The Merits of Shaʿbān

My father رحمه الله narrated to me, saying that Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to him, among others, from ʿAlī b. Abī Sulaymān b. al-Zarabī [or al-Farawī], who said that al-Ḥasan b. Maḥbūb narrated to him, among others, from ʿAbd Allāh b. Marḥūm al-Azdī, who said: “I heard Abā ʿAbd Allāh عليه السلام saying: “Whoever fasts the first day of Shaʿbān will have Paradise mandated for him, absolutely. Whoever fasts two days will enjoy the benefit of Allāh’s vigilance over him every day and night in the worldly realm. His vigilance over the faster will be extended to when the fasting person comes to reside in Heaven. Whoever fasts three days will be able to visit Allāh on His Throne every day in Paradise.” Abū Jaʿfar, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī [i.e. Shaykh al-Ṣadūq, Ibn Bābuwayh al-Qummī], the compiler of this book, may Allāh be pleased with him and may he be pleased with Him, has said: “What is meant by the visitation of Allāh عز وجل is the visitation of the embodied arguments of Allāh تعالى—i.e., the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله and the immaculate, infallible Imams صلوات الله عليهم—for whoever visits them has visited Allāh. Whoever has a means in Paradise by which he may be raised to the degree of the Holy Prophet and the Imams صلوات الله عليهم such that he can visit them, then indeed his means is exalted, for visitation of them is visitation of Allāh, just as obedience to them is obedience to Allāh, disobedience to them is disobedience to Allāh, and following them is following Allāh. That does not mean, however, that what the anthropomorphists claim is correct, for exalted is Allāh over what they say by immeasurable greatness.”