Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. Aḥmad al-Maʿādī narrated to us, saying that Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn narrated to him among others, saying that Abū’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b. ʿAlī narrated to him among others, saying that al-Ḥasan b. Muḥammad al-Marwī narrated to him among others, from his father, from Yaḥyā b. ʿAbbās, saying that ʿAlī b. ʿĀṣim al-Wāsiṭī narrated to him among others, saying that ʿAṭāʾ b. al-Sāʾib informed him, from Saʿīd b. Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: “The Messenger of Allāh صلى الله عليه وعلى آله stated, while the merits of Shaʿbān were being mentioned in his presence: “It is an honourable month, and it is my month. The angels who carry the Throne exalt it and recognise its right, and it is the month in which the sustenance of the believers is increased, and it is the month of action in which the value of good deeds is doubled seventy times over and that of misdeeds is demolished, sins are forgiven, and good deeds are accepted. The Compeller—Allāh جل جلاله—acclaims His servants for their fasting and their fast-keeping, their prayers and their standing in worship as He looks on at them, acclaiming them before the carriers of the Throne.” ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib عليه السلام stood up and exclaimed: “May my father and my mother be sacrificed for your sake, o’ Messenger of Allāh! I bid that you describe something of the merits of this month so that our desire to fast and stand in worship would be increased therein and our exertion of effort for the sake of the Glorious عز وجل!” The Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله obliged his request: “Whoever fasts the first day of Shaʿbān will have seventy good deeds recorded for him by Allāh, equivalent to the worship of a year. Whoever fasts two days of Shaʿbān will have his cardinal sins nullified. Whoever fasts three days of Shaʿbān will have seventy levels of the Paradisiacal realms raised for him, made of rubies and pearls. Whoever fasts four days of Shaʿbān will have his means of sustenance expanded. Whoever fasts five days of Shaʿbān will be beloved to the servants (of Allāh). Whoever fasts six days of Shaʿbān will have seventy kinds of affliction lifted from him. Whoever fasts seven days of Shaʿbān will be protected from Iblīs and his thralls for the rest of his worldly life. Whoever fasts eight days of Shaʿbān will not be excised from the world until his thirst is quenched with (a drink from) the Sanctified Basins. Whoever fasts nine days of Shaʿbān will be treated with kindness by Munkar and Nakīr when they interrogate him. Whoever fasts ten days of Shaʿbān will have the space of his grave widened by Allāh, by seventy cubits. Whoever fasts eleven days of Shaʿbān will have eleven rays of light shine upon his grave. Whoever fasts twelve days of Shaʿbān will have his grave be visited every day by seventy thousand angels until the Horn is blown (signifying the impending Resurrection). Whoever fasts thirteen days of Shaʿbān will have the angels of the Heavens and the Earth supplicating for his forgiveness. Whoever fasts fourteen days of Shaʿbān will have all the animals and beasts, even the fish in the seas, praying for his forgiveness. Whoever fasts fifteen days of Shaʿbān will receive a call from the Lord of Honour as thus: “I will not burn you in the Fire!” Whoever fasts sixteen days of Shaʿbān will be saved from (being thrown into) seventy lakes of fire. Whoever fasts seventeen days of Shaʿbān will have the gates of Perdition shut to him, all of them. Whoever fasts eighteen days of Shaʿbān will have the gates of Paradise opened for him, all of them. Whoever fasts nineteen days of Shaʿbān will be given seventy thousand palaces made of pearls and sapphires in Heaven. Whoever fasts twenty days of Shaʿbān will be given seventy thousand wives from among the celestial maidens (ḥūr al-ʿayn). Whoever fasts twenty-one days of Shaʿbān will be welcomed by the angels, who shall caress him with their wings. Whoever fasts twenty-two days of Shaʿbān will be dressed in seventy bolts of silk and brocade. Whoever fasts twenty-three days of Shaʿbān will be given a saddled beast made of light when (or at the time) he emerges from his grave, then he will fly upon it to Heaven. Whoever fasts twenty-four days of Shaʿbān will be exonerated from the mere association with hypocrisy. Whoever fasts twenty-five days of Shaʿbān will be allowed to intercede for seventy thousand monotheists. Whoever fasts twenty-six days of Shaʿbān will have Allāh write for him a means of easy passage over the Bridge. Whoever fasts twenty-seven days of Shaʿbān will have a warrant of exoneration from Perdition written for him. Whoever fasts twenty-eight days of Shaʿbān will arrive on the Day of Reckoning with a face radiating like the moon. Whoever fasts twenty-nine days of Shaʿbān will attain the greatest satisfaction of Allāh. Whoever fasts thirty days of Shaʿbān will be the recipient of an exclamation from Jibraʾīl at the foot of the Throne as thus: “O’ person, begin anew your deeds, for you have been wholly forgiven for whatever has passed and had been brought forth of your sins!” The Most Glorious—Allāh عز وجل—will then say: “Had your sins been as numerous, even, as the stars in the sky, the raindrops in downpours, the leaves of trees, and the grains of sand, and riches, and the days of the world, you have been forgiven for all of them, and that is not in the least difficult for Allāh after what you have fasted in the month of Shaʿbān!” Ibn ʿAbbās made one last comment: “And this is all for the month of Shaʿbān.”