Merits of the Month of Rajab

Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Sinānī narrated to us, saying that Muḥammad b. Abī ʿAbd Allāh al-Kūfī narrated to him among others, saying that Mūsā b. ʿImrān al-Nakhʿī narrated to him among others, from his paternal uncle, al-Ḥusayn b. Yazīd, from ʿAlī b. Sālim, from his father, who reported: “I entered upon al-Ṣādiq, Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad عليهما السلام, in Rajab at a time when some days yet remained of this month. When the Imam noticed me, he asked me: “O’ Sālim, have you fasted any part of this month?” to which I responded: “No, by Allāh, o’ son of the Messenger of Allāh صلى الله عليه وعلى آله!” He then said: “Indeed, you have missed out on a reward whose extent none know but Allāh عز وجل, for Allāh has favoured this month, exalted its sanctity, and mandated its nobility upon those who fast during it.” Sālim reported that he then asked the Imam: “O’ son of the Messenger of Allāh, were I to fast any part of what remains of this month, would I avail myself of the reward due to those who devotedly fast during it?” Imam al-Ṣādiq said: “O’ Sālim, whoever fasts a day in the last part of this month will have it serve as a means of security for him from the severity of the pangs of death, the horror of the first sight, and the punishment of the grave. Whoever fasts two days in the last part of this month, it will be a means of passage for him on the Bridge (to Paradise). Whoever fasts three days in the last part of this month, it will be a means of security for him from the horrors and scourges of the Day of the Great Panic, and he will be granted freedom from the Fire.”