The Merits of Shaʿbān

My father رضي الله عنه narrated to us, saying that Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to him among others, saying that Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. ʿĪsā and Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn b. Abī’l-Khaṭṭāb together narrated to him among others, from ʿUmar b. ʿĪsā, from Samāʿa b. Mihrān, who narrated: “I said to Abī ʿAbd Allāh عليه السلام: “Did any of your forefathers fast in the month of Shaʿbān?” So he replied: “The best of my forefathers was the Messenger of Allāh صلى الله عليه وعلى آله, and he used to fast therein.”