصادق جعفر بن محمد (عليهما السلام)، قال: ﴿إِنَّ عِدَّةَ ٱلشُّهُورِ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ ٱثْنَا عَشَرَ شَهْرًۭا فِى كِتَـٰبِ ٱللَّهِ يَوْمَ خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ﴾ فغرة الشهور شهر الله عز وجل وهو شهر رمضان وقلب شهر رمضان ليلة القدر ونزل القرآن في أول ليلة من شهر رمضان واستقبل الشهر بالقرآن.

Aḥmad b. ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm narrated to us, saying that his father narrated to him among others, from his father, Ibrāhīm b. Hāshim, from ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Mughīra, from ʿUmar al-Shāmī, from al-Ṣādiq, Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad (as-d), who said: “﴾Indeed, the number of months with Allāh is twelve [lunar] months in the register of Allāh [from] the day He created the heavens and the earth﴿ [9:36], and the foremost of the months is the month of Allāh (azwj), and it is the month of Ramaḍān. And the heart of the month of Ramaḍān is the Night of Power. The Qurʾān was revealed on the first night of the month of Ramaḍān, so begin the month with the Qurʾān.”

Ḥadīth 17

حدثنا أحمد بن محمد بن يحيى العطّار، قال: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، عن القاسم بن محمد، عن سليمان بن داود المنقري، عن حفص بن غياث، قال: قلت للصادق جعفر بن محمد (عليه السلام): أخبرني عن قول الله عز وجل: ﴿شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أُنزِلَ فِيهِ ٱلْقُرْءَانُ﴾ كيف أنزل القرآن في شهر رمضان وإنما أنزل القرآن في مدة عشرين سنة أوله وآخره؟ فقال (عليه السلام): أنزل القرآن جملة واحدة في شهر رمضان إلى البيت المعمور، ثم أنزل من البيت المعمور في مدة عشرين سنة.

Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā al-ʿAṭṭār narrated to us, saying that Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to him among others, from al-Qāsim b. Muḥammad, from Sulaymān b. Dāwūd al-Munqarī, from Ḥafṣ b. Ghiyāth, who narrated: “I once said to al-Ṣādiq, Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad (as): “Inform me about the saying of Allāh (azwj): ﴾The month of Ramaḍān is that in which was revealed the Qurʾān﴿ [2:185]—how was the Qurʾān revealed in the month of Ramaḍān, considering that the Qurʾān was revealed, from beginning to end, over the course of twenty years?” He (as) replied: “The Qurʾān was revealed in the month of Ramaḍān, in the Bayt al-Maʿmūr—the Inhabited Dwelling—in a single instance, and then it was revealed from the Inhabited Dwelling (to the public) over the course of twenty years.”

Ḥadīth 18

حدثنا محمد بن علي ماجيلويه، قال: حدثني عمي محمد بن أبي القاسم، عن محمد بن أبي عبد الله البرقي، قال: حدثني محمد بن علي القرشي، قال: حدثني محمد بن سنان، عن زياد بن المنذر، عن أبي جعفر محمد بن علي الباقر (عليه السلام)، قال: لما كلم الله موسى بن عمران (عليه السلام)، قال موسى: إلهي ما جزاء من شهد أني رسولك ونبيك وأنك كلمتني؟ قال: يا موسى تأتيه ملائكتي فتبشره بجنتي، قال موسى: إلهي ما جزاء من قام بين يديك فصلى؟ فقال: يا موسى أباهي بهم ملائكتي راكعاً وساجداً وقائماً وقاعداً ومن باهيت به ملائكتي لا أعذبه، قال موسى: إلهي ما جزاء من أطعم مسكيناً ابتغاء وجهك؟ قال: يا موسى آمر منادياً ينادي يوم القيامة على رؤوس الخلائق فلان بن فلان من عتقاء الله من النار، قال: إلهي فما جزاء من وصل رحمه؟ قال: يا موسى أنسي في عمره وأهون عليه سكرات الموت ويناديه خزنة اللجنة هلم إلينا فادخل من أي أبوابها شئت، قال موسى: إلهي فما جزاء من كف أذاه عن أناس وبذل معروفه لهم؟ قال: يا موسى يناجيه النار يوم القيامة لا سبيل لي إليك، قال موسى: إلهي ما جزاء من ذكرك بلسانه وقلبه؟ قال: يا موسى أظله يوم القيامة بظل عرشي وأجعله في كنفي، قال: إلهي فما جزاء من تلا حكمتك سراً وجهراً؟ قال: يا موسى يمر على الصراط كالبرق الخاطف، قال موسى: فما جزاء من صبر على أذى الناس وشتمهم؟ قال: أعينه على أهوال يوم القيامة، قال: إلهي ما جزاء من دمعت عيناه من خشيتك؟ قال: يا موسى آمن وجهه من حر النار واو من يوم الفزع الأكبر، قال: إلهي فما جزاء من صبر عند المصيبة وأنفذ أمرك؟ قال: يا موسى له بكل نفس يتنفس درجة في الجنة والدرجة خير من الدنيا وما فيها، قال: إلهي فما جزاء من صبر على فرايضك؟ قال: يا موسى له بكل فريضة يؤديها درجة من درجات العلى، قال: إلهي فما جزاء من مشى في ظلمة الليل إلى طاعتك؟ قال: أوجب له النور الدائمة يوم القيامة أن له من الحسنات بعدد كل شئ مر عليه سواد الليل وضوء النهار ونور الكواكب، قال: إلهي فما جزاء من لم يكف عن معاصيك؟ قال: يا موسى أعطيه كتابه بشماله من وراء ظهره، قال: إلهي فما جزاء من زنا فرجه؟ قال: يا موسى يدخن يوم القيامة بدخان أنتن من ريح الجيف ويرفعن فوق الناس، قال: إلهي فما جزاء من أحب أهل طاعتك لحبك؟ قال: يا موسى أحرمه على ناري، قال: إلهي فما جزاء من لم يفتر لسانه عن ذكرك والتضرع والاستعانة لك في الدنيا؟ قال: يا موسى أعينه على شدائد الآخرة، قال: إلهي فما جزاء من قتل مؤمناً متعمداً؟ قال: لا أنظر إليه يوم القيامة ولا أقيله عثرته، قال: إلهي فما جزاء من هدا نفساً كافرة إلى الاسلام؟ قال: يا موسى اذن يوم القيامة في الشفاعة لمن يريد، قال: إلهي فما جزاء من دعا نفساً مسلمة إلى طاعتك ونهاها عن معصيتك؟ قال: يا موسى أحشره يوم القيامة في زمرة المتقين، قال: إلهي فما جزاء من صلى الصلاة لوقتها لم يشغلها عن وقتها دنيا؟ قال: يا موسى عطيه سؤله وأبيحه جنتي، قال: إلهي فما جزاء من كفل اليتيم؟ قال: أظله يوم القيامة في ظل عرشي، قال: فما جزاء من أتم الوضوء من خشيتك؟ قال: يا موسى ابعثه يوم القيامة له نور يتلألأ بين عينيه، قال: إلهي فما جزاء من صام شهر رمضان يريد به الناس؟ قال: يا موسى ثوابه كثواب من لم يصمه، قال: إلهي فما جزاء من صام في بياض النهار يلتمس بذلك رضاك؟ قال: يا موسى له جنتي وله الأمان من كل هول يوم القيامة والعتق من النار.

Muḥammad b. ʿAlī Mājilawayh narrated to us, saying that his paternal uncle, Muḥammad b. Abī’l-Qāsim, narrated to him, from Muḥammad b. Abī ʿAbd Allāh al-Barqī, saying that Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Qurashī narrated to him, saying that Muḥammad b. Sinān narrated to him, from Ziyād b. al-Mundhir, from Abī Jaʿfar, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Bāqir (as), who said: “When Allāh spoke to Mūsā b. ʿImrān (as), Mūsā said: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who testifies that I am Your messenger and Your prophet, and that You spoke to me?” He said: “O’ Mūsā! My angels come to him bearing glad tidings of My Garden.” Mūsā continued: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who stands before You and performs prayer?” He answered: “O’ Mūsā! My angels take pride in him whether he be bowing or prostrating or standing or sitting, and whoever My angels take pride in, I shall not punish him.” Mūsā said: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who feeds a pauper, seeking Your Face (i.e., Divine satisfaction)?” He replied: “O’ Mūsā! On the Day of Judgement, I shall command a caller to call out over the heads of the creatures, “So-and-so, son of so-and-so, is among those whom Allāh has granted freedom from the Fire.” Mūsā carried on: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who maintains relationships with his kin?” He replied: “O’ Mūsā! I shall lengthen his life, make the pangs of death easy for him, and the keepers of Paradise shall call to him: “Come to us and enter through whichever gate you will.” Mūsā then said: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who restrains himself from harming people and bestows goodness upon them?” He replied: “O’ Mūsā! The Fire will call out to him on the Day of Judgement: “I have no way to you.” Mūsā then asked: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who remembers You with his tongue and heart?” He responded: “O’ Mūsā! On the Day of Judgement, I shall shade him with the shade of My Throne and grant him My protection.” Mūsā said: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who recites Your Wisdom, secretly and openly?” He replied: “O’ Mūsā! He shall cross the Bridge like a flash of lightning.” Mūsā continued: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who is patient with the harm and insults of people?” He responded: “I will aid him against the terrors of the Day of Resurrection.” Mūsā asked: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he whose eyes shed tears in fear of You?” He replied: “O’ Mūsā! I grant his face safety from the heat of the Fire and grant him security on the Great Day of Terror.” Mūsā continued: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who remains patient during afflictions and fulfills Your command?” He replied: “O’ Mūsā! For every breath he takes, I shall raise him up by a degree in Paradise, and each degree is better than the world and all that is in it.” Mūsā then asked: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who patiently fulfills Your obligations?” He replied: “O’ Mūsā! For every obligation he fulfills, he is raised a rank from among the exalted ranks.” Mūsā then asked: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who walks in the dead of night, striving to obey You?” He replied: “O’ Mūsā! I shall mandate for him an everlasting light on the Day of Resurrection and grant him rewards equal to everything he passed by—the darkness of the night, the brightness of the day, and the light of the stars.” Mūsā then asked: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who does not refrain from disobeying You?” He responded: “O’ Mūsā! I shall give him his record of deeds in his left hand, from behind his back.” Mūsā continued: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who commits fornication?” He responded: “O’ Mūsā! On the Day of Resurrection, a smoke shall issue from him, more putrid than the stench of carrion, rising above the people.” Mūsā then asked: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who loves those who obey You out of love for You?” He replied: “O’ Mūsā! I shall make him prohibited to My Fire.” Mūsā carried on: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he whose tongue does not cease remembering You, nor ceases to invoke You for assistance in this world?” He replied: “O’ Mūsā! I shall aid him against the hardships of the afterlife.” Mūsā then said: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who intentionally kills a believer?” He responded: “I shall not look upon him on the Day of Judgement, nor will I overlook his misstep.” Mūsā carried on: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who guides a disbeliever to Islam?” Allāh replied: “O’ Mūsā! On the Day of Judgement, I shall grant him permission to intercede for whomever he wills.” Mūsā continued: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who calls a Muslim to obedience and forbids them from disobeying You?” He replied: “O’ Mūsā! On the Day of Resurrection, I shall gather him among the righteous.” Mūsā then asked: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who prays at its appointed time, without letting the world distract him from it?” Allāh replied: “O’ Mūsā! I shall grant him his requests and grant him My Paradise.” Mūsā continued: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who cares for an orphan?” He replied: “I shall shade him on the Day of Judgement in the shade of My Throne.” Mūsā then asked: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who perfects his ablution out of fear of You?” Allāh replied: “O’ Mūsā! I shall resurrect him on the Day of Resurrection with a light radiating between his eyes.” Mūsā carried on: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who fasts the month of Ramaḍān for the sake of people?” Allāh replied: “O’ Mūsā! His reward is the same as he who did not fast.” Lastly, Mūsā asked: “O’ God of mine, what is the recompense for he who fasts during the daylight hours, solely seeking Your satisfaction?” Allāh responded: “O’ Mūsā! For him is My Garden, and for him is safety from all the terrors of the Day of Resurrection and freedom from the Fire.”

Ḥadīth 19

حدثنا أحمد بن زياد بن جعفر الهمداني رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا علي بن إبراهيم بن هاشم، عن أبيه، عن ابن أبي عمير، عن المفضّل بن عمر، عن جابر بن يزيد الجعفي، عن أبي نصرة [أبي حمزة]، عن جابر بن عبد الله الأنصاري، قال: قال رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله): أعطيت أمتي خمس خصال في شهر رمضان لم يعطهن أمة نبي قبلي. أما واحدة فإنه إذا كان أول ليلة من شهر رمضان نظر الله عز وجل إليهم ومن نظر الله إليه لم يعذبه. والثانية: خلوف أفواههم حين يمسون أطيب عند الله من ريح المسك. والثالثة: يستغفر لهم الملائكة في كل يوم وليلة. والرابعة: يقول الله عز وجل لجنته: تزيني واستعدي لعبادي يوشك أن يستريحوا من نصب الدنيا وأذاها ويصيروا إلى دار كرامتي. والخامسة: إذا كان آخر ليلة من شهر رمضان غفر الله عز وجل لهم جميعاً، فقال رجل: يا رسول الله أهي ليلة القدر؟ قال: لا أما ترون العمال إذا عملوا كيف يؤتون أجورهم؟

Aḥmad b. Ziyād b. Jaʿfar al-Hamadānī (ra) narrated to us, saying that ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm b. Hāshim narrated to him among others, from his father, from Ibn Abī ʿUmayr, from al-Mufaḍḍal b. ʿUmar, from Jābir b. Yazīd al-Ju‘fī, from Abī Nuṣra [or Abī Ḥamza], from Jābir b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Anṣārī, who said: “The Messenger of Allāh (sawa) has said: “My community has been given five particulars in the month of Ramaḍān that no community of any prophet before me has been given. The first: Allāh (azwj) looks to them on the first night of the month of Ramaḍān, and whoever Allāh looks to, He does not punish him. The second: The odour of their mouths when they break their fast is sweeter to Allāh than the scent of musk. The third: The angels seek forgiveness for them every day and night. The fourth: Allāh (azwj) will say to His Paradise: “Adorn yourself and prepare for My servants, for they are soon to rest from the toil and harm of the world and enter the abode of My generosity.” The fifth: On the last night of the month of Ramaḍān, Allāh will forgive them all together.” A man said: “O’ Messenger of Allāh, is that the Night of Power?” He replied: “Nay! Do you not see that when the labourers finish their work, they are given their wages?”

Ḥadīth 20

حدثنا أحمد بن محمد بن يحيى العطّار رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، قال: حدثنا أبو الجوزا ألمبنه بن عبد الله، قال: حدثنا الحسين بن علوان، عن عمرو بن ثابت، بن هرمز الحدّاد، عن سعد بن ظريف، عن الأصبغ بن نباته، قال: قال أمير المؤمنين علي بن أبي طالب (عليه السلام): يأتي على الناس زمان يرتفع فيه الفاحشة ولنصنع وتنهتك فيه المحارم ويعلن فيه الزنا ويستحل فيه أموال اليتامى ويؤكل فيه الربا ويطفف في المكائيل والموازين ويستحل الخمر بالنبيذ والرشوة بالهدية والخيانة بالأمانة ويتشبه الرجال بالنساء والنساء بالرجال ويستخف بحدود الصلاة ويحج فيه لغير الله فإذا كان ذلك الزمان انتفخت الأهلة تارة حتى يرى الهلال ليلتين وخفيت تارة حتى يفطر شهر رمضان في أوله ويصام للعدي في آخره فالحذر الحذر حينئذ من أخذ الله على غفلة فإن من وراء ذلك موته ذريع يختطف الناس اختطافاً حتى أن الرجل ليصبح سالما ويمسي دفيناً ويمسي حيا ويصبح ميتا فإذا كان ذلك الزمان وجب التقدم في الوصية قبل نزول البلية ووجب تقديم الصلاة في أول وقتها خشية فوتها في آخر وقتها فمن بلغ منكم ذلك الزمان فلا يبيتن ليلة إلا على طهر وإن قدر أن لا يكون في جميع أحواله إلا طاهراً فليفعل فإنه على وجل لا يدري متى يأتيه رسول الله لقبض روحه وقد حذرتكم وعرفتكم إن عرفتم ووعظتكم إن اتعظتم فاتقوا الله في سرائركم وعلانيتكم ولا تموتن الا وأنتم مسلمون ومن يبتغ غير الاسلام ديناً فلن يقبل منه وهو في الآخرة من الخاسرين.

Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā al-ʿAṭṭār (ra) narrated to us, saying that Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to him among others, saying that Abū’l-Jawzā Almubna b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to him among others, saying that al-Ḥusayn b. ʿUlwān narrated to him among others, from ʿAmrū b. Thābit, from Hurmuz al-Ḥaddād, from Saʿd b. Ẓarīf, from al-Aṣbagh b. Nubāta, who narrated: “Amīr al-Muʾminīn, ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (as) has stated: “There will come upon the people a time when open indecency will be widespread and made prevalent, while that which is sacred will suffer its sanctity being profaned. In this time, fornication will be made known, the wealth of orphans will be deemed permissible (for usurpation), and usury will be consumed. Shortchanging in weights and measures will be commonplace, and wine (al-khamr) will be deemed lawful through association with nabīdh. [1] Bribery will be considered a gift, treachery a sign of trustworthiness, and men will take to resembling women and women men. The bounds of prayer will be taken lightly, and the greater pilgrimage (ḥajj) will be performed for purposes other than Allāh. When that time comes, the crescents will sometimes appear swollen, such that the moon will be seen for two nights, and at other times it will be hidden, such that Ramaḍān will be broken at its beginning and fasted at its end. So beware, beware, for Allāh may seize a person while he is heedless, and beyond that lies a swift death that will snatch people away suddenly, such that a man will wake up in health and be buried by evening, or he will rest alive in the evening and wake up dead in the morning. When that time comes, it will be incumbent to hasten one’s will before calamity strikes and to perform the prayer at its earliest time out of fear that one may die before its end. Whoever among you reaches that time, let him not sleep unless he is in a state of ritual purity (ṭahāra), and if he is able to remain ritually pure in all his circumstances, let him do so, for he will be in a state of constant trepidation, not knowing when Allāh’s emissary will come to seize his spirit. I have warned you and informed you if you are capable of perceiving, and I have admonished you if you accept admonition. So fear Allāh in your private and public affairs, and do not die except as Muslims, for whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will not be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter, he will be among the losers.”

Ḥadīth 21

حدثنا محمد بن علي ماجيلويه (ره)، قال: حدثني عمي محمد بن أبي القاسم، قال: حدثنا محمد بن علي الكوفي، قال: حدثنا محمد بن سنان، عن المفضّل بن عمر، عن يونس بن ظبيان، قال: قلت للصادق (عليه السلام): ما الذي يباعد عنا إبليس؟ قال: الصوم يسود وجهه والصدقة تكسر ظهره والحب في الله والمؤازرة على العمل الصالح يقطعان دابره والاستغفار يقطع وتينه.

Muḥammad b. ʿAlī Mājilawayh—may Allāh have mercy on him—narrated to us, saying that his paternal uncle Muḥammad b. Abī’l-Qāsim narrated to him, saying that Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Kūfī narrated to him among others, saying that Muḥammad b. Sinān narrated to him among others, from al-Mufaḍḍal b. ʿUmar, from Yūnus b. Ẓibyān, who narrates: “I said to al-Ṣādiq (as): “What is it that distances Iblīs from us?” So he replied: “Fasting blackens his face, charity breaks his back, love for Allāh and mutual support in righteous deeds sever his lineage, and seeking forgiveness cuts his lifeline.”

Ḥadīth 22

حدثنا محمد بن موسى بن المتوكّل، قال: حدثنا محمد بن يحيى العطّار، قال: حدثنا محمد بن أحمد بن يحيى بن عمران الأشعري، قال: حدثنا أبو عبد الله الرازي، عن الحسن بن علي بن أبي حمزة، عن رفاعة، عن أبي عبد الله (عليه السلام)، قال: قال رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله): تعاونوا بأكل السحر على صيام النهار وبالنوم على الصلاة بالليل.

Muḥammad b. Mūsā b. al-Mutawakkil narrated to us, saying that Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā al-ʿAṭṭār narrated to him among others, saying that Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Yaḥyā b. ʿImrān al-Ashʿarī narrated to him among others, saying that Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Rāzī narrated to him among others, from al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ḥamza, from Rafāʿa, from Abī ʿAbd Allāh (as), who narrates: “The Messenger of Allāh (sawa) has said: “Seek assistance for fasting during the day by having the pre-dawn meal and for the night prayer by getting some sleep beforehand.”

Ḥadīth 23

حدثنا أبي رحمه الله، قال: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، قال: حدثنا محمد بن الحسن، قال: حدثنا محمد بن الحسين بن أبي الخطّاب، عن محمد بن يحيى الخزّاز، عن طلحة بن زيد، عن الصادق جعفر بن محمد، عن أبيه، عن آبائه (عليهم السلام)، قال: لا تقولوا رمضان ولا جاء رمضان، قولوا: شهر رمضان فإنكم لا تدرون ما رمضان.

My father (rh) narrated to us, saying that Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to him among others, saying that Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan narrated to him among others, saying that Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn b. Abī’l-Khaṭṭāb narrated to him among others, from Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā al-Khazzāz, from Ṭalḥa b. Zayd, from al-Ṣādiq, Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad, from his father, from his forefathers (as-p), who have said: “Do not say “Ramaḍān” or that “Ramaḍān has come,” but rather say “The month of Ramaḍān,” for indeed you know not what Ramaḍān is.”

Ḥadīth 24

حدثنا محمد بن الحسن، قال: حدثنا أحمد بن إدريس، عن محمد بن أحمد بن يحيى بن عمران الأشعري، عن إبراهيم بن هاشم، عن موسى بن عمران الهمداني، عن يونس بن عبد الرحمن، عن يونس بن عمار، قال: سمعت أبا عبد الله (عليه السلام) يقول: من أفطر يوماً من شهر رمضان خرج الإيمان منه.

Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan narrated to us, saying that Aḥmad b. Idrīs narrated to him among others, from Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Yaḥyā b. ʿImrān al-Ashʿarī, from Ibrāhīm b. Hāshim, from Mūsā b. ʿImrān al-Hamadānī, from Yūnus b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from Yūnus b. ʿAmmār, who said: “I have heard Abā ʿAbd Allāh (as) saying: “Whoever (wilfully) breaks his fast (before its time) for a day in the month of Ramaḍān, he has broken faith (with Allāh).”

Ḥadīth 25

حدثنا أبي رحمه الله، قال: حدثنا محمد بن يحيى العطّار، عن محمد بن أحمد، عن إبراهيم بن هاشم، عن حمزة بن يعلي، عن محمد بن الحسين بن أبي خالد، رفعه إلى أبي عبد الله (عليه السلام) [و خ ل] قال: إذا صح هلال رجب فعد تسعة وخمسين يوماً وصم يوم ستين.

My father (rh) narrated to us, saying that Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā al-ʿAṭṭār narrated to him among others, from Muḥammad b. Aḥmad, from Ibrāhīm b. Hāshim, from Ḥamza b. Yaʿlī, from Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn b. Abī Khālid, who raised it up to Abī ʿAbd Allāh (as) [the manuscripts differ], who said: “When you verify that the crescent moon of the month of Rajab has appeared, start counting for fifty-nine days, then fast on the sixtieth.”

Ḥadīth 26

حدثنا محمد بن علي ماجيلويه، عن عمه محمد بن أبي القاسم، عن أحمد بن أبي عبد الله، عن أبيه، عن أحمد بن نصر الخرّاز، عن عمرو بن شمر، عن جابر، عن أبي جعفر الباقر (عليه السلام)، قال: قال رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله): إذا غاب القرص أفطر الصائم ودخل وقت الصلاة.

Muḥammad b. ʿAlī Mājilūwayh narrated to us from his paternal uncle, Muḥammad b. Abī’l-Qāsim, from Aḥmad b. Abī ʿAbd Allāh, from his father, from Aḥmad b. Naṣr al-Kharrāz, [1] from ʿAmrū b. Shimr, from Jābir, from Abī Jaʿfar al-Bāqir (as), who narrates: “The Messenger of Allāh (sawa) has stated: “When the disk (of the sun) disappears, it is time for the one who fasted to break his fast, and for one to perform his prayers.”

Ḥadīth 27

حدثنا أبي رحمه الله، قال: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، قال: حدثنا أحمد بن محمد بن عيسى، عن علي بن الحكم، عن عبد الملك بن عتبة، عن إسحاق بن عمار، عن يحيى بن أبي العلي، عن أبي عبد الله (عليه السلام)، قال: الصائم في شهر رمضان في السفر كالمفطر فيه في الحضر.

My father (rh) narrated to us, saying that Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to him among others, saying that Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. ʿĪsā narrated to him among others, from ʿAlī b. al-Ḥakam, from ʿAbd al-Mālik b. ʿUtba, from Isḥāq b. ʿAmmār, from Yaḥyā b. Abī’l-ʿAlī, from Abī ʿAbd Allāh (as), who has stated: “The one who fasts in the month of Ramaḍān while traveling is like the one who has broken his fast at home.”

Ḥadīth 28

حدثنا محمد بن علي ماجيلويه، قال: حدثني علي بن إبراهيم بن هاشم، عن أبيه، عن محمد بن أبي عمير، عن غير واحد، عن أبي عبد الله الصادق (عليه السلام)، قال: وقال رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم): شهر رمضان شهر الله عز وجل وهو شهر يضاعف الله فيه الحسنات ويمحو فيه السيئات وهو شهر البركة وهو شهر الإنابة وهو شهر التوبة وهو شهر المغفرة وهو شهر العتق من النار والفوز بالجنة ألا فاجتنبوا فيه كل حرام وأكثروا فيه من تلاوة القرآن وسلوا فيه حوائجكم واشتغلوا فيه بذكر ربكم ولا يكونن شهر رمضان عندكم كغيره من الشهور فإن له عند الله حرمة وفضلاً على سائر الشهور ولا يكونن شهر رمضان يوم صومكم كيوم فطركم.

Muḥammad b. ʿAlī (b.) Mājīlawayh narrated to us, saying that ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm b. Hāshim narrated to him, from his father, from Muḥammad b. Abī ʿUmayr, from more than one person, from Abī ʿAbd Allāh al-Ṣādiq (as), who has said: “The Messenger of Allāh (sws) has said: “The month of Ramaḍān is the month of Allāh (azwj), and it is the month in which Allāh doubles the rewards of good deeds and erases misdeeds. It is the month of blessing, the month of turning (to Allāh), the month of repentance, the month of forgiveness, the month of liberation from Perdition, and the month of triumph through Paradise. So beware of every forbidden thing in it, recite the Qurʾān abundantly, ask in it for your needs, and occupy yourselves in it with the remembrance of your Lord. Let not the month of Ramaḍān be with you like any other month, for it has with Allāh a sanctity and a distinction over all other months, and let not the day of your fasting in Ramaḍān be like the day of your breaking the fast.”

Ḥadīth 29

حدثنا محمد بن الحسن بن الوليد رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا محمد بن الحسن الصفّار، قال: حدثنا محمد بن الحسين بن أبي الخطّاب، عن النضر بن شعيب، عن عبد الغفّار الجازي، عن أبي عبد الله (عليه السلام)، قال: من كان على أمر ليس بحق لم يتب منه لم يغفر له في شعبان وشهر رمضان لم يزل عليه إلى قابل.

Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. al-Walīd (ra) narrated to us, saying that Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Ṣaffār narrated to him among others, saying that Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn b. Abī’l-Khaṭṭāb narrated to him among others, from al-Naḍr b. Shuʿayb, from ʿAbd al-Ghaffār al-Jāzī, from Abī ʿAbd Allāh (as), who said: “Whoever is upon a matter without right and does not repent from it (while he can), he will not be forgiven in Shaʿbān or the month of Ramaḍān, and it will remain upon him until the following year.”

Ḥadīth 30

حدثنا محمد بن إبراهيم بن إسحاق، قال: حدثنا أحمد بن محمد الهمداني، قال: حدثنا علي بن الحسن بن علي بن فضّال، عن أبيه، عن أبي الحسن علي بن موسى الرضا (عليه السلام)، قال: من تصدق وقت إفطاره على مسكين برغيف غفر الله له ذنبه وكتب له ثواب عتق رقبة من ولد إسماعيل.

Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. Isḥāq narrated to us, saying that Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Hamadānī narrated to him among others, saying that ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Faḍḍāl narrated to him among others, from his father, from Abī’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Mūsā al-Riḍā (as), who said: “Whoever gives a loaf of bread in charity to a pauper at the time he is supposed to break his fast, Allāh will forgive him for his sins and record for him the reward of freeing a descendant of Ismāʿīl from the yoke of slavery.”

Ḥadīth 31

وبهذا الإسناد، قال: قال الرضا (عليه السلام): من قال عند إفطاره « اللهم لك صمنا بتوفيقك وعلى رزقك أفطرنا بأمرك فتقبله منا واغفر لنا إنك أنت الغفور الرحيم » غفر الله ما ادخل على صومه من النقصان بذنوبه.

And with the same chain of transmission, he (i.e., al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Faḍḍāl) has said that Imam al-Riḍā (as) has stated: “Whoever recites the following supplication at the time he breaks his fast—O’ Allāh, for You we fasted through Your grant of success and upon Your sustenance we broke our fast upon Your command, so accept it from us and forgive us. Indeed, You are the Forgiving, the Merciful—Allāh will forgive him for what loss his fasting has incurred as a result of his sins.”

Ḥadīth 32

وبهذا الإسناد، قال الرضا (عليه السلام): الحسنات في شهر رمضان مقبولة والسيئات فيه مغفورة، من قرأ في شهر رمضان آية من كتاب الله عز وجل كان كمن ختم قرآن في غيره من الشهور، ومن ضحك فيه في وجه أخيه المؤمن لم يلقه يوم القيامة إلا ضحك في وجهه وبشره بالجنة ومن أعان فيه مؤمناً أعانه الله تعالى على الجواز على الصراط يوم تزل فيه الأقدام، ومن كف فيه غضبه كف الله عنه غضبه يوم القيامة، ومن نصر فيه مظلوماً نصره الله على كل من عاداه في الدنيا ونصره يوم القيامة عند الحساب والميزان. شهر رمضان شهر البركة وشهر الرحمة وشهر المغفرة وشهر التوبة والإنابة، من لم يغفر له في شهر رمضان ففي أي شهر يغفر له، فاسألوا الله أن يتقبل منكم فيه الصيام ولا يجعله آخر العهد منكم وأن يوفقكم فيه لطاعته ويعصمكم من معصيته إنه خير مسؤول.

And with the same chain of transmission, he has reported that Imam al-Riḍā (as) said: “Good deeds in the month of Ramaḍān are accepted and misdeeds forgiven for he who reads a single verse of the Book of Allāh (azwj) during it, as though he had completed the entirety of the Qurʾān in any other month. Whoever causes his brother in belief to have laughter appear on his face will be let go on the Day of Judgement with laughter appearing on his own face, replete with glad tidings of Paradise. Whoever assists a fellow believer during this month, Allāh (taa) assists him by providing him with safe passage on the Bridge on the Day when other (people’s) feet will not find sure footing. Whoever restrains his own anger, Allāh will restrain His anger from him on the Day of Judgement, and whoever assists an oppressee during this month, Allāh will assist him against all of his enemies both in the worldly life and on the Day of Judgement, at the occasions of the Reckoning and the Scale. The month of Ramaḍān is one of blessings, mercy, forgiveness, repentance, and turning to Allāh. Whoever is not forgiven in the month of Ramaḍān, in which other month will he be forgiven? So ask Allāh to accept from you your fasts in this month, and that He not make it the last fulfilment of your covenant, and that He grant you the strength to obey Him and protect you from disobeying Him, for He is the worthiest One to be asked (for anything).”

Ḥadīth 33

حدثنا محمد بن الحسن بن أحمد بن الوليد رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا محمد بن الحسن الصفّار، عن أحمد بن محمد بن عيسى، عن محمد بن أبي عمير، عن حماد بن عثمان، عن الحلبي، عن أبي عبد الله (عليه السلام)، قال: قال أمير المؤمنين (عليه السلام): صيام شهر الصبر وصيام ثلاثة أيام في كل شهر يذهب بلابل الصدور، وروي: صيام ثلاثة أيام في كل شهر صيام الدهر، إن الله عز وجل يقول: ﴿مَن جَآءَ بِٱلْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُۥ عَشْرُ أَمْثَالِهَا﴾.

Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. Aḥmad b. al-Walīd (ra) narrated to us, saying that Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Ṣaffār narrated to him among others, from Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. ʿĪsā, from Muḥammad b. Abī ʿUmayr, from Ḥammād b. ʿUthmān, from al-Ḥalabī, from Abī ʿAbd Allāh (as), who said: “Amīr al-Muʾminīn (as) has stated: “Fasting in the month of patience—i.e., Ramaḍān—and fasting three days in every month drives away the anxieties in the chest.” It has also been narrated from him that he said: “Fasting three days in every month counts as fasting for a whole year, and Allāh (azwj) has indeed said: ﴾Whoever comes with a good deed will have ten times the like thereof﴿ [6:160].”

Ḥadīth 34

حدثنا محمد بن إبراهيم بن إسحاق رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا أحمد بن محمد الكوفي، قال: أخبرنا المنذر بن محمد، قال: حدثنا الحسن بن علي الخزّاز، قال: دخلت على أبي الحسن علي بن موسى الرضا (عليه السلام) آخر جمعة من شعبان وعنده نفر من أصحابه منهم عبد السلام بن صالح وصفوان بن يحيى وأحمد بن محمد بن أبي نصر ومحمد بن إسماعيل بن بزيع ومحمد بن سنان وخادماه ياسر ونادر وغيرهما، فقال: معاشر شيعتي هذا آخر يوم من شعبان من صامه احتساباً غفر له، فقال له محمد بن إسماعيل: يا ابن رسول الله فما تصنع بالخبر الذي روي في النهي عن استقبال رمضان بيوم أو يومين؟ فقال (عليه السلام): يا ابن إسماعيل إن رمضان اسم من أسماء الله عز وجل فلا يقال له: جاء وذهب واستقبل، والشهر شهر الله عز وجل وهو مضاف إليه فقال محمد بن إسماعيل: فهل يجوز لأحد أن يقول: استقبلت شهر رمضان بيوم أو يومين؟ قال: لا، لأن الاستقبال إنما يقع لشئ موجود يدرك فأما ما لم يخلق فكيف يستقبل؟ فقال يا ابن رسول الله شهر رمضان وإن لم يخلق قبل دخوله فقد وقع اليقين بأنه سيكون. فقال: يا محمد إن وقع لك اليقين أنه سيكون [فكيف وقع لك اليقين بأنه سيكون] وربما طالت ليلة أول يوم من شهر رمضان حتى يكون صبحها يوم القيامة فلا يكون شهر رمضان في الدنيا أبداً فيصبح الناس لا يرون شمساً ولا نهاراً ولا يرون من مساجد الله على وجه الأرض شيئاً ويرفع الله الكعبة والمسجد الحرام إلى السماء وأنسى في مثل ذلك الزمان القرآن حتى لا يوجد فيهم للقرآن حافظ ولشئ من تمجيد الله ذاكر فحينئذ يرفع الله عز وجل حجته من الأرض فتسيخ بأهلها وتسير جبالها وتسجر بحارها وتبعثر قبورها ويكور عن السماء شمسها وينكدر نجومها وينتثر كواكبها فيومئذ وقعت الواقعة وانشقت السماء فهي يومئذ واهية. ثم قال (عليه السلام): معاشر شيعتي إذا طلع هلال شهر رمضان فلا تشيروا إليه بالأصابع ولكن استقبلوا القبلة وارفعوا أيديكم إلى السماء وخاطبوا الهلال وقولوا: « ربنا وربك الله رب العالمين. اللهم اجعله علينا هلالاً مباركاً، ووفقنا لصيام شهر رمضان وسلمنا فيه وتسلمنا منه في يسر وعافية واستعملناه فيه بطاعتك إنك على كل شئ قدير »، فما من عبد فعل ذلك إلا كتبه الله تبارك وتعالى في جملة المرحومين وأثبته في ديوان المغفورين ولقد كانت فاطمة سيدة نساء العالمين (عليها السلام) تقول ذلك سنة فإذا طلع هلال شهر رمضان فكان نورها يغلب الهلال يخفى فإذا غابت عنه ظهر.

Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. Isḥāq (ra) narrated to us, saying that Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Kūfī narrated to him among others, saying that al-Mundhir b. Muḥammad informed him among others, saying that al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī al-Khazzāz said: “I entered upon Abi’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Mūsā al-Riḍā (as) on the last Friday of Shaʿbān, while a group of his companions were with him, among them ʿAbd al-Salām b. Ṣāliḥ, Ṣafwān b. Yaḥyā, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Abī Naṣr, Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl b. Bazīʿ, Muḥammad b. Sinān, and his two housekeepers, Yāsir and Nādir, and others besides. He said: “O’ gathering of my Shīʿa, this is the last day of Shaʿbān. Whoever spends it in fasting, seeking the reward thereby, will earn himself forgiveness.” Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl asked him: “O’ son of the Messenger of Allāh, what do you make of that which has been narrated prohibiting fasting for a day or two before Ramaḍān?” So the Imam (as) replied: “O’ son of Ismāʿīl, indeed “Ramaḍān” is a name from among the names of Allāh (azwj), so do not say: “It came,” or “It passed,” or “It began,” while this month is the month of Allāh (azwj), and it is attributed to Him.” Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl responded: “So, is it permissible for anyone to say: “I began the month of Ramaḍān with a day or two of fasting”?” To which the Imam replied: “No, for “beginning” only applies to a thing that already exists and can be known. As for that which has not yet been created, how can it begin?” Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl then asked: “O’ son of the Messenger of Allāh, although the month of Ramaḍān has not yet been created before its initiation, we are nevertheless certain that it will be.” The Imam replied: “O’ Muḥammad, you (say that you) are certain that it will be—and how are you certain that it will be?—what if the first night of the month of Ramaḍān extends until morning breaks and it is the Day of Judgement? So then there shall never be a month of Ramaḍān in the world, not ever, and people will wake up in the morning to find that they do not see a sun, or day, or any trace of the mosques of Allāh upon the face of the earth, and Allāh will raise the Kaaba and the Sacred Mosque (i.e. Masjid al-Ḥarām) to the sky. In such an age as that, the Qurʾān would be forgotten by people until you would not find a single adherent of the Qurʾān among them, or anything of those who remember and glorify Allāh. That is when Allāh will raise His decisive proof from the earth such that it collapses onto itself, its inhabitants in tow. The mountains shall tremble, the seas overflow, graves scattered, and the sun will curl up against the sky. The stars shall darken, and the planets disperse. On the day the Great Happening shall happen, and the sky split open, for on that day it will be flimsy.” He (as) continued: “O’ gathering of my Shīʿa! When the crescent of the month of Ramaḍān appears, do not point at it with your fingers, but rather orient yourselves towards the Qibla, raise your hands to the sky and address the crescent, saying—Our Lord and yours is Allāh, Lord of the worlds. O’ Allāh, make it for us a blessed crescent and grant us the ability to fast in the month of Ramaḍān. Keep us secure during it and accept it from us in ease and wellness. Allow us to take advantage of it to obey You, for indeed You are upon all things Omnipotent—there is no servant that does that except that Allāh (twt) will have written for him an inclusion among those liable for receiving Divine mercy and establish his name in the registry of those who will be forgiven. Fāṭima (as-f), the Mistress of the Women of the Worlds, would say as such every year when the crescent heralded the month of Ramaḍān, but her light would overpower that of the moon, until she went out of sight and so it would reappear.”

Ḥadīth 35

حدثنا محمد بن علي ماجيلويه، قال: حدثنا عمي محمد بن أبي القاسم، قال: حدثني محمد بن علي القرشي، قال: حدثنا أبو الربيع أخبر به، عن ليث بن أبي سليم، عن مجاهد، قال: قال عبد الله بن عبّاس: سمعت رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) يقول، وذلك في شهر رمضان: إن الله جل جلاله يقول كل ليلة من هذا الشهر: وعزتي وجلالي لقد أمرت ملائكتي بفتح أبواب سماوات للداعين من عبادي وإمائي فما لي أرى عبدي الغافل ساهياً عني متى سألني فلم أعطه ومتى ناداني فلم أجبه ومتى ناجاني فلم أقربه ومتى رجاني فخيبته ومتى أملني فحرمته ومتى قصد بابي فحجبته ومتى تقرب فباعدته ومتى هرب مني فلم أدعه ومتى رجع إلي فلم أقبله ومتى أقر بذنوبه فلم أرحمه ومتى استغفرني فلم اغفر له ذنبه ومتى تاب فلم أقبله توبته عبدي كيف تقصد برجائك ملكاً مملوكاً ولا تقصدني برجائك وأنا ملك الملوك أم كيف تسأل من يخاف الفقر ولا تسألني وأنا الغني الذي لا افتقر أم كيف تخدم ملكاً ينام ويموت ولا تخدمني وأنا الحي الذي لا يموت ولا يأخذني سنة ولا نوم يا سوئه لمن عصاني ويا بؤساً للقانطين من رحمتي بعزتي حلفت لآخذنه أخذ عزيز مقتدر يغضب لغضبه السماء والأرض فأين تفر مني إلا ألي وأنا الله العزيز الحكيم.

Muḥammad b. ʿAlī (b.) Mājīlawayh narrated to us, saying that his paternal uncle, Muḥammad b. Abī’l-Qāsim narrated to him among others, saying that Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Qurashī narrated to him, saying that Abū’l-Rabīʿ narrated to him among others, thereby informing him of it, from Layth b. Abī Salīm, from Mujāhid, saying that ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbbās has said: “I heard the Messenger of Allāh (sawa) saying, and that was during the month of Ramaḍān: “Indeed, Allāh (jj) says, every night of this month: “By My Glory and Might, I have commanded My angels to open up the gates of the Celestial Realms for those among My male and female servants. So why do I see My servant being neglectful and absent-minded about Me? When has he asked Me, and I have not given him? When has he invoked Me, and I have not responded to him? When has he whispered to Me, and I have not drawn near to him? When has he sought Me, and I have disappointed him? When has he hoped in Me, and I have deprived him? When has he knocked upon My Door, and I have concealed Myself from him? When has he sought closeness to Me, and I have distanced Myself from him? When has he fled from Me, and I have not called upon him (to come back)? When has he returned to Me, and I have not accepted him back? When has he confessed his sins to Me, and I have not had mercy upon him? When has he sought My forgiveness, and I have not forgiven him his sin? When has he repented, and I have not accepted his repentance? Servant of Mine, how do you place your hopes with an earthly king who himself is a subject (of Mine), and yet you do not place your hopes with Me while I am the King of kings? How do you ask he who fears poverty, and yet you do not ask Me, while I am the Infinitely Wealthy Who does not fear to go poor? How do you serve a king who sleeps and will die, but you do not serve Me, while I am the Eternally Alive, Who will not ever die, Who will never fall prey to slumber nor fall asleep? Woe to those who disobey Me! How miserable are those who despair of My mercy! By My Might, I swear, that I will seize him with such a seizing as appropriate of the Almighty, the All-Powerful, Who lets known His wrath that unleashes itself upon Heaven and Earth! Where will you run to from Me, except to Me! For I am Allāh, the Almighty, the All-Wise.”

Ḥadīth 36

حدثنا محمد بن علي ماجيلويه رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثني عمي محمد بن أبي القاسم، قال: حدثني محمد بن علي القرشي، قال: حدثنا أبو الربيع، قال: حدثنا جرير، عن ليث بن أبي سليم، عن مجاهد، قال: قال عبد الله بن عبّاس: سمعت رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) يقول: شهر رمضان ليس كالشهور لما تضاعف فيه من الأجور هو شهر الصيام وشهر القيام وشهر التوبة والاستغفار وشهر تلاوة القرآن، هو شهر أبواب الجنان فيه مفتحة وأبواب النيران فيه مغلقة، هو شهر يكتب فيه الآجال ويبث فيه الأرزاق، وفيه ليلة فيها يفرق كل أمر حكيم ويكتب فيها وفد بيت الله الحرام تتنزل الملائكة والروح فيها عليه الصائمين والصائمات بإذن ربهم في كل أمر سلام هي حتى مطلع الفجر، من لم يغفر له في شهر رمضان لم يغفر إلى قابل فبادروا بالأعمال الصالحات الآن وباب التوبة مفتوح والدعاء مستجاب قبل أن تقول نفس: يا حسرتي على ما فرطت في جنب الله وإن كنت لمن الساخرين.

Muḥammad b. ʿAlī (b.) Mājīlawayh (ra) narrated to us, saying that his paternal uncle, Muḥammad b. Abī’l-Qāsim narrated to him, saying that Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Qurashī narrated to him, saying that Abū’l-Rabīʿ narrated to him among others, saying that Jarīr narrated to him among others, from Layth b. Abī Salīm, from Mujāhid, who said that ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbbās has stated: “I heard the Messenger of Allāh (sawa) saying: “The month of Ramaḍān is not like other months. Why should it not be as such when, during it, rewards are doubled, and it is the month of fasting, and of standing tall (for prayer), and of repentance and seeking forgiveness? And it is also the month to recite the Qurʾān, and the month in which the gates of the Paradisiacal realms are opened while the gates to the pits of Perdition are shut. It is the month in which the terms of life are recorded and sustenances distributed, and during it is the Night in which every matter of wisdom is differentiated, and the pilgrims to the sanctified House of Allāh are recorded. On this Night the angels descend, and the (Holy) Spirit—with the permission of their Lord—upon every fasting man and woman, to decide every matter of peace, until the breaking of dawn. Whoever is not forgiven in the month of Ramaḍān shall not be forgiven until the next. So hasten to the performance of righteous deeds now, while the door of repentance is open and supplications are due to receive answers, before you say to yourself: “Woe betide me for what I neglected in relation to Allāh, for I was among those who mocked.”

Ḥadīth 37

حدثنا علي بن أحمد بن عبد الله بن أبي عبد الله البرقي، قال: حدثنا أبي، عن جده أحمد بن أبي عبد الله، قال: حدثنا أبو الحسن علي بن الحسين البرقي، قال: حدثنا أبي عن عبد الله بن جبلة، عن معاوية بن عمار، عن الحسن بن عبد الله، عن آبائه، عن جده الحسن بن علي بن أبي طالب (عليه السلام)، قال: جاء نفر من اليهود إلى رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) فسأله أعلمهم عن مسائل فكان فيما سأله أن قال له: لأي شئ فرض الله عز وجل الصوم على أمتك بالنهار ثلاثين يوماً وفرض الله على الأمم أكثر من ذلك؟ فقال النبي (صلى الله عليه وآله): إن آدم لما أكل من الشجرة بقي في بطنه ثلاثين يوماً ففرض الله عز وجل على ذريته ثلاثين يوماً الجوع والعطش والذي يأكلونه بالليل تفضل من الله عز وجل عليهم وكذلك كان على آدم ففرض الله ذلك على أمتي. ثم تلا رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) هذه الآية: ﴿يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ ۝ أَيَّامًۭا مَّعْدُودَٰتٍۢ﴾ قال اليهودي: صدقت يا محمد فما جزاء من صامها؟ فقال النبي (صلى الله عليه وآله): ما من مؤمن يصوم شهر رمضان احتساباً الا أوجب الله عز وجل له سبع خصال: أولها—يذوب الحرام في جسده. والثانية—يقرب من رحمة الله عز وجل. والثالثة—يكون قد كفر خطيئة أبيه آدم. والرابعة—يهون عليه سكرات الموت. والخامسة—أمان من الجوع والعطش يوم القيامة. والسادسة—يعطيه الله براءة من النار. والسابعة—يطعمه الله عز وجل من طيبات الجنة، قال: صدقت يا محمد.

ʿAlī b. Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Abī ʿAbd Allāh al-Barqī narrated to us, saying that his father narrated to him among others, from his grandfather, Aḥmad b. Abī ʿAbd Allāh, who said that Abū’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn al-Barqī narrated to him among others, saying that his father narrated to him among others, from ʿAbd Allāh b. Jabila, from Muʿāwiya b. ʿAmmār, from al-Ḥasan b. ʿAbd Allāh, from his forefathers, from his grandfather, al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (as), who said: “A group of Jews came to the Messenger of Allāh (sawa), so the most knowledgeable among them asked him about certain matters. Among the things that this Jew asked him was: “For which reason did Allāh (azwj) mandate fasting upon your community, during the daylight hours, for thirty days, even though Allāh has mandated upon other communities more than that?” In response, the Holy Prophet (sawa) said: “Indeed, that which Ādam ate from the (Forbidden) Tree remained in his stomach for thirty days, so Allāh (azwj) mandated upon his offspring thirty days of hunger and thirst. Meanwhile, to eat during the night is a favour from Allāh (azwj) upon them. So, that which was mandated upon Ādam by Allāh has similarly been mandated upon my community.” Then, the Messenger of Allāh (sws) recited the following verse: ﴾O’ you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous, for a limited number of days.﴿ [2:183-184]. The Jew said: “You have spoken truly, o’ Muḥammad! So, what is the recompense for he who fasts accordingly?” The Holy Prophet (sawa) replied: “There is not a believing person who fasts in the month of Ramaḍān, having accounted for its reward, except that Allāh (azwj) mandates upon him seven characteristics. Firstly, that which is prohibited (ḥarām) is flushed from his body. Secondly, he draws near to the mercy of Allāh (azwj). Thirdly, he is made to compensate for the misdemeanour of his forefather, Ādam. Fourthly, the throes of death are made easy for him. Fifthly, he is given security from hunger and thirst on the Day of Reckoning. Sixthly, Allāh grants him absolution from Perdition. Seventhly, Allāh (azwj) shall feed him from the good, natural things of Paradise.” The Jew spoke: “You have spoken truly, o’ Muḥammad!”

Ḥadīth 38

حدثنا أحمد بن زياد بن جعفر الهمداني، قال: حدثنا علي بن إبراهيم بن هاشم، عن أبيه، عن محمد بن أبي عمير، قال: حدثنا هشام بن الحكم، قال: سألت أبا عبد الله (عليه السلام) عن علة الصيام، قال: العلة في الصيام ليستوي به الغني والفقير وذلك أن الغني لم يكن ليجد مس الجوع فيرحم الفقير لأن الغني كلما أراد شيئاً قدر عليه فأراد الله عز وجل أن يسوي بين خلقة وأن يذيق الغني مس الجوع والألم ليحسن على الضعيف ويطعم الجائع.

Aḥmad b. Ziyād b. Jaʿfar al-Hamadānī narrated to us, saying that ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm b. Hāshim narrated to him among others, from his father, from Muḥammad b. Abī ʿUmayr, saying that Hishām b. al-Ḥakam narrated to him among others, who said: “I asked Abā ʿAbd Allāh (as) about the reason for which fasting was ordained. He said: “The reason for fasting is to put the plutocrat and the pauper on equal grounds. That is because the plutocrat has not found himself touched by hunger, so he may have mercy upon the pauper, because the plutocrat can intend to do anything and he has the capability to do so. So, Allāh (azwj) intends to establish equality between the creatures, and that the plutocrat may get a taste of hunger and hardship in order to do good upon the weak ones, and feed the hungry.”

Ḥadīth 39

حدثنا محمد بن موسى بن المتوكّل رحمه الله، قال: حدثنا علي بن الحسين السعدآبادي، عن أحمد بن محمد بن خالد، عن سعيد بن محمد، عن عمرو بن عطيّة العوفي، عن أبي سعيد الخدري، قال: قال رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله): ما من عبد دخل عليه شهر رمضان فصام نهاره وكف شره وغض بصره واجتنب ما حرم الله عليه إلا أوجب الله له الجنة.

Muḥammad b. Mūsā b. al-Mutawakkil (rh) narrated to us, saying that ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn al-Saʿdābādī narrated to him among others, from Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Khālid, from Saʿīd b. Muḥammad, from ʿAmrū b. ʿAṭiyya al-ʿAwfī, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, who has reported that the Messenger of Allāh (sawa) has said: “There is not a servant (of Allāh) upon whom the month of Ramaḍān comes—so he fasts during the day, refrains from evil, keeps his vision (from that which he is not allowed to look at), and avoids what Allāh has prohibited to him—except that Allāh mandates upon him Paradise.”

Ḥadīth 40

حدثنا أبي رحمه الله، قال: حدثنا أحمد بن إدريس، عن محمد بن عبد الجبّار، عن صفوان بن يحيى، عن إسحاق بن عمار، عن المسمعي أنه سمع أبا عبد الله (عليه السلام) يوصي ولده ويقول: إذا دخل شهر رمضان فأجهدوا أنفسكم فإن فيه يقسم الأرزاق ويكتب الآجال وفيه يكتب وفد الله الذين يفدون وفيه ليلة العمل فيها خير من العمل في الف شهر.

My father (rh) narrated to us, saying that Aḥmad b. Idrīs narrated to him among others, from Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Jabbār, from Ṣafwān b. Yaḥyā, from Isḥāq b. ʿAmmār, from al-Masʿamī that he heard Abā ʿAbd Allāh (as) advising his children, saying thus: “When the month of Ramaḍān comes upon you, struggle with your own selves, for it is the month in which sustenances are distributed and terms (of life) are recorded, and those who visit Allāh have their visitation also recorded. And during this month is a Night wherein deeds done are fairer than those done in a thousand months.”

Ḥadīth 41

حدثنا علي بن أحمد بن موسى رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثني محمد بن أبي عبد الله الكوفي، قال: حدثنا أبو الخير صالح بن أبي حماد، قال: كتبت إلى أبي محمد الحسن بن علي بن محمد بن علي بن موسى بن جعفر بن محمد بن علي بن الحسين بن علي بن أبي طالب (عليهم السلام)، أسأله عن الغسل في ليالي شهر رمضان فكتب (عليه السلام): إن استطعت أن تغتسل ليلة سبعة عشرة وليلة تسعة عشرة وليلة إحدى وعشرين وليلة ثلاث وعشرين فافعل فإن فيها ترجى ليلة القدر فإن لم تقدر على إحيائها فلا يفوتنك إحياء ليلة ثلاث وعشرين تصلي فيها مائة ركعة تقرأ في كل ركعة الحمد مرة و﴿قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ﴾ عشر مرات.

ʿAlī b. Aḥmad b. Mūsā (ra) narrated to us, saying that Muḥammad b. Abī ʿAbd Allāh al-Kūfī narrated to him, saying that Abū’l-Khayr Ṣāliḥ b. Abī Ḥammād narrated to him among others, saying: “I wrote to Abī Muḥammad al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. Mūsā b. Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (as-p)—i.e., Imam al-ʿAskarī—asking him about the ritual bath in the nights of the month of Ramaḍān, so he (as) wrote back to me as thus: “If you can perform the ritual bath on the nights of the seventeenth, the nineteenth, the twenty-first, and the twenty-third, respectively, then do that, for in that is the establishment of hope for the Night of Power. If you cannot keep vigil during all of these nights, then do not let the opportunity to revive the twenty-third night escape you. Revive it by performing a hundred units of prayer, and recite in each unit (the chapter of) al-Ḥamd once and the chapter of ﴾Say: “He is Allāh, Who is One”﴿ ten times.”

Ḥadīth 42

حدثنا محمد بن إبراهيم بن إسحاق، قال: أخبرنا أحمد بن محمد الهمداني، عن علي بن الحسن بن علي بن فضّال، عن أبيه، عن أبي الحسن علي بن موسى الرضا (عليه السلام) أنه قال: إن لله تبارك وتعالى ملائكة موكلين بالصائمين والصائمات يمسحونهم بأجنحتهم ويسقطون عنهم ذنوبهم وإن لله تبارك وتعالى ملائكة قد وكلهم بالاستغفار للصائمين والصائمات لا يعلم عددهم الا الله عز وجل.

Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. Isḥāq narrated to us, saying that Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Hamadānī informed him among others, from ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Faḍḍāl, from his father, from Abī’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Mūsā al-Riḍā (as) that he said: “Verily, for Allāh (twt) are angels acting as agents for the men and women who fast, and they caress these people with their wings, thereby removing their sins from them. Also for Allāh (twt) are angels who have been assigned to seek forgiveness on behalf of fasting men and women, and no one knows the number of these angels except Allāh (azwj).”

Ḥadīth 43

وبهذا الإسناد، قال: قال لي أبو جعفر الباقر (عليه السلام): إذا كان آخر ليلة من شهر رمضان أعتق فيها مثل ما أعتق في جميعه.

And with the same chain of transmission, he—presumably al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Faḍḍāl—said: “Abū Jaʿfar al-Bāqir (as) has said to me: “On the last night of the month of Ramaḍān, as many people are given absolution (from Perdition) as in the totality of the rest of the month.”

Ḥadīth 44

حدثنا محمد بن موسى بن المتوكّل، قال: حدثنا علي بن الحسين السعدآبادي، عن أحمد بن أبي عبد الله البرقي، عن أبيه، عن خلف بن حماد الأشهري، عن أبي الحسين العبدي، عن الأعمش، عن عباية بن ربعي، عن عبد الله بن عبّاس، قال: قال النبي (صلى الله عليه وآله): من صام شهر رمضان إيماناً وإحتساباً غفر له ما تقدم من ذنبه وما تأخر ومن قام ليلة القدر إيماناً وإحتساباً غفر له ما تقدم من ذنبه وما تأخر.

Muḥammad b. Mūsā b. al-Mutawakkil narrated to us, saying that ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn al-Saʿdābādī narrated to him among others, from Aḥmad b. Abī ʿAbd Allāh al-Barqī, from his father, from Khalaf b. Ḥammād al-Ashʿarī, from Abī’l-Ḥusayn al-ʿAbdī, from al-Aʿmash, from ʿIbāya b. Ribʿī, from ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbbās, who said: “The Holy Prophet (sawa) has said: “Whoever fasts in the month of Ramaḍān, with faith in and having accounted for its reward, shall have forgiven whatever preceded him of his sins as well as whatever follows, and whoever stood (to perform supererogatory prayers) in the Night of Power, with faith in and having accounted for its reward, shall have forgiven whatever preceded him of his sins as well as whatever follows.”

Ḥadīth 45

حدثنا أبي رحمه الله، قال: حدثنا عبد الله بن جعفر، عن أحمد بن محمد، عن ابن أبي نجران، قال: سمعت أبا الحسن (عليه السلام) يقول: من عادى شيعتنا فقد عادانا ومن والاهم فقد والانا لأنهم منا خلقوا من طينتنا من أحبهم فهو منا ومن أبغضهم فليس منا شيعتنا ينظرون بنور الله ويتقلبون في رحمة الله ويفوزون بكرامة الله ما من أحد من شيعتنا يمرض إلا مرضنا لمرضه ولا يغتم إلا اغتممنا لغمه ولا يفرح إلا فرحنا لفرحه ولا يغيب عنا أحد من شيعتنا أين كان في شرق الأرض وغربها. ومن ترك من شيعتنا ديناً فهو علينا ومن ترك منهم مالا فالورثة شيعتنا الذين يقيمون الصلاة ويؤتون الزكاة ويحجون البيت الحرام ويصومون شهر رمضان ويوالون أهل البيت ويبرؤون من أعدائنا أولئك أهل الإيمان والتقى وأهل الورع والتقوى من رد عليهم فقد رد على الله ومن طعن عليهم فقد طعن على الله لأنهم عباد الله حقاً وأوليائه صدقاً والله إن أحدهم ليشفع في مثل ربيعة ومضر فيشفعه الله فيهم لكرامته على الله عز وجل.

My father (rh) narrated to us, saying that ʿAbd Allāh b. Jaʿfar (al-Ḥimyarī) narrated to him among others, from Aḥmad b. Muḥammad (b. ʿĪsā), from Ibn Abī Najrān, who said: “I heard Abā’l-Ḥasan (al-Riḍā, (as)) saying: “Whoever antagonises our Shīʿa has antagonised us, and whoever befriends our Shīʿa has befriended us. That is because they were created from us, from our clay, and so whoever loves them is from us, and whoever detests them is not. Our Shīʿa perceive with the light of Allāh, and reside in the mercy of Allāh, and triumph through the honours bestowed by Allāh. There is not a single one of our Shīʿa who becomes convalescent except that we become likewise for the sake of his illness, nor one who becomes despondent except that we feel likewise for the sake of his depression, nor one who becomes joyful except that we feel likewise for the sake of his happiness. There is not a single one of our Shīʿa who effectively disappears from our sight, whether they be in the Eastern reaches of the earth, or its West. None of our Shīʿa leave behind a debt to be paid except that its payment is upon us, nor one who leaves behind wealth except that it goes to its rightful inheritors. Our Shīʿa are those who perform the prayer and defray the alms-tax, embark on the pilgrimage to the Sacred House and fast in the month of Ramaḍān. They are partisans of the people of the House (of Muḥammad, (sawa)) and they disavow our enemies—it is these who are the people of belief and piety, active spiritual self-vigilance and righteousness. Whoever stands against them is standing against Allāh, and whoever vilifies them has vilified Allāh, because they are Allāh’s true servants and His sincere allies. By Allāh! Were a single one of them to intercede for as many people as there are in the tribes of Rabīʿa and Muḍar combined, Allāh will accept his intercession, for his honour is upon Allāh (azwj).”

Ḥadīth 46

حدثنا محمد بن بكران النقّاش، قال: حدثنا أحمد بن محمد الهمداني مولى بني هاشم، قال: أخبرنا علي بن الحسن بن علي بن فضّال، عن أبيه، عن أبي الحسن علي بن موسى الرضا (عليه السلام) أنه قال: من كان تائباً من ذنب فليتب إلى الله تبارك وتعالى منه في شهر رمضان فإنه شهر التوبة والإنابة وشهر المغفرة والرحمة وما من ليلة من لياليه ولله تبارك وتعالى فيها عتقاء من النار كلهم قد استوجبوا بذنوبهم النار.

Muḥammad b. Bakrān al-Naqqāsh narrated to us, saying that Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Hamadānī, the client of Banī Hāshim, narrated to him among others, saying that ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Faḍḍāl informed him among others, from his father, from Abī’l-Ḥasan, ʿAlī b. Mūsā al-Riḍā (as), that he said: “Whoever repents of his sins to Allāh (twt) shall have his repentance accepted in the month of Ramaḍān—for it is the month of repentance and absolution, and the month of forgiveness and mercy—and there is not a night from among its nights except that Allāh (twt) frees from the Fire all those due for emancipation who would have been damned to Hell for their sins.”

Ḥadīth 47

وبهذا الإسناد، قال: قال علي بن موسى الرضا (عليه السلام): من تصدق وقت افطاره على مسكين برغيف غفر الله له ذنبه وكتب له ثواب عتق رقبة من ولد إسماعيل.

And with the same chain of transmission, he—presumably al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Faḍḍāl—said: “It has been said by ʿAlī b. Mūsā al-Riḍā (as): “Whoever gives a beggar a loaf of bread in charity at the time when he is supposed to break his fast, Allāh will forgive him his sins and have recorded for him the reward of freeing a slave from among the descendants of Ismāʿīl.”

Ḥadīth 48

وبهذا الإسناد، قال: قال علي بن موسى الرضا (عليه السلام): من قال عند إفطاره: « اللهم لك صمنا بتوفيقك وعلى رزقك أفطرنا بأمرك فتقبله منا واغفر لنا إنك أنت الغفور الرحيم »، غفر الله ما ادخل على صومه من النقصان بذنوبه.

And with the same chain of transmission, he—presumably al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Faḍḍāl—said: “It has been said by ʿAlī b. Mūsā al-Riḍā (as): “Whoever recites the following supplication at the time of his breaking the fast—O’ Allāh, for You we fasted, through Your success, and with Your sustenance we broke our fast, by Your command. So accept it from us and forgive us, for indeed You are the Forgiving, the innately Merciful—Allāh will forgive him of what he missed out on in his fasting, as well as his sins.”

Ḥadīth 49

حدثنا محمد بن الحسن بن أحمد بن الوليد رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا الحسين بن الحسن بن أبان، عن الحسين بن سعيد، عن إبراهيم بن أبي البلاد، عن أبيه، رفعه إلى أمير المؤمنين (عليه السلام) أنه سئل عن اليوم المشكوك فيه فقال: أصوم يوماً من شعبان أحب إلى من أن أفطر يوماً من شهر رمضان.

Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. Aḥmad b. al-Walīd (ra) narrated to us, saying that al-Ḥusayn b. al-Ḥasan b. Abān narrated to him among others, from al-Ḥusayn b. Saʿīd, from Ibrāhīm b. Abī’l-Bilād, from his father, who raised it up to Amīr al-Muʾminīn (as). When the Imam was asked about a day (in the month of Ramaḍān) which is cast into doubt, he said: “I fast a day of Shaʿbān, liking that I extend it until I break the fast (at the end of) a day of the month of Ramaḍān.”

Ḥadīth 50

وبهذا الإسناد، عن الحسين بن سعيد، عن عثمان بن عيسى، عن سماعة بن مهران، قال: سألت أبا عبد الله (عليه السلام) عن رجل صام أول يوم من شهر رمضان وهو شاك لا يدري أمن شعبان أم من رمضان وكان من شهر رمضان فقال: هو يوم وفق لا قضاء له.

And with the same chain of transmission, from al-Ḥusayn b. Saʿīd, from ʿUthmān b. ʿĪsā, from Samāʿa b. Mihrān, who said: “I asked Abā ʿAbd Allāh (as) about the case of a man who fasts on the first day of the month of Ramaḍān while he is in doubt and does not know whether his doing so was of Shaʿbān or of Ramaḍān, even though it is actually the month of Ramaḍān, so he answered: “It is an accepted day, requiring no compensatory act for it.”

Ḥadīth 51

حدثنا أحمد بن هارون الفامي رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثني محمد بن عبد الله بن جعفر بن جامع، عن أبيه، عن هارون بن مسلم، عن مسعدة الربعي، عن الصادق جعفر بن محمد، عن أبيه، عن آبائه (عليهم السلام)، قال: خطب أمير المؤمنين (عليه السلام) في أول يوم من شهر رمضان في مسجد الكوفة فحمد الله بأفضل الحمد وأشرفها وأبلغها وأثنى عليه بأحسن الثناء وصلى على محمد نبيه (صلى الله عليه وآله) ثم قال: أيها الناس إن هذا الشهر شهر فضله الله على سائر الشهور كفضلنا أهل البيت على سائر الناس وهو شهر يفتح فيه أبواب السماء وأبواب الرحمة ويغلق فيه أبواب النيران وهو شهر يسمع فيه النداء ويستجاب فيه الدعاء ويرحم فيه البكاء وهو شهر فيه ليلة نزلت الملائكة فيها من السماء فتسلم على الصائمين والصائمات بإذن ربهم إلى مطلع الفجر وهي ليلة القدر فيها ولايتي قبل أن خلق آدم (عليه السلام) بألفي عام، صيام يومها أفضل من صيام الف شهر والعمل فيها أفضل من العمل في الف شهر، أيها الناس إن شموس شهر رمضان لتطلع على الصائمين والصائمات وإن أقماره ليطلع عليهم بالرحمة. وما من يوم وليلة من الشهر إلا والبر من الله تعالى يتناثر من السماء على هذه الأمة فمن ظفر من نثار الله بدرة كرم على الله يوم يلقاها وما كرم عبد على الله إلا جعل الجنة مثواه عباد الله إن شهركم ليس كالشهور أيامه أفضل الأيام ولياليه أفضل الليالي وساعاته أفضل الساعات هو شهر الشياطين فيه مغلولة محبوسة هو شهر يزيد الله فيه الأرزاق والآجال ويكتب فيه وفد بيته وهو شهر يقبل أهل الإيمان بالمغفرة والرضوان والروح والريحان ومرضات الملك الديان. أيها الصائم تدبر أمرك فإنك في شهرك هذا ضعيف ربك انظر كيف تكون في ليلك ونهارك وكيف تحفظ جوارحك عن معاصي ربك، انظر أن لا تكون بالليل نائماً وبالنهار غافلاً فينقضي شهرك وقد بقي عليك وزرك فتكون عند استيفاء الصائمين أجورهم من الخاسرين وعند فوزهم بكرامة مليكهم من المحرومين وعند سعادتهم بمجاورة ربهم من المطرودين. أيها الصائم إن طردت عن باب مليكك فأي باب تقصد وإن حرمك ربك فمن ذا الذي يرزقك وإن أهانك فمن ذا الذي يكرمك وإن أذلك فمن ذا الذي يعزك وإن خذلك فمن ذا الذي ينصرك وإن لم يقبلك في زمرة عبيده فإلى من ترجع بعبوديتك وإن لم يقلك عثرتك عمن ترجو لغفران ذنوبك وأن طالبك بحقه فماذا يكون حجتك. أيها الصائم تقرب إلى الله بتلاوة كتابه في ليلك ونهارك فإن كتاب الله شافع مشفع يوم القيامة لأهل تلاوته فيعلون درجات الجنة بقرائة آياته، بشر أيها الصائم فإنك في شهر صيامك فيه مفروض ونفسك فيه تسبيح ونومك فيه عبادة وطاعتك فيه مقبولة وذنوبك فيه مغفورة وأصواتك فيه مسموعة ومناجاتك فيه مرحومة ولقد سمعت حبيبي رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) يقول: إن لله تبارك وتعالى عند فطر كل ليلة من شهر رمضان عتقاء من النار لا يعلم عددهم إلا الله هو في علم الغيب عنده فإذا كان آخر ليلة منه أعتق فيها مثل ما أعتق في جميعه، فقام إليه رجل من همدان فقال: يا أمير المؤمنين زدنا مما حدثك به حبيبك في شهر رمضان، فقال: نعم، سمعت أخي رسول الله وابن عمي رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) يقول: من صام شهر رمضان فحفظ فيه نفسه من المحارم دخل الجنة، قال الهمداني: يا أمير المؤمنين زدنا مما حدثك به أخوك وابن عمك في شهر رمضان، قال: نعم، سمعت خليلي رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) يقول: من صام رمضان إيماناً وإحتساباً دخل الجنة، قال الهمداني: يا أمير المؤمنين زدنا مما حدثك به خليلك في هذا الشهر، فقال: نعم سمعت سيد الأولين والآخرين رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) يقول: من صام رمضان فلم يفطر في شئ من لياليه على حرام دخل الجنة، فقال الهمداني: يا أمير المؤمنين زدنا مما حدثك به سيد الأولين والآخرين في هذا الشهر، فقال: نعم، سمعت أفضل الأنبياء والمرسلين والملائكة المقربين يقول: إن سيد الوصيين يقتل في سيد الشهور، فقلت: يا رسول الله وما سيد الشهور ومن سيد الوصيين؟ قال: أما سيد الشهور فشهر رمضان، وأما سيد الوصيين فأنت يا علي! فقلت: يا رسول الله فإن ذلك لكائن؟ قال: إي وربي أنه ينبعث أشقى أمتي شقيق عاقر ناقة ثمود، ثم يضربك ضربة على فرقك تخضب منها لحيتك، فأخذ الناس بالبكاء والنحيب، فقطع (عليه السلام) خطبته ونزل.

Aḥmad b. Hārūn al-Fāmī (ra) narrated to us, saying that Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Jaʿfar b. Jāmiʿ narrated to him, from his father, from Hārūn b. Muslim, from Masʿada al-Ribʿī, from al-Ṣādiq, Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad, from his father, from his forefathers (as-p), who said that Amīr al-Muʾminīn (as) delivered a sermon on the first day of the month of Ramaḍān, in the Great Mosque of Kufa, in which he praised Allāh with the highest praise, honour and eloquence, and commended Him with the most beautiful words of commendation, and then heaped salutations upon His Prophet, Muḥammad (sawa), and then he said: “O’ people! Indeed, the month at present is one which Allāh has favoured over all the other months as He has favoured us, the People of the House, over all other people. It is the month in which the gates of the sky and the gates of mercy are opened up, and the gates of the pits of Hell are shut. It is the month in which exclamations are heard, supplications are answered, and mercy is had upon he who weeps profusely. It is the month in which there is a night wherein angels descend from the sky to bear tidings of peace to the fasting men and fasting women, by the permission of their Lord, until the breaking of dawn. It is the Night of Power, in which my Divine authority was established two thousand years before the creation of Ādam (as). Fasting during its corresponding day is more virtuous than fasting for a thousand months, and the deeds done therein are more virtuous than similar deeds done for a thousand months. O’ people! The suns of the month of Ramaḍān rise upon the fasting men and the fasting women, and its moons shine upon them with mercy. There is neither a night nor a day of this month except that righteousness from Allāh (taa) is showered from the sky upon this community. So whoever triumphs with as much as a pearl’s worth of Allāh’s scattering of blessings will be honoured by Allāh on the day he meets Him, and the honour of Allāh upon a servant is not but that He makes Paradise his abode of dwelling. O’ servants of Allāh, this month of yours is not like other months—its days are the most virtuous days, its nights the most virtuous nights, and its hours the most virtuous hours—and it is the month in which the devils are fettered and incarcerated. It is the month in which Allāh increases provisions and extends terms, and has recorded whoever pays court at His House. This is the month wherein the people of belief are accepted with forgiveness, satisfaction, comfort and pleasure, and the appeasements of the Sovereign Judge. O’ faster! Consider your affairs, for you are in your month, a guest of your Lord, so consider how you will behave by night and by day, and how you keep your limbs from disobeying your Lord. See that you are not asleep in the night or heedless during the day, for in that case, your month will pass while your burdens remain, such that when the fasters’ thirst for Divine reward is quenched, you shall be among the losers, and when they receive their success with honour from their King, you shall be among the deprived, and when they experience bliss in the presence of their Lord, you will be among the expelled. O’ faster! If you are banished from the door to your King, then from which door shall you seek Him? If He forbids you, who then will provide you with your sustenance? If He humiliates you, who then will commend you? And if that happens, who then will honour you? If He abandons you, who then will support you? If He does not accept you among His servants, then to whom will you take your servitude? If He does not overlook your indiscretion, then to whom shall you turn, seeking forgiveness for your sin? And if He demands His right with you, what will your argument then be? O’ faster! Seek proximity to Allāh through the recitation of His Book throughout your days and nights, for indeed the Book of Allāh is an able intercessor on the Day of Reckoning for those who recited it. Reading its verses will cause their ascendancy through the ranks of Heaven, with glad tidings thereof. O’ faster! You are indeed in a month in which your fasting is a duty, your breathing is a glorification (of Allāh), your sleeping is worship, your obedience (to Allāh) is accepted and your sins are forgiven, your voices are heard, and your whispered invocations are subject to Divine mercy. And I have heard my beloved, the Messenger of Allāh (sawa), saying: “Verily! For Allāh (twt), on every night of the month of Ramaḍān, at the time when fasts are completed, there are prospective detainees of Hellfire who Allāh frees—the number of whom is known to none but Allāh, included in His knowledge of the unseen—and when it is the last night of the month of Ramaḍān, He frees as many in that one night as He has done so in the rest of the month.” A man from Hamdan stood up and exclaimed: “O’ Amīr al-Muʾminīn! Narrate to us more of what your beloved has stated about the month of Ramaḍān!,” so the Imam obliged: “By all means! I have heard my brother, and the son of my paternal uncle, the Messenger of Allāh (sawa), saying: “Whoever fasts in the month of Ramaḍān while restraining his soul from that which is prohibited will be granted admittance into Paradise.” The man from Hamdan again exclaimed: “O’ Amīr al-Muʾminīn! Narrate to us more of what your brother, and the son of your paternal uncle, has stated about the month of Ramaḍān!,” so the Imam said: “By all means! I have heard my confidante, the Messenger of Allāh (sws), saying: “Whoever fasts in the month of Ramaḍān, with faith in and having accounted for its reward, shall be admitted into Paradise.” The Hamdanite said: “O’ Amīr al-Muʾminīn! Narrate to us more of what your confidante has stated about this month!,” so the Imam again obliged him thus: “By all means! I have heard the Liege of the first and the last generations, the Messenger of Allāh (sws), saying: “Whoever fasts in Ramaḍān, and does not break his fast—on any of its evenings—with something that is prohibited, he shall be admitted into Paradise.” The Hamdanite then exclaimed: “O’ Amīr al-Muʾminīn! Narrate to us more of what the Liege of the first and the last generations has stated about this month!,” so the Imam replied: “By all means! I have heard the most virtuous among the Prophets and the Messengers, and the spiritually proximate angels, saying: “Verily, the Liege of the Inheritors shall be murdered in the Liege of all the months.” I asked: “O’ Messenger of Allāh, what is the Liege of all the months, and who is the Liege of the Inheritors?,” so he replied: “As for the Liege of all the months, that would be the month of Ramaḍān, and as for the Liege of the Inheritors, that would be you, o’ ʿAlī!,” so I said: “O’ Messenger of Allāh! Will that really occur?,” so he said: “Aye! By my Lord, indeed the most wretched of my community, kindred spirit to he who hamstrung the she-camel of Thamūd, shall be raised up, and then strike you with a strike between your horns until the blood flows from your beard!” The people who heard this took up weeping and wailing, while ʿAlī (as) ended his sermon and descended (from the pulpit).

Ḥadīth 52

حدثنا الحسين بن أحمد بن إدريس، عن أبيه، عن عبد الله بن عامر، قال: حدثني أبي، عن الرضا (عليه السلام) أنه قال: إذا كان يوم القيامة زفت الشهور إلى الحشر يقدمها شهر رمضان عليه من كل زينة حسنة فهو بين الشهور يومئذ كالقمر بين الكواكب فيقول أهل الجمع بعضهم لبعض: وددنا لو عرفنا هذه الصور فينادي مناد من عند الله جل جلاله: يا معشر الخلائق هذه صور الشهور التي عدتها عند الله اثنا عشر شهراً في كتاب الله يوم خلق السماوات والأرض سيدها وأفضلها شهر رمضان أبرزتها لتعرفوا فضل شهري على سائر الشهور وليشفع للصائمين من عبادي وإمائي وأشفعه فيهم.

Al-Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad b. Idrīs narrated to us, from his father, from ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿĀmir, saying that his father narrated to him, from al-Riḍā (as), who said: “When it is the Day of Reckoning, the months shall be brought forth to the gathering, fronted by the month of Ramaḍān which is furnished with every beautiful goodness, and it will be situated between the months—on that Day—like the way in which the Moon is situated between the stars. The people of the throng will say to one another: “We would have loved it if we recognised these forms!,” so a caller from Allāh (jj) shall call: “O’ gathering of creatures! These forms are the months whose number with Allāh is twelve months in the Book of Allāh from the day He created the Heavens and the Earth—their liege and the most virtuous one of them is the month of Ramaḍān—My month, the virtue of which has been made manifest so that you may recognise it over the other months and so it will intercede for those who fasted from among My male and female servants, and I shall accept its intercession for them.”

Ḥadīth 53

حدثني محمد بن موسى رحمه الله، قال: حدثني عبد الله بن جعفر الحميري، عن محمد بن الحسين بن أبي الخطّاب، عن الحسن بن محبوب، عن هشام بن سالم، عن عمار الساباطي، عن أبي عبد الله (عليه السلام) قال: أول ما يسئل عنه العبد إذا وقف بين يدي الله عز وجل الصلوات المفروضات وعن الزكاة وعن الصيام المفروض وعن الحج وعن ولايتنا أهل البيت فإن أقر بولايتنا ثم مات عليها قبلت منه صلاته وصومه وزكاته وحجه فإن لم يقر بولايتنا بين يدي الله عز وجل لم يقبل منه شيئاً من أعماله.

Muḥammad b. Mūsā (rh) narrated to me, saying that ʿAbd Allāh b. Jaʿfar al-Ḥimyarī narrated to him, from Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn b. Abī’l-Khaṭṭāb, from al-Ḥasan b. Maḥbūb, from Hishām b. Sālim, from ʿAmmār al-Sābāṭī, from Abī ʿAbd Allāh (as), who said: “The first of what will be asked of the servant when he is brought before Allāh (azwj) is concerning his obligatory prayers, and about his defraying the alms-tax, and about the obligatory fasts, and the pilgrimage, and about our guardianship—for we are the People of the House—and so if he affirmed our guardianship and died upon it, then his prayers, his fasts, his defrayment of alms-tax, and his pilgrimages will be accepted. And if he had not affirmed our guardianship before Allāh (azwj), then not a single thing of his deeds will be accepted.”

Ḥadīth 54

حدثنا محمد بن الحسن بن أحمد بن الوليد رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا محمد بن الحسن الصفّار، عن محمد بن الحسين بن أبي الخطّاب، عن علي بن النعمان، عن عبد الله بن طلحة النهدي، عن جعفر بن محمد، عن أبيه، عن آبائه (عليهم السلام)، قال: قال رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله): أربعة لا ترد لهم دعوة وتفتح لها أبواب السماء وتصير إلى العرش: دعاء الوالد لولده، والمظلوم على من ظلمه، والمعتمر حتى يرجع، والصائم حتى يفطر.

Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. Aḥmad b. al-Walīd (ra) narrated to us, saying that Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Ṣaffār narrated to him among others, from Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn b. Abī’l-Khaṭṭāb, from ʿAlī b. al-Nuʿmān, from ʿAbd Allāh b. Ṭalḥa al-Nahdī, from Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad, from his father, from his forefathers, from ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (as-p), who said: “The Messenger of Allāh (sawa) has stated: “Four supplications are not thrown back but rather they open the gates of the sky and are lifted towards the Throne: the supplication of a parent for his child, and that of an oppressed person against the one who oppressed him, the one who made the lesser pilgrimage (al-ʿumra) until he returns (to his home), and the one who is fasting until he breaks his fast.”

Ḥadīth 55

حدثنا محمد بن الحسن بن أحمد بن الوليد رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا أحمد بن إدريس، قال: حدثنا محمد بن أحمد بن يحيى بن عمران الأشعري، عن إبراهيم بن إسحاق النهاوندي، عن محمد بن سليمان الديلمي، عن أبيه، قال: سمعت الصادق (عليه السلام) يقول: الشتاء ربيع المؤمن يطول فيه ليله فيستعين به على قيامه ويقصر فيه نهاره فيستعين به على صيامه.

Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. Aḥmad b. al-Walīd (ra) narrated to us, saying that Aḥmad b. Idrīs narrated to him among others, saying that Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Yaḥyā b. ʿImrān al-Ashʿarī narrated to him among others, from Ibrāhīm b. Isḥāq al-Nahāwandī, from Muḥammad b. Sulaymān al-Daylamī, from his father, who said: “I heard al-Ṣādiq (as) saying: “Winter is the spring of the believer—during it, it lengthens his nights so that he seeks assistance from it in standing for (supererogatory) prayer, and it cuts short his days so that he may seek assistance from it in fasting.”

Ḥadīth 56

حدثنا محمد بن موسى بن المتوكّل، قال: حدثنا علي بن الحسين السعدآبادي، عن أحمد بن أبي عبد الله، عن أبيه، عن محمد بن سنان، عن المفضّل بن عمر، عن الصادق جعفر بن محمد (عليه السلام)، قال: بني الاسلام على خمس دعائم: على الصلاة والزكاة والصوم والحج وولاية أمير المؤمنين والأئمة من ولده صلوات الله عليهم.

Muḥammad b. Mūsā b. al-Mutawakkil narrated to us, saying that ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn al-Saʿdābādī narrated to him among others, from Aḥmad b. Abī ʿAbd Allāh, from his father, from Muḥammad b. Sinān, from al-Mufaḍḍal b. ʿUmar, from al-Ṣādiq, Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad (as), who said: “Islam is built on five pillars—upon prayer, the obligatory alms-tax, fasting, the pilgrimage (to the Kaaba in Mecca) and the Divine authority of Amīr al-Muʾminīn and the Imams from among his progeny (saa-p).”

Ḥadīth 57

حدثنا صالح بن عيسى العجلي، قال: حدثنا محمد بن علي بن علي، قال: حدثنا محمد بن الصلت، قال: حدثنا محمد بن بكير، قال: حدثنا عبّاد بن عبّاد المهلبي، قال: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، عن هلال بن عبد الله، عن يعلي بن زيد بن جذعان، عن سعيد بن المسيّب، عن عبد الرحمن بن هبيرة، قال: كنا عند رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) يوماً، فقال: رأيت البارحة عجائب، قال: فقلنا: يا رسول الله وما رأيت حدثنا فداك أنفسنا وأهلونا وأولادنا؟ فقال: رأيت رجلاً من أمتي قد أتاه ملك الموت لقبض روحه فجائه بره بوالديه فمنعه منه، ورأيت رجلاً من أمتي عليه عذاب القبر فجائه وضوئه فمنعه منه، ورأيت رجلاً من أمتي قد احتوشته الشياطين فجاءه ذكر الله عز وجل فنجاه من بينهم، ورأيت رجلاً من أمتي قد احتوشته ملائكة العذاب فجائه صلاته فمنعته منهم، ورأيت رجلاً من أمتي يلهث عطشاً كلما ورد حوضاً منع فجائه صيام رمضان فسقاه وأرواه، ورأيت رجلاً من أمتي والنبيون حلقاً حلقاً كلما أبى حلقة طرد فجائه اغتساله من الجنابة فأخذه بيده فأجلسه إلى جنبي. ورأيت رجلاً من أمتي من بين يديه ظلمة ومن خلفه ظلمة وعن يمينه ظلمة وعن شماله ظلمة ومن تحته ظلمة مستنقعاً في الظلمة فجاءه حجه وعمرته فأخرجاه من الظلمة وأدخلاه النور، ورأيت رجلاً من أمتي يكلم المؤمنين فلا يكلمونه فجائه صلته الرحم، قال: يا معشر المؤمنين كلموه فإنه كان واصلاً لرحمه، فكلمه المؤمنون وصافحوه وكان معهم، ورأيت رجلاً من أمتي يتقي حر النار وشررها بيده ووجهه فجائته صدقته فكان ظلاً على رأسه وستراً على وجهه، ورأيت رجلاً من أمتي قد أخذته الزبانيّة من كل مكان فجائه أمره بالمعروف ونهيه عن المنكر فخلصاه من بينهم فجعلاه مع ملائكة الرحمة، ورأيت رجلاً من أمتي جاثياً على ركبتيه بينه وبين رحمة الله حجاب فجاءه حسن خلقه فأخذ بيده فأدخله في رحمة الله، ورأيت رجلاً من أمتي قائماً على شفير جهنم فجاءه رجائه من الله عز وجل فاستنقذه من ذلك، ورأيت رجلاً من أمتي قد هوى في النار فجائته دموعه التي بكى من خشية الله فاستخرجه من ذلك، ورأيت رجلاً من أمتي على الصراط يرتعد كما ترتعد السعفة في يوم ريح عاصف فجائه حسن ظنه بالله فسكن رعدته ومضى على الصراط، ورأيت رجلاً من أمتي على الصراط يرجف أحياناً ويحيد أحياناً ويتعلق أحياناً فجائته صلاته علي فأقامته على قدميه ومضى على الصراط، ورأيت رجلاً من أمتي انتهى إلى أبواب الجنة كلما انتهى إلى باب أغلق فجائته شهادة أن لا إله إلا الله صادقاً فافتتحت الأبواب ودخل الجنة. قال مصنف هذا الكتاب رضي الله عنه: ذكرت هذا الحديث في هذا الموضع لما فيه من ذكر صوم شهر رمضان.

Ṣāliḥ b. ʿĪsā al-ʿIjlī narrated to us, saying that Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. ʿAlī narrated to him among others, saying that Muḥammad b. al-Ṣalt narrated to him among others, saying that Muḥammad b. Bukayr narrated to him among others, saying that ʿAbbād b. ʿAbbād al-Muhallabī narrated to him among others, saying that Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to him among others, from Hilāl b. ʿAbd Allāh, from Yaʿlī b. Zayd b. Jadhʿān, from Saʿīd b. al-Musayyib, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Hubayra, who narrated: “One day, we were in the company of the Messenger of Allāh (sws), when he said: “I saw wondrous things last night (in my dreams).” Ibn Hubayra narrates: “We said: “O’ Messenger of Allāh, what did you see? Narrate it to us, may ourselves, our families, and our children be sacrificed for your sake!” The Prophet said: “I saw a man from my community to whom the Angel of Death came so that he may seize the man’s soul—but the man’s kindness to his parents also manifested—so ʿIzrāʾīl was forbidden from doing what he came to do. I saw a man from my community upon whom the punishment of the grave was pressing, but his ablutions (in life) came and forbade the torment from affecting him. I saw a man from my community who had been beleaguered by devils, but his remembrance of Allāh (azwj)—in life—came and saved him from being caught in their grasp. I saw a man from my community who had been encircled by the angels of punishment, but his prayers came and forbade those angels from carrying out that punishment. I saw a man from my community tormented by thirst. Every time he reached a basin, he was prevented from drinking from it, but his fasting in (the month of) Ramaḍān came and quenched his thirst, satisfying him. I saw a man from my community, while the Prophets were sitting in circles—every time he tried to come to a circle, he would be expelled—when his ritual baths to cleanse himself of impurity (in life) came and took him by the hand, seating him by my side. I saw a man from my community surrounded by darkness before him, behind him, to his right and to his left, and beneath him—he was dusted in darkness—but his performing the greater (al-ḥajj) and lesser (al-ʿumra) pilgrimages (in life) came and rescued him from that darkness and entered him into illumination. I saw a man from my community who would speak to the believers, but they would not respond in speech to him, so his maintaining relations with his near of kin (in life) came and exclaimed: “O’ throng of believers! Speak to him, for he maintained relations with his near of kin!,” so the believers responded in speech to him and shook his hand, and he became one with them. I saw a man from my community shielding himself from the heat of Hellfire and its embers with his face and hands, when came to him his giving of charity, thereby providing him with shade for his head and a cover for his face. I saw a man from my community who had been taken by the Zabāniyya—the angels tasked with tormenting sinners in Perdition—from every place, whence his enjoining of good and forbidding evil (in life) came and rescued him from between them, and placed him among the angels of mercy. I saw a man from my community who was like a corpse fallen prone, between whom and the mercy of Allāh there was a veil. However, his good manners (in life) came and took him by the hand, and admitted him into the mercy of Allāh. I saw a man from my community standing on the edge of Hell, but the hope he placed in Allāh (azwj) saved him from that. I saw a man from my community being windswept into Hell, but the tears he had shed out of fear of Allāh came and excised him from that. I saw a man from my community upon the Bridge, trembling as like a palm frond trembles in a stormy wind, whereupon his positive thinking about Allāh stabilised his footing and allowed him to cross the Bridge. I saw a man from my community upon the Bridge, swaying on occasion—sometimes crawling, sometimes just holding on—when came his salutations upon me (in life), thereby pulling him up on his feet and allowing him to cross the Bridge. I saw a man from my community who stopped at the gates of Paradise. Every gate he stopped at was shut to him, whereupon his sincere testimony that there is no other deity than Allāh came, thereby opening the gates and admitting him into Heaven.” The compiler of this book—Shaykh al-Ṣadūq (ra)—has said: “I included this narration in this section, for in it is a mention of fasting in the month of Ramaḍān.”

Ḥadīth 58

حدثنا أبي رحمه الله، قال: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، قال: حدثنا أحمد بن أبي عبد الله البرقي، عن أبيه، عن محمد بن زياد، عن عصام بن زيد، عن محمد بن المنكدر [المكندر]، عن جابر بن عبد الله الأنصاري، قال: إن رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) رقى المنبر، فقال: آمين إلى أن رقى الدرجة الأولى، ثم رقى الثانية فقال: آمين، ثم رقى الدرجة الثالثة فقال: آمين، فقالوا: يا رسول الله قلت: آمين ثلاث مرات؟ فقال: جائني جبرئيل (عليه السلام) فقال: شقي عبد ذكرت عنده فلم يصل عليك، فقلت: آمين، ثم قال: شقي عبد أدرك شهر رمضان فانسلخ عنه ولم يغفر له، فقلت: آمين، ثم قال: شقي عبد أدرك والديه أو أحدهما فلم يدخلاً الجنة، فقلت: آمين.

My father (rh) narrated to us, saying that Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to him among others, saying that Aḥmad b. Abi ʿAbd Allāh al-Barqī narrated to him among others, from Muḥammad b. Ziyād, from ʿIṣṣām b. Zayd, from Muḥammad b. al-Munkadir [or al-Mukandir], from Jābir b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Anṣārī, who narrated: “Verily, the Messenger of Allāh (sws) ascended the pulpit—on the first step—and said: “Āmīn,” then he climbed the second step and said: “Āmīn.” Then he climbed the third step and said: “Āmīn.” They said: “O’ Messenger of Allāh, you said “Āmīn” thrice?!,” so he replied: “Jibraʿīl (Gabriel, (as)) came to me and told me: “Woe betide he who mentions you without pronouncing salutations upon you,” so I replied: “Āmīn.” Then he said: “Woe betide he who comes to know the month of Ramaḍān, yet it passes him by without his earning forgiveness,” so I said: “Āmīn.” Then he said: “Woe betide he who knows both of his parents—or one of them—but does not earn admittance into Paradise through them,” so I said: “Āmīn.”

Ḥadīth 59

حدثنا محمد بن إبراهيم بن إسحاق، قال: حدثنا أحمد بن محمد الكوفي، عن علي بن الحسن بن علي بن فضّال، عن أبيه، عن أبي الحسن علي بن موسى الرضا (عليه السلام)، قال: من صام ثلاثة أيام من آخر شعبان ووصلها بشهر رمضان كتب الله صوم شهرين متتابعين، ومن صام رمضاناً إيماناً وإحتساباً خرج من الذنوب كيوم ولدته أمه. قال (عليه السلام): حدثني أبي، عن جده (عليهما السلام)، أن رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) قال: من أدرك شهر رمضان فلم يغفر له فأبعده الله، ومن أدرك ليلة القدر فلم يغفر له فأبعده الله، ومن ذكرت عنده فصلى علي ولم يغفر له فأبعده الله. قيل: يا رسول الله كيف يصلي عليك ولم يغفر له؟ فقال (عليه السلام): إن العبد وإذا صلى علي ولم يصل على آلي لفت تلك الصلاة وضرب بها وجهه، وإذا صلى علي وعلى آلي غفر له.

Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. Isḥāq narrated to us, saying that Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Kūfī narrated to him among others, from ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Faḍḍāl, from his father, from Abī’l-Ḥasan, ʿAlī b. Mūsā al-Riḍā (as), who said: “Whoever fasts for three days right at the end of Shaʿbān, thereby connecting it with (the fasts of) the month of Ramaḍān, Allāh shall have it recorded for him that he fasted for two whole consecutive months. And whoever fasts for a (whole instance of) Ramaḍān, having established faith in and having accounted for its reward, will receive absolution from sins as if it were the day his mother gave birth to him.” The Imam (as) continued: “My father narrated to me, from his grandfather (as-d), that the Messenger of Allāh (sawa) has said: “Whoever comes to know the month of Ramaḍān and yet is not forgiven, then may Allāh distance him! And whoever comes to know the Night of Power and yet is not forgiven, then may Allāh distance him! And whoever has heard mention of me and sends upon me salutations and yet is not forgiven, then may Allāh distance him!” Someone said to him: “How can somebody send salutations upon you, o’ Messenger of Allāh, and yet not be forgiven?,” so he (as) replied: “Such salutations are thrown back in the face of a servant (of Allāh) who sends them upon me but neglects to do the same upon the members of my House. Whoever sends salutations upon both me and my House, then he is forgiven.”

Ḥadīth 60

حدثنا علي بن أحمد بن علي بن عبد الله البرقي، قال: حدثني أبي، عن جده أحمد بن أبي عبد الله، عن أبيه، عن ابن فضّال، عن هارون بن مسلم، عن الصادق جعفر بن محمد، عن آبائه (عليهم السلام)، قال: قال رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله): شعبان شهري وشهر رمضان شهر الله تبارك وتعالى فمن صام من شهري يوماً وجبت له الجنة، ومن صام منه يومين كان من رفقاء النبيين والصديقين والشهداء والصالحين يوم القيامة، ومن صام ثلاثة أيام كان معي في درجتي يوم القيامة، ومن صام الشهر كله ووصله بشهر رمضان كان ذلك توبة له من كل ذنب صغيراً وكبيراً ولو من دم حرام.

ʿAlī b. Aḥmad b. ʿAlī b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Barqī narrated to us, saying that his father narrated to him, from his grandfather—Aḥmad b. Abī ʿAbd Allāh—from his father, from Ibn Faḍḍāl, from Hārūn b. Muslim, from al-Ṣādiq, Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad, from his forefathers (as-p), who have reported that the Messenger of Allāh (sawa) said: “Shaʿbān is my month, and the month of Ramaḍān is the month of Allāh (twt)! So whoever fasts a day of my month will have Paradise mandated upon him, and whoever fasts two days of it will be made one of the good friends of the Prophets, the speakers of truth, the martyrs, and the righteous on the Day of Reckoning, and whoever fasts three days of it will be with me in my station on the Day of Reckoning. And whoever fasts the whole month (of Shaʿbān) and connects it with the month of Ramaḍān, then that is repentance for every sin committed, whether it be venial or cardinal, and including, even, for blood shed unlawfully.”

Ḥadīth 61

حدثنا محمد بن إبراهيم بن إسحاق، قال: حدثنا عبد العزيز بن يحيى، قال: حدثنا محمد بن زكريّا، قال: حدثنا أحمد بن أبي عبد الله الكوفي، عن سليمان المروزي، عن الرضا علي بن موسى (عليه السلام) أنه قال: من صام شهر رمضان ايماناً واحتسباً غفرت له ذنوبه ما تقدم من ذنبه وما تأخر، وأن الصائم لا يجري عليه القلم حتى يفطر ما لم يأت بشئ فينقض صومه، وإن الحاج لا يجري عليه القلم حتى يرجع ما لم يأت بشئ يبطل حجه، وإن النائم لا يجري عليه القلم حتى ينتبه ما لم يكن يأت على حرام، وإن الصبي لا يجري عليه القلم حتى يبلغ، وإن المجاهد في سبيل الله لا يجري عليه القلم حتى يعود إلى منزله ما لم يأت بشئ يبطل جهاده، وإن المجنون لا يجري عليه القلم حتى يفيق وإن المريض لا يجري عليه القلم حتى يصح، ثم قال (عليه السلام): وإن سلعة الله رخيصة، فاشتروها قبل أن تغلو.

Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. Isḥāq narrated to us, saying that ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Yaḥyā narrated to him among others, saying that Muḥammad b. Zakariyyā narrated to him among others, saying that Aḥmad b. Abī ʿAbd Allāh al-Kūfī narrated to him among others, from Sulaymān al-Marwazī, from al-Riḍā, ʿAlī b. Mūsā (as), that he said: “Whoever fasts in the month of Ramaḍān, establishing faith in and having accounted for its reward, will have forgiven whatever preceded of his sins and whatever comes after of them. The pen will not run upon the fasting person until he breaks his fast, as long as he does not do anything to invalidate his fast. The pen will not run upon the pilgrim until he returns to his home, as long as he does not do anything to invalidate his pilgrimage. The pen will not run upon the sleeping person until he wakes up, as long as he does not do anything prohibited in his sleep. The pen will not run upon the youth until he reaches biological maturity. The pen will not run upon he who struggles in the way of Allāh until he turns back to his home, as long as he does not do anything to invalidate his struggling. Nor will the pen run upon the maniac until he regains sanity, nor will the pen run upon the convalescent individual until he recovers his health.” Then he (as) said: “Verily, the merchandise of Allāh is affordable, so purchase it before it becomes expensive!”

Ḥadīth 62

حدثنا علي بن أحمد بن عبد الله بن أحمد بن أبي عبد الله البرقي، قال: حدثني أبي، عن جده أحمد بن أبي عبد الله، عن أبيه، عن علي بن الحسين البرقي، قال: حدثني أبي، عن جده الحسن بن علي بن أبي طالب (عليه السلام)، قال: قال رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم): إن بين شعبان وشوّال شهر رمضان الذي أنزل فيه القرآن وهو شهر الله تعالى ذكره، وهو شهر البركة وهو شهر المغفرة وهو شهر الرحمة وهو شهر التوبة وهو شهر الإنابة وهو شهر قراءة القرآن وهو شهر الاستغفار وهو شهر الصيام وهو شهر الدعاء وهو شهر العبادة وهو شهر الطاعة وهو شهر العتق من النار والفوز بالجنة، من لم يغفر له في شهر رمضان لم يغفر له إلى قابل فأيكم متثق [يثق] ببلوغ شهر رمضان قابل، صوموه صيام من يرى أنه لا يصوم بعده أبدا، فكم من صائم له عاماً أول أمسى عامكم هذا في القبر مدفوناً؟ وأصبح في التراب وحيداً فريداً ينبهكم الله من رقدة الغافلين وغفر لنا ولكم يوم الدين!

ʿAlī b. Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Aḥmad b. Abī ʿAbd Allāh al-Barqī narrated to us, saying that his father narrated to him, from his grandfather—Aḥmad b. Abī ʿAbd Allāh—from his father, from ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn al-Barqī, saying that his father narrated to him, from his grandfather—al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (as)—who said: “The Messenger of Allāh (sws) has said: “Verily, between Shaʿbān and Shawwāl there is the month of Ramaḍān, in which the Qurʾān was revealed, and it is the month of Allāh, exalted be His mention. It is the month of blessing, and of forgiveness, and of mercy, and of repentance, and of turning to Allāh, and of reciting the Qurʾān, and of seeking forgiveness, and of fasting, and of supplication, and of worship, and of obedience (to Allāh), and of freedom from the Fire, and of success through attainment of Paradise. Whoever does not earn forgiveness in the month of Ramaḍān will not be forgiven until the next, so which of you can trust that you will make it to the next month of Ramaḍān? Fast! Perform fasting in it as if you see that you shall never fast after it. How many of those who fasted a year ago have been buried in their graves this year? Now they have become alone and abandoned in the dust. May Allāh awaken you from the slumber of the heedless, and pardon yourselves and ourselves on the Day of Reckoning!”

Ḥadīth 63

حدثنا محمد بن موسى بن المتوكّل رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا محمد بن أبي عبد الله الكوفي، عن سهل بن زياد، عن الحسن بن عبّاس بن جريش الرازي، عن أبي جعفر محمد بن علي بن موسى بن جعفر بن محمد بن علي بن الحسين بن علي بن أبي طالب (عليهم السلام)، عن أبيه، عن جده (عليهم السلام)، قال: قال الصادق (عليه السلام): سمعت أبي (عليه السلام) يقول: ما قرأ عبد إنا أنزلناه الف مرة يوم الاثنين وألف مرة يوم الخمسين الا خلق الله تبارك وتعالى منها ملكا يدعى العوي راحته أكبر من سبع سماوات وسبع أرضين، في موضع كل ذرة من جسده الف شعرة، في كل شعرة الف لسان ينطق كل لسان لقوة ألسنة الثقلين يستغفر لقاريها، ويضاعف الرب تعالى استغفار ألفي سنة الف مرة.

Muḥammad b. Mūsā b. al-Mutawakkil (ra) narrated to us, saying that Muḥammad b. Abī ʿAbd Allāh al-Kūfī narrated to him among others, from Sahl b. Ziyād, from al-Ḥasan b. ʿAbbās b. Juraysh al-Rāzī, from Abī Jaʿfar (al-Thānī)—Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. Mūsā b. Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (as-p)—from his father, from his grandfather (as-p)—i.e., Abū Ibrāhīm al-Kāẓim—who reported that al-Ṣādiq (as) said: “I heard my father saying: “There is not a servant (of Allah) who has read the chapter of ﴾Indeed, We sent it down﴿ a thousand times on Monday and a thousand times on Thursday except that Allāh (twt) has created—because of this recitation—an angel called “al-ʿAwī,” whose reach is greater than the seven skies and seven earths. Upon the place of every atom of his body are a thousand hairs, and in each hair a thousand tongues. Every tongue speaks with the vigour of the tongues of the two heavyweights—humans and jinn—thereby seeking forgiveness for the one who recited the chapter, and the Lord (taa) forgives for two thousand years, a thousand times over.”

Ḥadīth 64

وبهذا الإسناد، قال: قال أبو جعفر الباقر (عليه السلام): من أحيي ليلة القدر غفرت له ذنوبه ولو كانت عدد نجوم السماء ومثاقيل الجبال ومكاييل البحار.

And with the same chain of transmission, it is reported that Abū Jaʿfar al-Bāqir (as) said: “Whoever revives the Night of Power shall have his sins forgiven, even if their number were like the stars in the sky, the mass of the mountains, and the depths of the seas.”

Ḥadīth 65

وبهذا الإسناد، قال: قال أبو جعفر محمد بن علي الباقر (عليهما السلام): من قرأ إنا أنزلناه في حرم الله عز وجل الف مرة كتب الله عز وجل له أجر كل حجة أو عمرة كانت أو تكون، ومن قرأها في موقف عرفة مائة مرة كان له أجر المجاهدين إلى يوم القيامة، ومن قرأها في مسجد منى سبعين مرة كان له أجر كل صدقة تصدق بها أو يتصدق بها إلى يوم القيامة، ومن قرأها في جوف الكعبة كان له أجور الصديقين والشهداء إلى يوم القيامة، ومن قرأها في مسجد المدينة عند قبر رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) إحدى وعشرين مرة كان له أجور أهل الجنة إلى يوم القيامة، وكتب له مثل أجر النبيين.

And with the same chain of transmission, it has been narrated that Abū Jaʿfar al-Bāqir (as-d) has said: “Whoever recites the chapter of ﴾Indeed, We sent it down﴿ in the sanctum of Allāh (azwj) a thousand times, Allāh (azwj) will have it recorded for him the reward of every greater (ḥajj) and lesser (ʿumra) pilgrimage that has ever taken place or will ever take place. And whoever recites it at the location of ʿArafa a hundred times will have the reward of those who have struggled in the way of Allāh until the Day of Judgement. And whoever recites it seventy times inside the mosque of Minā will have the reward of every instance of charity given or that will be given until the Day of Judgement. Whoever recites it inside the cavity of the Kaaba will have the rewards of the truthful ones and martyrs until the Day of Judgement. And whoever recites it in the mosque of Medina at the location of the Messenger of Allāh’s (sws) grave twenty-one times will have the reward of all the people of Heaven until the Day of Judgement, and in addition, a reward like that of the Prophets shall be recorded for him.”

Ḥadīth 66

حدثنا أبي رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، عن محمد بن الحسين بن أبي الخطّاب، عن محمد بن عبد الله بن مهران، عن صالح بن عقبة، عن المفضّل بن عمر، قال: ذكر أبو عبد الله الصادق (عليه السلام) إنا أنزلناه فقال: من أبين فضلها على السور، قال: قلت: وأي شئ أفضلها، قال: نزلت ولاية أمير المؤمنين (عليه السلام) فيها، قلت: في ليلة القدر التي نرتجيها من رمضان، قال: هي ليلة قدرت السماوات والأرض فيها.

My father (ra) narrated to us, saying that Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to him among others, from Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn b. Abī’l-Khaṭṭāb, from Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Mihrān, from Ṣāliḥ b. ʿUqba, from al-Mufaḍḍal b. ʿUmar, who said: “Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ṣādiq (as) mentioned the chapter of ﴾Indeed, We sent it down﴿ and then said: “Is there anything (more) to clarify about its superiority in virtue over other chapters?” Al-Mufaḍḍal reports: “I said: “And what is that thing due to which it is superior in virtue?” So he replied: “The guardianship of Amīr al-Muʾminīn (as) was revealed in it.” I retorted: “In the Night of Power which we anticipate in (the month of) Ramaḍān?” He continued: “It is the night in which the heavens and the earth were determined.”

Ḥadīth 67

حدثنا أبي رضي الله عنه، عن سعد بن عبد الله، عن يعقوب بن يزيد، عن حماد بن عيسى، عن حريز بن عبد الله، عن زرارة بن أعين، عن أبي جعفر محمد (عليه السلام)، قال: بني الإسلام على خمسة أشياء: على الصلاة والزكاة والصوم والحج والولاية، وقال رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله): الصوم جنة من النار.

My father (ra) narrated to us, from Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allāh, from Yaʿqūb b. Yazīd, from Ḥammād b. ʿĪsā, from Ḥarīz b. ʿAbd Allāh, from Zurāra b. Aʿyan, from Abī Jaʿfar Muḥammad (al-Bāqir, (as)), who said: “Islam is built on five things—upon prayer, the obligatory alms-tax, fasting, the pilgrimage (to the Kaaba in Mecca), and Divine authority, and the Messenger of Allāh (sawa) has said: “Fasting is a shield against the Fire.”

Ḥadīth 68

حدثنا أبي رحمه الله، قال: حدثنا علي بن إبراهيم، عن أبيه، عن محمد بن أبي عمير، عن السلمان الأرمني، عن أبي عبد الله (عليه السلام)، قال: إذا رأى الصائم قوماً يأكلون أو رجلاً يأكل سبحت كل شعرة منه.

My father (rh) narrated to us, saying that ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm narrated to him among others, from his father, from Muḥammad b. Abī ʿUmayr, from al-Salmān al-Urmunī, from Abī ʿAbd Allāh (as), who said: “Were the fasting person to see a group of people eating food, or a single man doing so, the fasting person’s hairs—each and every one of them—would engage in glorification (of Allāh).”

Ḥadīth 69

حدثنا أبي رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا محمد بن يحيى العطّار، عن سهل بن زياد الآدمي، عن بكر بن صالح، عن محمد بن سنان، عن عمر بن يزيد، عن يونس بن ظبيان، قال: قال أبو عبد الله (عليه السلام): من صام لله عز وجل يوماً في شدة الحر فأصابه ظمأ وكل الله به الف ملك يمسحون بوجهه ويبشرونه حتى إذا أفطر قال الله عز وجل: ما أطيب ريحك وروحك، ملائكتي اشهدوا أني قد غفرت له.

My father (ra) narrated to us, saying that Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā al-ʿAṭṭār narrated to us, from Sahl b. Ziyād al-Ādamī, from Bakr b. Ṣāliḥ, from Muḥammad b. Sinān, from ʿUmar b. Yazīd, from Yūnus b. Ẓibyān, who reported that Abū ʿAbd Allāh (as) has said: “Whoever fasted for the sake of Allāh (azwj) for a day in severe heat that afflicts him with thirst, Allāh shall appoint a thousand angels to caress his face and give him glad tidings until he breaks his fast, which is when Allāh (azwj) will say: “How naturally sublime is your scent and your spirit! O’ My angels, bear witness that I have forgiven him!”

Ḥadīth 70

حدثنا أبي رحمه الله، قال: حدثنا علي بن إبراهيم، عن أبيه إبراهيم بن هاشم، عن محمد بن أبي عمير، عن سلمة بياع السابري، عن أبي الصباح الكناني، عن أبي عبد الله (عليه السلام) قال: للصائم فرحتان فرحة عند إفطاره وفرحة عند لقاء ربه عز وجل.

My father (rh) narrated to us, saying that ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm narrated to him among others, from his father—Ibrāhīm b. Hāshim—from Muḥammad b. Abī ʿUmayr, from Salama Bayāʿ al-Sābirī, from Abī’l-Ṣabāḥ al-Kinānī, from Abī ʿAbd Allāh (as), who said: “The fasting person enjoys two joys—one occurs at the time of his breaking his fast, and one at the time he meets his Lord (azwj).”

Ḥadīth 71

حدثنا أحمد بن محمد بن يحيى العطّار، قال: حدثنا أبي، عن سهل بن زياد الأزدي، عن منصور بن العبّاس، عن عمرو بن سعيد، عن الحسن بن صدقة، قال: قال أبو الحسن (عليه السلام): قيلوا فإن الله يطعم الصائم في منامه ويسقيه.

Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā al-ʿAṭṭār narrated to us, saying that my father narrated to him among others, from Sahl b. Ziyād al-Azdī, from Manṣūr b. al-ʿAbbās, from ʿAmrū b. Saʿīd, from al-Ḥasan b. Ṣadaqa, who reported that Abū’l-Ḥasan (as) has said: “Take a midday nap, for Allāh feeds and quenches the thirst of the fasting person while he is in his sleep.”

Ḥadīth 72

حدثنا محمد بن الحسن بن أحمد بن الوليد رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا محمد بن الحسن الصفّار، عن إبراهيم بن هاشم، عن محمد بن أبي عمير، عن بعض أصحابنا، عن أبي عبد الله (عليه السلام)، قال: أوحى الله تبارك وتعالى إلى موسى (عليه السلام): ما يمنعك من مناجاتي؟ فقال: يا رب أجلك عن المناجاة لخلوف فم الصائم، فأوحى الله تبارك وتعالى إليه: يا موسى لخلوف فم الصائم أطيب عندي من ريح المسك.

Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan b. Aḥmad b. al-Walīd (ra) narrated to us, saying that Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Ṣaffār narrated to him among others, from Ibrāhīm b. Hāshim, from Muḥammad b. Abī ʿUmayr, from some of our companions, from Abī ʿAbd Allāh (as), who said: “Allāh (twt) revealed to Mūsā (as) the following: “What forbids you from engaging in quiet invocations of Me?” So Mūsā replied: “O’ Lord! I revere You too highly to engage in quiet invocation, considering the odour emanating from the fasting person’s mouth.” So, Allāh (twt) revealed to him: “O’ Mūsā! The odour that emanates from the fasting person’s mouth is more naturally in accordance with My liking than the scent of musk!”

Ḥadīth 73

حدثنا أبي رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا علي بن إبراهيم بن هاشم، عن هارون بن مسلم، عن مسعدة، عن أبي عبد الله (عليه السلام) أن رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله)، قال: إن الله عز وجل وكل ملائكة بالدعاء للصائمين، وقال: أخبرني جبرئيل (عليه السلام) عن ربى تبارك وتعالى أنه قال: ما أمرت ملائكتي بالدعاء لأحد من خلقي إلا استجبت لهم فيه.

My father (ra) narrated to us, saying that ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm b. Hāshim narrated to him among others, from Hārūn b. Muslim, from Masʿada, from Abī ʿAbd Allāh (as), that the Messenger of Allāh (sawa) has said: “Indeed, Allāh (azwj) has appointed angels as trustees over the supplications of those who fast.” The Prophet has also said: “Jibraʿīl (as) has informed me that my Lord (twt) has said: “I have not commanded my angels (as trustees) upon the supplication of anyone of My creations but that such a person will receive an answer (due to the angels’ trusteeship).”

Ḥadīth 74

حدثنا الحسين بن أحمد بن إدريس، قال: حدثنا أبي، عن محمد بن حسان، عن محمد بن علي، عن علي بن النعمان، عن عبد الله بن طلحة، عن أبي عبد الله (عليه السلام)، قال: قال رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله): الصائم في عبادة وإن كان نائماً على فراشه ما لم يغتب مسلماً.

Al-Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad b. Idrīs narrated to us, saying that his father narrated to him among others, from Muḥammad b. Ḥasan, from Muḥammad b. ʿAlī, from ʿAlī b. al-Nuʿmān, from ʿAbd Allāh b. Ṭalḥa, from Abī ʿAbd Allāh (as), who has stated: “The Messenger of Allāh (sawa) has said: “The fasting person is engaged in worship even if he is sleeping on his mattress, so long as he does not backbite a Muslim.”

Ḥadīth 75

حدثنا أبي، قال: حدثنا علي بن إبراهيم بن هاشم، عن أبيه، عن محمد بن أبي عمير، عن سليم، عمن ذكره، عن أبي عبد الله (عليه السلام) في قول الله عز وجل: ﴿وَٱسْتَعِينُوا۟ بِٱلصَّبْرِ وَٱلصَّلَوٰةِ﴾ يعني الصيام والصلاة، وقال (عليه السلام): إذا نزلت الرجل النازلة أو الشدة فليصم، فإن الله عز وجل يقول: ﴿وَٱسْتَعِينُوا۟ بِٱلصَّبْرِ﴾ يعني الصيام.

My father narrated to us, saying that ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm b. Hāshim narrated to him among others, from his father, from Muḥammad b. Abī ʿUmayr, from Salīm, from whoever he mentioned, from Abī ʿAbd Allāh (as), concerning the saying of Allāh (azwj): ﴾And seek help through patience and prayer﴿ [2:45]: “It means fasting and prayer.” He (as) has also said: “Were a calamity or distress to afflict a man, he ought to fast, for Allāh (azwj) says: ﴾And seek help through patience﴿, which is a reference to fasting.”

Ḥadīth 76

حدثنا محمد بن علي ماجيلويه، قال: حدثنا محمد بن يحيى العطّار، عن أحمد بن محمد بن عيسى، عن الحسن بن علي بن فضّال، عن علي بن عبد العزيز، قال: قال لي أبو عبد الله (عليه السلام): ألا أخبرك بأصل الإسلام وفرعه وذروة الإسلام وسنامه، قلت: بلى، قال: أصله الصلاة وفرعه الزكاة وذروته وسنامه الجهاد في سبيل الله ألا أخبرك بأبواب الخير؟ الصوم جنة.

Muḥammad b. ʿAlī (b.) Mājīlawayh narrated to us, saying that Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā al-ʿAṭṭār narrated to him among others, from Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. ʿĪsā, from al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Faḍḍāl, from ʿAlī b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, who said: “Abū ʿAbd Allāh (as) said to me: “May I inform you—without doubt—of the pillar of Islam and its part, its peak and its pinnacle?,” so I replied: “Yes,” so he continued: “Its pillar is prayer and its part is the alms-tax, and its peak and pinnacle are struggle in the way of Allāh. May I inform you of the gates to that which is good? Fasting is a shield (from the Fire).”

Ḥadīth 77

حدثني أبي رحمه الله، قال: حدثنا علي بن إبراهيم بن هاشم، عن أبيه، عن الحسين بن يزيد، عن ابن أبي عمير، عن هشام بن الحكم، عن أبي عبد الله (عليه السلام)، عن آبائه عن أمير المؤمنين (عليهم السلام)، قال: قال رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله): لكل شئ زكاة وزكاة الأبدان الصيام.

My father (rh) narrated to me, saying that ʿAlī b. Ibrāhīm b. Hāshim narrated to him among others, from his father, from al-Ḥusayn b. Yazīd, from Ibn Abī ʿUmayr, from Hishām b. al-Ḥakam, from Abī ʿAbd Allāh (as), from his forefathers, from Amīr al-Muʾminīn (as-p), who said that the Messenger of Allāh (sawa) has stated: “For everything there is an alms-tax, and the alms-tax of the body is fasting.”

Ḥadīth 78

حدثنا أبي رحمه الله، قال: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، قال: حدثنا يعقوب بن يزيد، عن ابن أبي عمير، عن هشام بن الحكم، عن أبي عبد الله (عليه السلام)، قال: من لم يغفر له في شهر رمضان لم يغفر له إلى قابل الا أن يشهد عرفة.

My father (rh) narrated to us, saying that Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to him among others, saying that Yaʿqūb b. Yazīd narrated to him among others, from Ibn Abī ʿUmayr, from Hishām b. al-Ḥakam, from Abī ʿAbd Allāh (as), who said: “Whoever does not earn forgiveness in the (incumbent) month of Ramaḍān will not earn forgiveness until the next, unless he witnesses ʿArafa.” [1]

Ḥadīth 79

حدثنا الحسين بن أحمد بن إدريس، قال: حدثنا أبي، عن محمد بن عبد الجبّار، عن صفوان بن يحيى، عن إسحاق بن عمار، عن المسمعي أنه سمع أبا عبد الله (عليه السلام) يوصي ولده ويقول: إذا دخل شهر رمضان فاجهدوا أنفسكم فيه فإن فيه تقسيم الأرزاق ويثبت الآجال ويكتب وفد الله الذين يفدون إليه، وفيه ليلة العمل فيها خير من العمل في الف شهر.

Al-Ḥusayn b. Aḥmad b. Idrīs narrated to us, saying that his father narrated to him among others, from Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Jabbār, from Ṣafwān b. Yaḥyā, from Isḥāq b. ʿAmmār, from al-Masʿamī, that he heard Abā ʿAbd Allāh (as) enjoining his children thus: “When the month of Ramaḍān comes upon you, strive with your own selves, for it is the month in which sustenances are distributed and lifespans are recorded, and those who visit Allāh have their visitation also recorded, and during this month is a night wherein deeds done are better than those done in a thousand months.”

Ḥadīth 80

حدثنا محمد بن أحمد الشيباني، قال: حدثنا محمد بن أبي عبد الله الكوفي، قال: حدثنا البرمكي، قال: حدثنا عبد الله بن أحمد، قال: حدثنا محمد بن سنان، عن زياد بن المنذر، عن أبي جعفر محمد بن علي الباقر (عليه السلام)، قال: شهر رمضان شهر رمضان والصائمون فيه أضياف الله وأهل كرامته من دخل عليه شهر رمضان، فصام نهاره وقام ورداً من ليله واجتنب ما حرم الله عليه دخل الجنة بغير حساب.

Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Shaybānī narrated to us, saying that Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Kūfī narrated to him among others, saying that al-Barmakī narrated to him among others, saying that ʿAbd Allāh b. Aḥmad narrated to him among others, saying that Muḥammad b. Sinān narrated to him among others, from Ziyād b. al-Mundhir, from Abī Jaʿfar, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Bāqir (as), who has said: “The month of Ramaḍān is the month of Ramaḍān, wherein those who fast are feted by Allāh and are the people of His honour. Whoever has the month of Ramaḍān come to pass upon him and spends its days fasting and engages in prayer for part of its nights, and restrains himself from that which Allāh has prohibited to him, shall be admitted into Paradise without accountability.”

Ḥadīth 81

حدثنا أبي رضي الله عنه، قال: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، عن القاسم بن محمد الإصفهاني، عن سليمان بن داود المنقري، عن حفص بن غياث النخعي، قال: سمعت أبا عبد الله (عليه السلام) يقول: إن شهر رمضان لم يفرض الله صيامه على أحد من الأمم قبلنا، فقلت له: فقول الله عز وجل: ﴿يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ﴾ قال: إنما فرض الله صيام شهر رمضان على الأنبياء دون الأمم ففضل به هذه الأمة وجعل صيامه فرضاً على رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) وعلى أمته.

My father (ra) narrated to us, saying that Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to him among others, from al-Qāsim b. Muḥammad al-Iṣfahānī, from Sulaymān b. Dāwūd al-Munqarī, from Ḥafṣ b. Ghiyāth al-Nakhʿī, who narrates: “I heard Abā ʿAbd Allāh (as) saying: “Verily, fasting in the month of Ramaḍān has not been ordained by Allāh upon any of the communities before us.” I retorted: “And what of Allāh’s (azwj) saying: ﴾O’ believers! Fasting has been prescribed for you—as it was for those before you—so perhaps you will become mindful of Allāh﴿?” [2:183], so he replied: “Allāh ordained fasting in the month of Ramaḍān only upon the Prophets, and not their respective communities as well. Thus, Allāh has favoured this community with it and made fasting a duty upon the Messenger of Allāh (sawa) and his community.”

Ḥadīth 82

حدثنا الحسن بن محمد بن سعيد الهاشمي، قال: حدثنا فرات بن إبراهيم الكوفي، قال: حدثنا محمد بن أحمد بن علي الهمداني، قال: حدثنا الحسن علي بن المعروف بأبي علي الشامي، [1] قال: حدثنا عبد الله بن سعيد الزبرقاني، قال: حدثنا عبد الواحد بن غياث، قال: حدثنا عاصم بن سليمان، قال: حدثنا جويبر، عن الضحاك، عن أمير المؤمنين علي بن أبي طالب (عليه السلام)، قال: قال رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله): شعبان شهري وشهر رمضان شهر الله، فمن صام شهري كنت له شفيعاً يوم القيامة، ومن صام شهر الله عز وجل آنس الله وحشته في قبره ووصل وحدته وخرج من قبره مبيضاً وجهه وأخذ الكتاب بيمينه والخلد بيساره حتى يقف بين يدي ربه عز وجل، فيقول: عبدي، فيقول: لبيك سيدي، فيقول عز وجل: صمت لي؟ قال فيقول: نعم، يا سيدي، فيقول تبارك وتعالى: خذوا بيد عبدي حتى تأتوا به مني، فأوتي به فأقول له: صمت شهري؟ فيقول: نعم، فأقول: أنا أشفع لك اليوم، قال: فيقول الله تبارك وتعالى: أما حقوقي فقد تركتها لعبدي وأما حقوق خلقي فمن عفا عنه فعلي عوضه حتى يرضى. قال النبي (صلى الله عليه وآله): فآخذ بيده حتى انتهى به إلى الصراط فأجده دحضاً مزلقاً لا يثبت عليه أقدام الخاطئين، فآخذ بيده فيقول لي صاحب الصراط: من هذا يا رسول الله؟ فأقول: هذا فلان من أمتي كان قد صام بالدنيا شهري ابتغاء شفاعتي وصام شهر ربه ابتغاء وعده، فيجوز الصراط بعفو الله عز وجل حتى ينتهي إلى باب الجنتين فاستفتح له فيقول رضوان: لك أمرنا أن نفتح اليوم ولأمتك، قال: ثم قال أمير المؤمنين (عليه السلام): صوموا شهر رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) يكن لكم شفيعاً، وصوموا شهر الله تشربوا من الرحيق المختوم.

Al-Ḥasan b. Muḥammad b. Saʿīd al-Hāshimī narrated to us, saying that Furāt b. Ibrāhīm al-Kūfī narrated to him among others, saying that Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. ʿAlī al-Hamadānī narrated to him among others, saying that al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī—known as Abū ʿAlī al-Shāmī—narrated to him among others, saying that ʿAbd Allāh b. Saʿīd al-Zabarqānī narrated to him among others, saying that ʿAbd al-Wāḥid b. Ghiyāth narrated to him among others, saying that ʿĀṣim b. Sulaymān narrated to him among others, saying that Juwaybir narrated to him among others, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, from Amīr al-Muʾminīn, ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (as), who narrates: “The Messenger of Allāh (sawa) has said: “Shaʿbān is my month, and the month of Ramaḍān is the month of Allāh. So, for whomsoever fasts in my month, I shall serve as an intercessor for him on the Day of Reckoning. Whoever fasts in the month of Allāh (azwj), then Allāh shall relieve his loneliness in his grave, grant him companionship therein, and resurrect him from his grave, his face shining with white light, and give him the record of his deeds to take in his right hand, and eternal bliss in his left, until he is presented before his Lord (azwj), Who shall address him: “O’ My servant!,” so he will reply: “I am at Your call, o’ my Master!,” and Allāh will continue: “You fasted for My sake?,” so the man will respond: “Yes, o’ my Master!” So He (azwj) will say: “Take My servant by the hand until he is brought to Me,” so I shall bring him henceforth. I will say to him: “You fasted in my month?,” so he replies: “Yes,” and I will continue: “Today, I shall be your intercessor.” The Messenger of Allāh (sawa) then said: “Allāh (twt) will say: “Concerning My rights, I have devolved them to My servant. As for the rights of My creation, then whoever excuses him—this servant of Mine—then upon Me is compensating him until he is satisfied.” The Holy Prophet (sawa) then continued his narration: “I shall take him by the hand until I stop—with him—at the Bridge, finding it a slippery, treacherous passage whereupon the feet of the malefactors do not get to be firmly planted. I will, nevertheless, take him by the hand (and lead him there) until the Bridge-keeper says to me: “Who is this, o’ Messenger of Allāh?,” so I shall respond: “This is so-and-so, a person of my community. In worldly life, he had fasted in my month, seeking the fulfillment of my intercession, and he had also fasted in the month of his Lord, seeking the fulfillment of His promise.” Thus he shall be granted passage over the Bridge—with the extenuation of Allāh (azwj)—and we will carry on traveling until we stop before the gate to the two Paradisiacal realms. The gate will open for him, and Riḍwān shall say: “Our orders are that it will open, today, for you and for your community.” Amīr al-Muʾminīn (as) concluded: “I implore you to fast in the month of the Messenger of Allāh (sawa) so that he may serve as an intercessor for you, and to fast in the month of Allāh so that you may drink from the sealed nectar.”

Ḥadīth 83

حدثنا أبو الحسن علي بن عبد الله بن الأحمداني الأسواري الفقيه، قال: حدثنا مكّي بن أحمد بن سعدويه البروغي، قال: حدثنا أحمد بن عبد الله الفقيه، قال: حدثنا أبو عمرو يعقوب بن يوسف القزويني ببغداد، قال: أبو القاسم بن الحكم العري، قال: حدثنا هاشم بن الوليد، عن حماد بن سليمان السدوسي، قال: حدثنا شيخ يكنى أبا الحسن، عن الضحاك بن مزاحم، عن عبد الله بن عبّاس انه سمع رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) يقول: إن الجنة لتحبر وتزين من الحول إلى الحول لدخول شهر رمضان فإذا كانت أول ليلة من شهر رمضان هبت ريح من تحت العرش يقال لها: المتنزّه يصفق ورق الأشجار من الجنة وحلق المصاريع فيسمع من ذلك طنين لم يسمع صوت بأحسن منه فتتزين الحور العين تقف بين شرف الجنة فينادين هل من خاطب إلى الله عز وجل فنتزوجه، ثم قالت الملائكة: يا رضوان ما هذه الليلة؟ فيلبيهن بالتلبية. ثم يقول: يا خيرات حسان هذه أول ليلة من شهر رمضان فتحت الجنان للصائمين من أمة محمد، ويقول الله عز وجل: يا رضوان افتح أبواب الجنان! يا مالك أغلق أبواب الجحيم عن الصائمين القائمين من أمة محمد! يا جبرئيل اهبط إلى الأرض فصفد مردة الشياطين وغلهم بالأغلال ثم اقذفهم في لجج البحار حتى لا يفسدوا في أمة حبيبي صيامهم. قال: وينزل الله عز وجل ملائكته في كل ليلة في شهر رمضان ثلاث مرات يقول الله عز وجل: هل من سائل فاعطيه سؤله؟ هل من تائب فأتوب عليه؟ هل من مستغفر فأغفر له، من يقرض الملي غيره المعدم والوفي غير الظلوم؟ فإن الله تبارك وتعالى في كل يوم من شهر رمضان عند الافطار عتيق من النار، فإذا كانت ليلة الجمعة ويوم الجمعة أعتق في كل ساعة منهما ألف ألف عتيق من النار كلهم قتد استوجبوا العذاب فإذا كان في آخر يوم من شهر رمضان أعتق في ذلك اليوم بعدد ما أعتق من أول الشهر إلى آخره، فإذا كان ليلة القدر أمر الله عز وجل جبرئيل فهبط في كوكبة من الملائكة إلى الأرض ومعه لواء أخضر فيركز اللواء على ظهر الكعبة وله ستمائة جناح منها جناحان لا ينشرهما الا في ليلة القدر فينشرهما في تلك الليلة فيتجاوز المشرق والمغرب، ويبث جبرئيل (عليه السلام) الملائكة في هذه الأمة فيسلمون على كل قائم وقاعد ومصل وذاكر ويصافحونهم ويؤمنون على دعائهم حتى يطلع الفجر فإذا طلع الفجر نادى جبرئيل: يا معشر الملائكة، الرحيل الرحيل! فيقولون: يا جبرئيل ما صنع الله في حوائج المؤمنين من أمة محمد؟ فيقول: إن الله عز وجل قد نظر إليهم في هذه الليلة وغفر لهم إلا أربعة، فقيل يا رسول الله من هؤلاء الأربعة؟ قال: رجل مات مدمن خمر، وعاق والديه، وقاطع رحم، ومشاخن، قيل: يا رسول الله وما المشاخن؟ قال: هو المصارم. فإذا كانت ليلة الفطر سميت تلك الليلة ليلة الجائزة فإذا كانت غداة الفطرة بعث الله عز وجل الملائكة في كل البلاد فيهبطون إلى الأرض فيطوفون [على] إلى أفواه السكك فينادون بصوت يسمعه جميع من خلق الله إلا الجن والإنس، فيقولون: يا أمة محمد اخرجوا إلى ربكم رب كريم يعطي الجزيل ويغفر العظيم! فإذا برزوا إلى مصلاهم يقول الله عز وجل: يا ملائكتي ما جزاء الأجير إذا عمل عمله؟ فتقول الملائكة: إلهنا وسيدنا جزاؤه أن توفيه أجره، قال: فيقول عز وجل: فإني أشهدكم ملائكتي أني قد جعلت ثوابهم عن صيامهم شهر رمضان وقيامهم رضائي ومغفرتي، ويقول جل جلاله: يا عبادي سلوني فوعزتي وجلالي، لا تسألوني اليوم شيئاً في جمعكم لآخرتكم إلا أعطيتكم ولدنياكم إلا نظرت لكم وعزتي لأسترن عليكم عثراتكم ما رأيتموني وعزتي لا أخزينكم ولا أفضحنكم بين يدي أصحاب الخلود انصرفوا مغفوراً لكم قد أرضيتموني فرضيت عنكم، فتعرج الملائكة وتستبشر بما يعطي الله عز وجل هذه الأمة إذا أفطروا من شهر رمضان. قال أبو عمرو القزويني: سألني عن هذا الحديث الحسن بن عرفة العبدي سنة ست وأربعين، فحدثته به وكان الحسن يحدث عن رجل عن قاسم بن الحكم العرني.

The jurist, Abū’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Aḥmadānī al-Aswarī, [1] narrated to us, saying that Makkī b. Aḥmad b. Saʿdawayh al-Barwāghī narrated to him among others, saying that the jurist Aḥmad b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to him among others, saying that Abū ʿAmrū Yaʿqūb b. Yūsuf al-Qazwīnī narrated to him among others—in Baghdad—saying that Abū’l-Qāsim b. al-Ḥakam al-ʿArī narrated to him among others, saying that Hāshim b. al-Walīd narrated to him among others, from Ḥammād b. Sulaymān al-Sadūsī, saying that the elder teknonymised as “Abū’l-Ḥasan” narrated to him among others, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk b. Muzāḥim, from ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbbās, that he heard the Messenger of Allāh (sawa) saying: “Verily! From year to year, Paradise is beautified and adorned to welcome the month of Ramaḍān. So, when it is the first night of the month of Ramaḍān, a scent emanates from beneath the Throne—which is called “al-Mutanazzah”—rustling the leaves of the trees of Paradise and the rings of its gates on its way, thereby making a sound of which there is no other more melodious than it. The celestial maidens (ḥūr al-ʿayn) shall adorn themselves and stand between the honour of the soldiers, calling out: “Is there anybody who would declare before Allāh (azwj) that he may take us in marriage?,” and then the angels shall exclaim: “O’ Riḍwān, what is this night?,” while he is chanting in praise. Then he will respond: “O’ winsome goodnesses! This is the first night of the month of Ramaḍān. The gates of the Paradisiacal realms have been opened for those who fasted from among the community of Muḥammad.” Allāh (azwj) will then say: “O’ Riḍwān! Open the gates of the Heavenly realms! O’ Mālik! Shut the gates of Hell to those who fasted and stood upright for prayer from among the community of Muḥammad. O’ Jibraʿīl! Descend to the Earth and inter the rebellious devils, shackle them with strong shackles and then cast them into the depths of the seas so that they will not cause disorder in the community of My beloved while they are fasting.” The Messenger of Allāh (sawa) continued his narration: “And in every night of the month of Ramaḍān, Allāh (azwj) bids His angels descend thrice, while Allāh (azwj) calls: “Is there any asker of a favour that I may give him that which he has asked for? Is there any repenter seeking My acceptance of his repentance? Is there any seeker of forgiveness to whom I may grant forgiveness? Who would grant a loan to the Unassessably Wealthy One Who is never in need, and the Loyal without wrongdoing?” Verily, every day of the month of Ramaḍān—at the time of breaking the fast—Allāh (twt) grants certain people freedom from the Fire. On the night and day of Friday, in every hour, He frees a million souls from the Fire, all of whom were otherwise condemned to punishment. On the last day of the month of Ramaḍān, He will absolve as many souls from perdition on that day as He has throughout the entire month, from its first to its last day. When the Night of Power arrives, Allāh (azwj) shall command Jibraʿīl to descend to the Earth with a host of angels accompanying him and a green banner, which he shall plant atop the Kaaba. Jibraʿīl has six hundred wings, two of which he does not unfurl except on the Night of Power—so he will spread them on that night, extending over the East and the West. Jibraʿīl (as) will then bid the angels disperse among this community so that they greet every sitting, standing, praying, and remembering person, shake their hands, and say “Āmīn” to their supplications until the break of dawn. When dawn breaks, Jibraʿīl will call out: “O’ assembly of angels, depart! Depart!” They will say: “O’ Jibraʿīl! What has Allāh decreed concerning the needs of the believers of Muḥammad’s (sawa) community?” He shall reply: “Verily, Allāh (azwj) has looked upon them and forgiven them this night—all of them—except for four.” It was asked: “O’ Messenger of Allāh! Who are these four?” He replied: “A man who dies addicted to alcohol, one who is undutiful to his parents, one who severs ties of kinship, and one who harbours enmity.” It was asked: “O’ Messenger of Allāh, what is meant by one who harbours enmity?” He replied: “One who refuses to reconcile. The night before ʿĪd al-Fiṭr is called the Night of Reward. When morning arrives on the day of Fiṭr, Allāh (azwj) sends forth the angels to all lands, and they descend to the Earth, stopping at the entrances of alleyways and calling out with a voice heard by all creation—except humans and jinn—saying: “O’ community of Muḥammad, come forth to your Lord! A Noble Lord Who bestows generously and forgives greatly!” When the people emerge to proceed to their place of prayer, Allāh (azwj) shall say: “O’ My angels, what is the recompense of a worker who has fulfilled his task?” The angels shall reply: “O’ our God and Master! His recompense is that You, being true to Your promise, grant him his due reward.” He (azwj) shall say: “I bear witness before you, My angels, that I have made My pleasure and My forgiveness the reward for their fasting in the month of Ramaḍān and their standing in prayer.” Then He (jj) will say: “O’ My servants! Ask of Me, for by My Might and Majesty, you shall not ask Me for anything today—whether for your Hereafter or your worldly life—except that I shall grant it or take it into account for you. By My Might, I shall conceal your faults as long as you remain mindful of Me. By My Might, I shall neither disgrace nor expose you before the companions of eternity. Depart, for you are forgiven—you have pleased Me, and so I am pleased with you.” The angels will then ascend, rejoicing over what Allāh (azwj) has bestowed upon this community when they depart from the month of Ramaḍān.” Abū ʿAmrū al-Qazwīnī said: “Al-Ḥasan b. ʿUrfa al-ʿAbdī asked me about this narration in the year 46 AH, so I narrated it to him, and al-Ḥasan narrated it forth—from a certain man—from Qāsim b. al-Ḥakam al-ʿAranī.”

Ḥadīth 84

حدثنا أبو الحسن بن علي بن عبد الله بن أحمد الأسوري، قال: حدثنا مكّي بن أحمد بن سعدويه البردعي، قال: أخبرنا أبو إسحاق إبراهيم بن سححون، قال: حدثنا عمرو بن زبال أبو حفص، قال: خاتم بن عبيدة، قال: حدثنا علي بن حجر، قال: حدثنا يوسف بن زياد، عن همام بن يحيى، عن علي بن زيد بن جذعان، عن سعيد بن المسيّب، عن سلمان الفارسي، قال: خطبنا رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) في آخر يوم شعبان، فقال: أيها الناس فإنه قد أظلكم شهر عظيم شهر مبارك شهر فيه ليلة خير من الف شهر جعل الله صيامه فريضة من تقرب فيه بخصلة من خصال الخير كان كمن أدى فريضة فيما سواه، ومن أدى فيه فريضة كمن أدى سبعين فريضة فيما سواه [وهو] فهو شهر الصبر، والصبر ثوابه الجنة، وشهر المواساة وشهر يزاد فيه الرزق للمؤمنين، من فطر فيه صائماً كان مغفرة لذنوبه وعتق رقبة من النار من غير أن ينتقص من أجره شيئاً. قيل: يا رسول الله ليس كلنا يجد ما يفطر به الصائم، فقال (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم): يعطي الله هذا الثواب من فطر صائماً على قطرة من لبن أو شربة من ماء ومن أشبع صائماً سقاه الله من حوضه شربة لا يظمأ بعده حتى يدخل الجنة، وهو شهر أوله رحمة وأوسطه مغفرة وآخره عتق من النار، ومن خفف فيه عن مملوكه غفر الله له وأعتقه من النار، فاستكثروا فيه من أربع خصال خصلتين ترضون بهما ربكم وخصلتين لأغنى بكم عنهما فأما الخصلتان اللتان ترضون بهما ربكم فشهادة أن لا إله إلا الله وتستغفرونه، وأما اللتان لا غنى بكم عنهما فتسألون الله الجنة وتتعوذون به من النار.

Abū’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Aḥmad al-Aswarī narrated to us, saying that Makkī b. Aḥmad b. Saʿdawayh al-Bardaʿī narrated to him among others, saying that Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm b. Saḥḥūn [1] informed him among others, saying that ʿAmrū b. Zabāl—Abū Ḥafṣ—narrated to him among others, saying (that he narrated it from) Khātim b. ʿUbayda, who said that ʿAlī b. Ḥijr narrated it to him among others, saying that Yūsuf b. Ziyād narrated to him among others, from Hammām b. Yaḥyā, from ʿAlī b. Zayd b. Jadhʿān, from Saʿīd b. al-Musayyib, from Salmān al-Fārisī, who reported that the Messenger of Allāh (sws) delivered a sermon—to a congregation that included him—on the last day of Shaʿbān, saying: “O’ people! Verily, an exalted and blessed month has cast its shadow over you, a month in which there is a night greater than a thousand months. Allāh has made fasting in this month an obligation. Whoever seeks nearness (to Allāh) in it through a single virtue shall be as one who fulfilled an obligation in any other month, and whoever fulfills an obligation in this month shall be as one who fulfilled seventy obligations in any other. It is the month of patience—and patience’s reward is Paradise—and the month of compassion, and the month in which the sustenance of the believers is increased. Whoever provides a fasting person with something to break his fast, it shall be an expiation for his sins and a means of freeing his neck from the Fire, without diminishing anything from the reward of the fasting person.” It was said: “O’ Messenger of Allāh! Not all of us can find something with which to provide a fasting person to break his fast!” So he (sws) replied: “Allāh grants this reward to one who provides a fasting person with no more than a sip of milk or a drink of water. Whoever satiates a fasting person, Allāh shall quench his thirst with a drink from my Basin, after which he shall never thirst again until he enters Paradise. This is a month whose beginning is mercy, whose middle is forgiveness, and whose end is absolution from Perdition. Whoever lightens the burden of his servant in this month, Allāh shall forgive him and grant him freedom from the Fire. So, increase in four characteristics during this month: two by which you shall please your Lord, and two which you cannot do without. As for the two by which you shall please your Lord, they are the testimony that there is no god but Allāh and seeking His forgiveness; and as for the two which you cannot do without, they are your asking Allāh for Paradise and your seeking His protection from the Fire.”

Ḥadīth 85

وحدثنا بهذا الحديث أبو محمد عبد الله بن حامد [خالد]، قال: حدثنا حامد بن محمد الرقّاء الهروي، قال: حدثنا الحسين بن ابن إدريس، قال: حدثنا علي بن حجر، قال: حدثنا يوسف بن زياد، عن همام بن يحيى، عن علي بن زيد، عن سعيد بن المسيّب، عن سلمان، قال: خطبنا رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) في آخر شعبان وذكر الحديث مثله سواء.

Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh b. Ḥāmid [or Khālid] narrated to us this narration, saying that Ḥāmid b. Muḥammad al-Raqqā al-Harawī narrated to him among others, saying that al-Ḥusayn b. Ibn Idrīs [1] narrated to him among others, saying that ʿAlī b. Ḥijr narrated to him among others, saying that Yūsuf b. Ziyād narrated to him among others, from Hammām b. Yaḥyā, from ʿAlī b. Zayd, from Saʿīd b. al-Musayyib, from Salmān, who said: “The Messenger of Allāh (sws) delivered to us a sermon at the end of Shaʿbān…,” and he mentioned the narration like it, in the same manner.

Ḥadīth 86

حدثنا أبو الحسن محمد بن عمرو بن علي بن عبد الله البصري، قال: حدثنا أبو الفضل أحمد بن محمد بن حمدون النساي، قال: حدثنا محمد بن عبد الله الأزدي ببغداد وكان ثقة، قال: حدثنا الحسن بن عبد الوهاب بن عطا، قال: حدثنا الهيثم بن أبي الحداري، عن زيد العمي، عن أبي نضرة، عن جابر بن عبد الله، عن النبي (صلى الله عليه وآله)، قال: أعطيت أمتي في شهر رمضان خمساً لم يعطهن أمة نبي قبلي. أما واحدة—فإذا كان أول ليلة من شهر رمضان نظر الله إليه ومن نظر الله إليه لم يعذبه أبداً، وأما الثانية—فإن خلوف أفواههم حين يمسون أطيب عند الله من ريح المسك، وأما الثالثة—فإن الملائكة يستغفرون لهم في ليلهم ونهارهم، وأما الرابعة—فإن الله عز وجل يأمر جنته أن استعدي وتزيني لعبادي فيوشك أن يذهب عنهم نصب الدنيا وأذاها ويصيروا إلى جنتي وكرامتي، وأما الخامسة—فإذا كان آخر ليلة غفر لهم جميعاً. فقال رجل: ليلة القدر يا رسول الله؟ فقال: ألم تر إلى العمال إذا فرغوا من أعمالهم وفوا؟

Abū’l-Ḥasan Muḥammad b. ʿAmrū b. ʿAlī b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Baṣrī narrated to us, saying that Abū’l-Faḍl Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Ḥamdūn al-Nasāī narrated to him among others, saying that Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Azdī narrated to him among others, in Baghdad—and he was trustworthy—saying that al-Ḥasan b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb b. ʿAṭā narrated to him among others, saying that al-Haytham b. Abī’l-Ḥadārī narrated to him among others, from Zayd al-ʿAmī, from Abī Naḍra, from Jābir b. ʿAbd Allāh, from the Holy Prophet (sawa), who said: “My community has been given five things in the month of Ramaḍān which no community of any prophet before me has been given. The first—on the first night of the month of Ramaḍān, Allāh looks at a person—and whoever Allāh looks at, He does not punish. The second—the odour that emanates from deep in their mouths when they sleep is naturally sweeter in the view of Allāh than the scent of musk. The third—the angels will seek forgiveness for them on their behalf during their nights and days. The fourth—Allāh (azwj) will command His Garden, saying: “Prepare and adorn yourself for My servants, for they will be relieved of the burdens and hardship of the world imminently, and enter My Garden and Honour.” The fifth—on the last night, He forgives them all.” A man asked: “Do you speak of the Night of Power, o’ Messenger of Allāh?,” so he replied: “Do you not see that when workers complete their tasks, they are given their dues?”

Ḥadīth 87

حدثنا بهذا الحديث أبو محمد عبد الله بن حامد، قال: أخبرني إبراهيم بن محمد، عن الهيثم بن الحراري، عن زيد العمي، عن أبي نضرة، قال: سمعت جابر بن عبد الله يقول: قال رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) أعطيت أمتي في شهر رمضان خمساً لم يعطهن أمة نبي قبلي، وذكر الحديث مثله سواء.

Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh b. Ḥāmid narrated to us this narration, saying that Ibrāhīm b. Muḥammad informed him, from al-Haytham b. al-Ḥarārī, from Zayd al-ʿAmī, from Abī Naḍra, saying: “I heard Jābir b. ʿAbd Allāh saying: “The Messenger of Allāh (sawa) has said: “My community has been given five things in the month of Ramaḍān which no community of any prophet before me has been given,” and he mentioned the narration like it, in the same manner.”

Ḥadīth 88

حدثنا أبو الحسن محمد بن عمرو بن علي بن عبد الله البصري، قال: حدثنا أبو عمرو محمد بن خالد [جابر] البخاري، قال: حدثنا أبو سهل محمد بن عبد الله بن سهل المطوعي، قال: حدثنا سفيان بن عبد الحكيم، قال: أخبرني يحيى بن عبد الله السلمي، قال: حدثنا عبد الله بن المبارك، قال: حدثنا يحيى بن أيّوب، قال: حدثنا عبد الله بن قريط، عن عطا بن يسار، عن أبي سعيد الخدري، قال: سمعت رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) يقول: من صام شهر رمضان يعرف حدوده ويتحفظ كما ينبغي له أن يتحفظ فقد كفر ما كان قبله.

Abū’l-Ḥasan Muḥammad b. ʿAmrū b. ʿAlī b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Baṣrī narrated to us, saying that Abū ʿAmrū Muḥammad b. Khālid [or Jābir] al-Bukhārī narrated to him among others, saying that Abū Sahl Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Sahl al-Muṭawʿī narrated to him among others, saying that Sufyān b. ʿAbd al-Ḥakīm narrated to him among others, saying that Yaḥyā b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Salamī informed him, saying that ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Mubārak narrated to him among others, saying that Yaḥyā b. Ayyūb narrated to him among others, saying that ʿAbd Allāh b. Qurayṭ narrated to him among others, from ʿAṭā b. Yasār, from Abī Saʿīd al-Khudrī, who narrates: “I have heard the Messenger of Allāh (sawa) saying: “Whoever fasts in the month of Ramaḍān, having recognised its parameters—and maintains them as he should—then he has sufficiently expiated for whatever came before.”

Ḥadīth 89

حدثنا أبو الحسن محمد بن عمرو بن علي البصري، قال: حدثنا أبو عمرو محمد بن جابر البخاري، قال: حدثنا أبو سهل المطوعي، قال: حدثني سفيان بن عبد الحكيم، قال: حدثنا يحيى بن عبد الله السلمي، قال: حدثنا عبد الله بن المبرد، قال: حدثنا إسماعيل بن جعفر، عن محمد بن عمرو، عن أبي سلمة، عن أبي هريرة، قال: كان رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) يخطب، فقال في خطبته: أيها الناس من صام شهر رمضان في إنصاف وسكون وكف سمعه وبصره ولسانه من الكذب والحرام والغيبة والأذى قرب يوم القيامة حتى تمس ركبتيه ركبة إبراهيم خليل الرحمن (عليه السلام).

Abū’l-Ḥasan Muḥammad b. ʿAmrū b. ʿAlī al-Baṣrī narrated to us, saying that Abū ʿAmrū Muḥammad b. Jābir al-Bukhārī narrated to him among others, saying that Abū Sahl al-Muṭawʿī narrated to him among others, saying that Sufyān b. ʿAbd al-Ḥakīm narrated to him, saying that Yaḥyā b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Salamī narrated to him among others, saying that ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Mubrad narrated to him among others, saying that Ismāʿīl b. Jaʿfar narrated to him among others, from Muḥammad b. ʿAmrū, from Abī Salama, from Abī Hurayra, who has said: “The Messenger of Allāh (sawa) would deliver sermons (in his time), and in one such sermon he said the following: “O’ people! Whoever fasts in the month of Ramaḍān in equity and tranquility, and restrains his hearing, his sight, and his tongue from lying, backbiting, bringing harm, or other prohibited matters will be made proximate—on the Day of Reckoning—until his knees touch those of Ibrāhīm (as), the confidante of the Most Merciful.”

Ḥadīth 90

حدثنا أبو الحسن محمد بن عمرو بن علي البصري، قال: حدثنا أبو عمرو أحمد بن محمد البستري ببستر، قال: حدثنا أبو جعفر أحمد بن يحيى بن زهير العسري، قال: حدثنا أبو الخطّاب زياد بن يحيى الحساني، قال: حدثنا أبو غياث، قال: حدثنا جرير بن عبد الرحمن، عن أبي إسحاق، عن مسروق، عن عائشة أنها قالت: سمعت رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) يقول: ما من عبد أصبح صائماً إلا فتحت له أبواب السماء إلى أن توارى بالحجاب فإن صلى ركعة أو ركعتين تطوعاً أضائت له السماوات نوراً من أزواجه الحور العين، وقلن اللهم اقبضه إلينا فقد اشتقنا إلى رؤيته، وإن هلل أو سبح تلقاه سبعون الف ملك يكتبون إلى أن توارى بالحجاب.

Abū’l-Ḥasan Muḥammad b. ʿAmrū b. ʿAlī al-Baṣrī narrated to us, saying that Abū ʿAmrū Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Bastarī narrated to him among others in Bastar, [1] saying that Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad b. Yaḥyā b. Zuhayr al-ʿUsrī narrated to him among others, saying that Abū’l-Khaṭṭāb Ziyād b. Yaḥyā al-Ḥasanī narrated to him among others, saying that Abū Ghiyāth narrated to him among others, saying that Jarīr b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated to him among others, from Abī Isḥāq, from Masrūq, from ʿĀʾisha, who reported: “I heard the Messenger of Allāh (sws) saying: “There is not a servant who wakes up to fast except that the gates of the sky are opened up to him until he disappears behind the veil. Were he to perform a unit or two of voluntary prayers, the heavens would be brightly illuminated with a light from his wives from among the celestial maidens, who will say—O’ Allāh, bring him to us, for we long to see him!—and verily, every pronouncement of tahlīl (“There is no other god besides Allāh”) or tasbīḥ (“Glory be to Allāh”) is met with seventy thousand angels recording (the rewards thereof) until he disappears behind the veil.”

Ḥadīth 91

أخبرنا أبو الحسن محمد بن علي بن الشاه بمرو الرود، قال: حدثنا أبو بكر محمد بن إبراهيم بن عبد الله بن يعقوب الأنطاكي بأنطاكية، قال: حدثنا محمد بن أحمد بن أبي جعفر الحلبي بالصيصية، قال: حدثنا الصيعيّة الكبير بن المعاني، قال: حدثنا محمد بن مروان، قال: حدثنا داود بن أبي هند [عند]، عن أبي نضرة، عن عطا بن أبي رياح، عن أبي سعيد الخدري إن رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) قال ذات يوم: إن أبواب السماء لتفتح في أول ليلة من شهر رمضان ثم لا تغلق إلى آخر ليلة منه وليس من عبد يصلي في ليلة منها إلا كتب الله له بكل سجدة ألفا وخمسمائة حسنة وبنى له بيت في الجنة من ياقوتة حمراء لها سبعون الف باب منها قصر من ذهب موشحاً بياقوتة حمراء لها سبعون الف باب فإذا صام يوماً من شهر رمضان غفر له كل ذنب تقدم إلى ذلك اليوم من شهر رمضان وكان كفارة إلى مثلها من الحول وكان له بكل يوم يصومه من شهر رمضان قصر له الف باب من ذهب واستغفر له سبعون الف ملك يدعونه إلى أن توارى بالحجاب، وكان له بكل سجدة يسجدها من ليل أو نهار شجرة يسير فيها الراكب الف عام.

Abū’l-Ḥasan Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. al-Shāh informed us in Merv-on-the-River, [1] saying that Abū Bakr Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. ʿAbd Allāh b. Yaʿqūb al-Anṭākī narrated to him among others in Antioch, saying that Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Abī Jaʿfar al-Ḥalabī narrated to him among others in al-Ṣīṣiya, saying that al-Ṣīʿiyya al-Kabīr b. al-Maʿānī narrated to him among others, saying that Muḥammad b. Marwān narrated to him among others, saying that Dāwūd b. Abī Hind [or ʿInd], from Abī Naḍra, from ʿAṭā b. Abī Riyāḥ, from Abī Saʿīd al-Khudrī, that the Messenger of Allāh (sws) said on a given day: “Verily, the gates of the sky are opened on the first night of the month of Ramaḍān and then are not shut until its last night. There is not a servant who performs prayer on a night of this month but that Allāh has 1,500 good deeds recorded for every prostration he performs, and constructed for him a dwelling—made of red rubies—in Heaven, with seventy thousand doors. Within this house is a palace made of gold, decorated with a single red ruby, and this palace also has seventy thousand doors. So, whoever fasts a day in the month of Ramaḍān, forgiven are all the sins that preceded him unto that day of the month of Ramaḍān, and likewise an expiation for all those sins that will come after. For every day that he fasts in the month of Ramaḍān is a palace (in Paradise) with a thousand doors of solid gold, and seventy thousand angels seeking forgiveness for him on his behalf, calling to him until he disappears behind the veil. Also, for every prostration he performs in day or in night is a tree under whose branches a rider could travel for a thousand years.”

Ḥadīth 92

حدثنا أبو محمد عبدوس بن علي بن العبّاس الجرجاني، قال: حدثنا أبو القاسم عبيد الله بن يعقوب بن يوسف الرازي، قال: حدثنا محمد بن يونس الكريمي، قال: حدثنا أبو عامر، قال: حدثنا زمعة، عن سلمة، عن عكرمة، عن ابن عبّاس، قال: سمعت رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله) يقول: قال الله عز وجل: كل عمل ابن آدم هو له غير الصيام هو لي وأنا أجزي به والصيام جنة العبد المؤمن من النار يوم القيامة كما يقي أحدكم سلاحه في الدنيا ولخلوف فم الصائم أطيب عند الله عز وجل من ريح المسك وإن للصائم فرحتين حين يفطر فيطعم ويشرب وحين يلقاني فأدخله الجنة.

Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdūs b. ʿAlī b. al-ʿAbbās al-Jurjānī narrated to us, saying that Abū’l-Qāsim ʿUbayd Allāh b. Yaʿqūb b. Yūsuf al-Rāzī narrated to him among others, saying that Muḥammad b. Yūnus al-Karīmī narrated to him among others, saying that Abū ʿĀmir narrated to him among others, saying that Zamʿa narrated to him among others, from Salama, from ʿIkrima, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who reports: “I heard the Messenger of Allāh (sawa) saying: “Allāh (azwj) has said: “Other than fasting, which is for Me—and I shall reward him thus—every action of a son of Ādam is his, and fasting is the shield of the believing servant from the Fire, on the Day of Judgement, just as one of you protects himself with his weapon in the worldly life. For the odour that emanates from the mouth of the fasting person is more naturally good, in the sight of Allāh (azwj), than the scent of musk! And verily, for the fasting person, are two joys—one for when he breaks his fast, feeding himself and drinking, and the other for when he meets Me, and I admit him into Heaven.”