Chapter on the Virtue of the Month of Ramadan and the Prayers Within It in Addition to the Recommended Prayers Mentioned in the Other Months

From him, from al-Hasan, from Zurah, from Sama’ah, who said: Imam al-Sadiq عليه السلام said to me (Sama’ah): “Pray on the night of the twenty-first and the night of the twenty-third of the Month of Ramadan; in each of these nights, if you have the strength; one hundred rak’ahs, aside from the thirteen (regular) rak’ahs (meaning salat al layl). And stay awake during them until morning, for it is recommended that you remain in prayer, supplication, and humble entreaty, for it is hoped that one of them will be the Night of Qadr. And ‘The Night of Qadr is better than a thousand months.’” (Surah Al-Qadr 97:3). So I said to Imam عليه السلام: “How is it better than a thousand months?” Imam عليه السلام said: “The deeds performed during it are better than deeds performed over a thousand months, and in those (other) months there is no ‘Night of Qadr’. It occurs only in the Month of Ramadan. And (as Allah سبحانه وتعالى says): ‘In it every wise matter is decreed.’” (Surah Al-Qadr 97:4) I asked: “And how is that?” Imam عليه السلام said: “Whatever will occur in the year is decreed during it and in it is written those who will go as pilgrims to Mecca.”