The Tradition of Umm Dāwūd and Her Deed of Worship

ʿAlī b. Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. ʿImrān al-Daqqāq 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 al-Nawfalī, saying that he heard Mālik b. Anas, the jurist, who said: “By Allāh! I have not seen with mine own eyes anyone more virtuous than Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad عليه السلام, ascetic and impeccable, worshipful and pious, and when I intended (to invite) him (to meet with me), he would graciously accept. One day, I asked him: “O’ son of the Messenger of Allāh, what is the reward for one who fasts a day of the month of Rajab, faithfully and having taken account?” He said—and by Allāh, when he spoke he was truthful: “My father narrated to me, from his father, from his grandfather, who has stated that the Messenger of Allāh صلى الله عليه وعلى آله said: “Whoever fasts a day of the month of Rajab, faithfully and having taken account, will be forgiven.” I then asked him: “O’ son of the Messenger of Allāh, what is the reward for one who fasts a day of the month of Shaʿbān, faithfully and having taken account?,” so Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad replied: “My father narrated to me, from his father, from his grandfather, who has stated that the Messenger of Allāh صلى الله عليه وعلى آله said: “Whoever fasts a day of the month of Shaʿbān, faithfully and having taken account, will be forgiven.”