Merits of the Month of Ramaḍān

Ṣāliḥ b. ʿĪsā al-ʿIjlī narrated to us, saying that Muḥammad b. ʿAlī b. ʿAlī narrated to him among others, saying that Muḥammad b. al-Ṣalt narrated to him among others, saying that Muḥammad b. Bukayr narrated to him among others, saying that ʿAbbād b. ʿAbbād al-Muhallabī narrated to him among others, saying that Saʿd b. ʿAbd Allāh narrated to him among others, from Hilāl b. ʿAbd Allāh, from Yaʿlī b. Zayd b. Jadhʿān, from Saʿīd b. al-Musayyib, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Hubayra, who narrated: “One day, we were in the company of the Messenger of Allāh صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم, when he said: “I saw wondrous things last night (in my dreams).” Ibn Hubayra narrates: “We said: “O’ Messenger of Allāh, what did you see? Narrate it to us, may ourselves, our families, and our children be sacrificed for your sake!” The Prophet said: “I saw a man from my community to whom the Angel of Death came so that he may seize the man’s soul—but the man’s kindness to his parents also manifested—so ʿIzrāʾīl was forbidden from doing what he came to do. I saw a man from my community upon whom the punishment of the grave was pressing, but his ablutions (in life) came and forbade the torment from affecting him. I saw a man from my community who had been beleaguered by devils, but his remembrance of Allāh عز وجل—in life—came and saved him from being caught in their grasp. I saw a man from my community who had been encircled by the angels of punishment, but his prayers came and forbade those angels from carrying out that punishment. I saw a man from my community tormented by thirst. Every time he reached a basin, he was prevented from drinking from it, but his fasting in (the month of) Ramaḍān came and quenched his thirst, satisfying him. I saw a man from my community, while the Prophets were sitting in circles—every time he tried to come to a circle, he would be expelled—when his ritual baths to cleanse himself of impurity (in life) came and took him by the hand, seating him by my side. I saw a man from my community surrounded by darkness before him, behind him, to his right and to his left, and beneath him—he was dusted in darkness—but his performing the greater (al-ḥajj) and lesser (al-ʿumra) pilgrimages (in life) came and rescued him from that darkness and entered him into illumination. I saw a man from my community who would speak to the believers, but they would not respond in speech to him, so his maintaining relations with his near of kin (in life) came and exclaimed: “O’ throng of believers! Speak to him, for he maintained relations with his near of kin!,” so the believers responded in speech to him and shook his hand, and he became one with them. I saw a man from my community shielding himself from the heat of Hellfire and its embers with his face and hands, when came to him his giving of charity, thereby providing him with shade for his head and a cover for his face. I saw a man from my community who had been taken by the Zabāniyya—the angels tasked with tormenting sinners in Perdition—from every place, whereupon his enjoining of good and forbidding evil (in life) came and rescued him from between them, and placed him among the angels of mercy. I saw a man from my community who was like a corpse fallen prone, between whom and the mercy of Allāh there was a veil. However, his good manners (in life) came and took him by the hand, and admitted him into the mercy of Allāh. I saw a man from my community standing on the edge of Hell, but the hope he placed in Allāh عز وجل saved him from that. I saw a man from my community being windswept into Hell, but the tears he had shed out of fear of Allāh came and excised him from that. I saw a man from my community upon the Bridge, trembling as like a palm frond trembles in a stormy wind, whereupon his positive thinking about Allāh stabilised his footing and allowed him to cross the Bridge. I saw a man from my community upon the Bridge, swaying on occasion—sometimes crawling, sometimes just holding on—when came his salutations upon me (in life), thereby pulling him up on his feet and allowing him to cross the Bridge. I saw a man from my community who stopped at the gates of Paradise. Every gate he stopped at was shut to him, whereupon his sincere testimony that there is no other deity than Allāh came, thereby opening the gates and admitting him into Heaven.” The compiler of this book—Shaykh al-Ṣadūq رضي الله عنه—has said: “I included this narration in this section, for in it is a mention of fasting in the month of Ramaḍān.”