Ramaḍān Reflections from the Salaf: Recitation, Fasting, and Spiritual Vigilance

Reports on Recitation and Devotion

It is reported from Wāṣil ibn Sulaym that he said: “I accompanied ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib (d. 136 AH / 753 CE) to Makkah, and he would complete the recitation of the Qurʾān every two nights.”

The Illumination of the Mosques in Ramaḍān

From Abū Isḥāq al-Hamdānī (d. 127 AH / 744 CE) who said: “ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (d. 40 AH / 661 CE) went out on the first night of the month of Ramaḍān while the lamps were lit and the Book of Allah ﷻ was being recited in the mosques. He said: ‘May Allah illuminate your grave, O ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (d. 23 AH / 644 CE), just as you illuminated the mosques of Allah with the Qurʾān.’”

Preparing for the Day of Reckoning

It is reported that al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays (al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays al-Tamīmī, d. c. 67 AH / 686 CE) intended to fast, and when he was spoken to about it he said: “I prepare it for a day whose evil is long,” then he recited: فَوَقَىٰهُمُ اللَّهُ شَرَّ ذَٰلِكَ الْيَوْمِ “So Allah will protect them from the evil of that Day.” (Qurʾān 76:11, translation adapted from Taqī al-Dīn al-Hilālī.)

Completion of the Qurʾān in Ramaḍān

From Mujāhid ibn Jabr (d. 104 AH / 722 CE), who said: “ʿAlī al-Azdī would complete the Qurʾān every night in Ramaḍān, and he would sleep between Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ.”

 It is reported from al-Aswad ibn Yazīd al-Nakhaʿī (d. 75 AH / 694 CE) that he would complete the Qurʾān every two nights in Ramaḍān, and he would sleep between Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ.

The Virtue of Dhikr in Ramaḍān

From Muḥammad ibn Muslim ibn Shihāb al-Zuhrī (d. 124 AH / 742 CE), who said: “One tasbīḥah in Ramaḍān is better than a thousand tasbīḥāt outside it.”

From Abū Bakr ibn Abī Maryam (d. 156 AH / 773 CE), who said: “I heard our elders say, when the month of Ramaḍān arrives: ‘A purifier has arrived.’ They would say: ‘Be generous in spending during it, for it is multiplied like spending in the path of Allah ﷻ.’ And they would say: ‘One tasbīḥah in it is better than a thousand outside it.’”

The True Meaning of Fasting

Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah (d. 81 AH / 700 CE) said: “Let your hearing, your sight, your tongue, and your body fast. Do not make the day of breaking the fast like the day of fasting, and beware of harming others.”

Reference

al-Ṭayyār, Aḥmad ibn Nāṣir. Ḥayāt al-Salaf bayna al-Qawl wa-al-ʿAmal, p. 193.