28-48 Muhammad ibn Bakran an-Naqash, Ahmad ibn Al-Hassan al-Qattan, Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Mo’azi and Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Ishaq al-Mokattib narrated that Abul Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Sa’eed al-Hamdani - a servant of the Hashemites - quoted on the authority of Ali ibn Al-Hassan ibn Ali ibn Fadhdhal, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Abil Hassan Ali ibn Musa Al-Ridha صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم, on the authority of his father Musa ibn Ja’far صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم, on the authority of his father As-Sadiq Ja’far ibn Muhammad صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم, on the authority of his father Al-Baqir Muhammad ibn Ali صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم, on the authority of his father the Ornament of the Worshippers Ali ibn Al-Hussein صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم, onthe authority of his father the Master of the Martyrs Al-Hussein ibn Ali صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم, on the authority of his father the Master of the Trustees and the Commander of the Faithful Ali ibn Abi Talib صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم that one day God’s Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم delivered a sermon and said, “O people! The month of God (Ramadan) has come to you with blessings, mercy, and forgiveness. This is the noblest of the months to God. Its days are the noblest of the days. Its nights are the noblest of the nights. It is the month in which you have been invited to be God’s guests. You have been established as those honored by God in that month. Your breathing in this month is considered to be saying His Glorifications. Your sleeping in it is considered to be His worshipping, your deeds are accepted by Him and your supplications to Him are fulfilled.Then ask God - your Lord - with sincere intentions and pure hearts to help you succeed in His fasting and reciting His Book. Whoever gets deprived of God’s forgiveness in this great month is at a real loss. Remember the thirst and hunger of the Resurrection Day by experiencing this thirst and hunger. Give charity to your poor and indigent ones; respect your elder ones; be kind with the younger ones; visit your relations of kin; watch your tongues; lower your eyes from what your eyes are forbidden to look at; and guard your ears from what your ears are forbidden to hear. Be kind to other people’s orphans so that others may be kind to your orphans. Repent to God for your sins. Raise up your hands towards Him in supplication at the times of saying your prayers. These times are the noblest of the hours during which the Honorable the Exalted God looks upon His servants with Mercy, responds when they make supplications, replies to them when they call Him, and fulfills for them what they ask for. O people! You are tied down by your deeds. Free yourselves with your supplications. Your backs are overburdened with your sins. Make them lighter with extended prostrations. Know that the Sublime God has sworn by His Honor that He will not punish or throw into the Fire those who pray and fall in prostration on the Day on which all the people will rise for the Lord of the Worlds. O people! The reward with the Honorable the Exalted God for whoever provides for the breaking of the fast of any believer in this month is like that of freeing a slave and the forgiveness of all past sins.”The people said, “O Prophet of God! Not all of us are able to do that.” Then the Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم said, “Fend off the Fire from yourselves (byproviding for the breaking of the fast of any believer) - even if it be with a piece of a date. Fend off the Fire from yourselves (by providing for the breaking of the fast of any believer) even if it be with a sip of water. O people! Whoever is good-tempered in this month will easily cross the Bridge on the Day (of Judgment) on which one’s steps are not firm. God will ease the reckoning of whoever takes it easy with those whom his right hand possesses (slaves) in this month. On the Day one meets God, God will withhold His Wrath from whoever controls his wickedness in this month. On the Day one meets God, God will honor whoever honors an orphan in this month. On the Day one meets God, He will shower His Mercy upon whoever maintains family ties in this month. God will deprive from His Mercy whoever breaks off his family ties in this month. God will record freedom from the Fire for whoever says one unit of recommendable prayers. The reward of whoever performs an obligatory deed in this month is seventy times that of one who performs the same deed in other months. The Balance of Deeds of whoever sends blessings upon me a lot will be more positive on the (Judgement) Day on which the Balance of Deeds are negative. The reward of whoever recites one verse of the Quran in this month is like the reward of one who recites the whole Quran in other months. O people! The gates of Paradise are open in this month. Then ask your Lord not to close them on you. And the gates of the Fire are closed. Then ask your Lord not to open them up to you. Satan is chained down. Then ask your Lord not to let him overcome you.”The Commander of the Faithful (Imam Ali) صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم said, “I stood up and said, ‘O Prophet of God! What are the noblest of the deeds in this month?’ The Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم said, “O Abul Hassan صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم! The noblest of the deeds in this month are abstaining from what the Honorable the Exalted God has forbidden.” Then the Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم cried. I asked him صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم, “O Prophet of God! Why did you cry?” The Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم said, “O Ali! I cried for what will be done to you in this month. It is as if I see you while you are praying to your Lord and the nastiest of those of old or those of later times - as nasty as he who killed the she-camel of Thamud - will stand up and deliver such a blow to your head that your beard will get stained (with blood).” The Commander of the Faithful (Imam Ali) صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم said, “O Prophet of God! Will my religion remain intact in this situation?” The Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم said, “Your religion is intact.”The Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم then added, “O Ali! Whoever kills you has indeed killed me. Whoever despises you has indeed despised me. Whoever swears at you has indeed sworn at me. This is because you are from me and just like myself. Your spirit is from my spirit. Your clay is from my clay. In fact, the Blessed the Sublime God has created you and me, and appointed you and me. God chose me for the Prophethood and chose you for the Divine Leadership. Whoever denies your Divine Leadership has, in fact, denied my Prophethood. O Ali! You are my Trustee, the father of my grandchildren, the spouse of my daughter, the Caliph over my nation during and after my life. Your orders are just like my orders. Your admonishing is just like my admonishing. I swear by Him who has appointed me to the Prophethood and established me as the best of the people that you are God’s Proof for His creatures, the one entrusted with His Secrets and His Successor over His servants.”