Hadith #237

Arabic Text

English Translation

It was narrated from 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr (رضي الله عنهما) — via 'Abd al-Rahman, from Sufyan, from Habib ibn Abi Thabit, from Abu al-'Abbas, from 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr — that he said: 'I came to the Prophet ﷺ and he said: \"Have I not been informed that you pray all night and fast all day?\" I said: \"Yes, O Messenger of Allah.\" He said: \"If you do that, your eyes will become sunken and your soul will be exhausted. Whoever fasts perpetually has not fasted.\" He [the narrator] said: \"But how is it that fasting three days is [like] fasting the whole year?\" He said: \"Whoever does a good deed is [rewarded with] ten like it — so three days multiplied ten times is thirty — and [a month of] thirty is the whole year.\" He said: \"Then fast the fast of Dawud (عليه السلام) — for he was the most devoted worshipper of Allah: he fasted one day and broke fast one day and never fled when he met the enemy.\"'