The Prophet said, "While the angels talk amidst the clouds about things that are going to happen on earth, the devils hear a word of what they say and pour it in the ears of a soothsayer as one pours something in a bottle, and they add one hundred lies to that (one word).

The Prophet (saws) said: When one of you prays facing a sutrah he should keep close to it, and not let the devil interrupt his prayer.

Abu Dawud said: This tradition has also been narrated by Waqid b. Muhammad from Safwan from Muhammad b. Sahl on the authority of his father, or on the authority of Muhammad b. Sahl from the Prophet (saws). Some have narrated it from Nafi' b. Jubair on the authority of Sahl b. Sa'd. There is a variation in the chain of its narrators.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said to us: Seek it (laylat al-Qadr) on the seventeenth night of Ramadan, and on the twenty first night, and on the twenty-third night. He then kept silence.

While we were sitting with the Prophet in the mosque, a man came riding on a camel. He made his camel kneel down in the mosque, tied its foreleg and then said: "Who amongst you is Muhammad?" At that time the Prophet was sitting amongst us (his companions) leaning on his arm. We replied, "This white man reclining on his arm." The man then addressed him, "O Son of `Abdul Muttalib." The Prophet said, "I am here to answer your questions." The man said to the Prophet, "I want to ask you something and will be hard in questioning. So do not get angry." The Prophet said, "Ask whatever you want." The man said, "I ask you by your Lord, and the Lord of those who were before you, has Allah sent you as an Apostle to all the mankind?" The Prophet replied, "By Allah, yes." The man further said, "I ask you by Allah. Has Allah ordered you to offer five prayers in a day and night (24 hours).? He replied, "By Allah, Yes." The man further said, "I ask you by Allah! Has Allah ordered you to observe fasts during this month of the year (i.e. Ramadan)?" He replied, "By Allah, Yes." The man further said, "I ask you by Allah. Has Allah ordered you to take Zakat (obligatory charity) from our rich people and distribute it amongst our poor people?" The Prophet replied, "By Allah, yes." Thereupon that man said, "I have believed in all that with which you have been sent, and I have been sent by my people as a messenger, and I am Dimam bin Tha`laba from the brothers of Bani Sa`d bin Bakr."

I was an interpreter between the people and Ibn `Abbas. Once Ibn `Abbas said that a delegation of the tribe of `Abdul Qais came to the Prophet who asked them, "Who are the people (i.e. you)? (Or) who are the delegates?" They replied, "We are from the tribe of Rabi`a." Then the Prophet said to them, "Welcome, O people (or said, "O delegation (of `Abdul Qais).") Neither will you have disgrace nor will you regret." They said, "We have come to you from a distant place and there is the tribe of the infidels of Mudar intervening between you and us and we cannot come to you except in the sacred month. So please order us to do something good (religious deeds) and that we may also inform our people whom we have left behind (at home) and that we may enter Paradise (by acting on them.)" The Prophet ordered them to do four things, and forbade them from four things. He ordered them to believe in Allah Alone, the Honorable the Majestic and said to them, "Do you know what is meant by believing in Allah Alone?" They replied, "Allah and His Apostle know better." Thereupon the Prophet said, "(That means to testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is His Apostle, to offer prayers perfectly, to pay Zakat, to observe fasts during the month of Ramadan, (and) to pay Al-Khumus (one fifth of the booty to be given in Allah's cause)." Then he forbade them four things, namely Ad-Dubba.' Hantam, Muzaffat (and) An-Naqir or Muqaiyar (These were the names of pots in which alcoholic drinks used to be prepared). The Prophet further said, "Memorize them (these instructions) and tell them to the people whom you have left behind."

The Prophet (saws) said: Do not fast (for Ramadan) before the coming of the month until you sight the moon or complete the number (of thirty days); then fast until you sight the moon or complete the number (of thirty days).

Al-Hasan reported: Umar ibn al-Khattab gathered the people (in tarawih prayer) behind Ubayy ibn Ka'b (who led them). He used to lead them for twenty days (during Ramadan, and would not recite the supplication except in the second half of it (i.e. Ramadan). When the last ten days remained, he kept away from them, and prayed in his house. They used to say: Ubayy ran away.

Abu Dawud said: This tradition shows that whatever has been reported about the recitation of the supplication is not tenable. Moreover, these two traditions from Ubayy b. Ka'b indicate that another tradition which tells that the Prophet (saws) recited the supplication in the witr is weak.

The Prophet (saws) used to observe i'tikaf during the last ten days of Ramadan. One year he did not observe i'tikaf. When the next year came, he observed i'tikaf for twenty nights (i.e. days).

The Messenger of Allah (saws) prescribed this sadaqah as one sa' of dried dates or barley, or half a sa' of wheat payable by every freeman or slave, male or female, young or old. When Ali came (to Basrah), he found that price had come down. He said: Allah has given prosperity to you, so give one sa' of everything (as sadaqah).

The narrator Humayd said: Al-Hasan maintained that the sadaqah at the end of Ramadan was due on a person who fasted.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) used to count the days in Sha'ban in a manner he did not count any other month; then he fasted when he sighted the new moon of Ramadan; but if the weather was cloudy he counted thirty days and then fasted.

The Messenger of Allah (saws) said: If anyone has a riding beast which carries him to where he can get sufficient food, he should keep the fast of Ramadan wherever he is when it comes.

I asked or someone asked the Prophet (saws) about perpetual fasting. He replied: You have a duty to your family. Fast during Ramadan and the following month, and every Wednesday and Thursday. You will then have observed a perpetual fast.

The Prophet (saws) said: The end of Ramadan is on the day when you end it, and the 'Id (festival) of sacrifice is on the day when you sacrifice. The whole of Arafah is the place of staying, and the whole of Mina is the place of sacrifice, and all the roads of Mecca are the place of sacrifice, and the whole of Muzdalifah is the place of staying.

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said that he heard Said ibn al Musayyab being asked about making up days missed in Ramadan, and Said said, "What I like best is for days missed in Ramadan to be made up consecutively, and not separately."

Yahya said that he had heard Malik say, about some one who made up the days he had missed in Ramadan separately, that he did not have to repeat them. (What he had done) was enough for him. It was, however, preferable, if he did them consecutively.

Malik said, "Whoever eats or drinks thoughtlessly or forgetfully in Ramadan or during any other obligatory fast that he must do, has to fast another day in its place."

Yahya related to me from Malik that he had heard the people of knowledge telling people not to fast on the day in Shaban when there was doubt (about whether it was Shaban or Ramadan), if they intended by it the fast of Ramadan . They considered that whoever fasted on that day without having seen (the new moon) had to make up that day if it later became clear that it was part of Ramadan. They did not see any harm in voluntary fasting on that day.

Malik said, "This is what we do, and what I have seen the people of knowledge in our city doing."

When the last ten days of Ramadan came, the Prophet (saws) kept vigil and prayed during the whole night, and tied the wrapper tightly, and awakened his family (to pray during the night).

Abu Dawud said: The name of Abu Ya'fur is 'Abd al-Rahman b. 'Ubaid b. Nistas.