Hadith #235

Arabic Text

English Translation

It was narrated from 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr (رضي الله عنهما) — via Waki', from al-A'mash, from Ibrahim al-Taymi, from his father — from 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr — that he said: 'the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to me: \"It has been told to me that you fast every day and recite [the Quran] every night.\" I said: \"Yes — though I intended only good.\" He said: \"Fast three days of every month.\" I said: \"I can bear more.\" He kept offering me concessions — bargaining back and forth — until he said: \"[Fast] one day and break [fast] one day.\" He said: \"And recite the Quran in a month.\" He kept going back and forth with me until he said: \"In seven days.\" And the Prophet ﷺ said: \"O 'Abdullah! Fast as Dawud (عليه السلام) fasted: alternate-day fasting.\" He [the narrator] said: \"Every deed has its eagerness [enthusiasm] and its slackening — so whoever's slackening falls into my Sunnah has been guided, and whoever's slackening falls into other than that is lost.\" And he said [to me]: \"Your wife has a right over you, your guest has a right over you, and your body has a right over you.\"'