The Merits of Shaʿbān

My (i.e., the author’s) father رحمه الله narrated to us, saying that Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to him, among others, saying that Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. ʿĪsā narrated to him, among others, from al-Ḥusayn b. Saʿīd, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Najrān, from Yūnus b. Yaʿqūb, who narrated: “I asked Abā ʿAbd Allāh—Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq عليه السلام—about fasting in Shaʿbān: “Had any of your forefathers fasted as such?,” so he replied: “The best of my forefathers, the Messenger of Allāh صلى الله عليه وعلى آله, had often fasted in Shaʿbān.”