“The Messenger of Allah [saws] would fast until we said he would not break his fast and he would not fast until we said he does not want to fast. And he never fasted any month in full apart from Ramadan from the time he came to Al-Madinah.”[55]
“The Messenger of Allah [saws] used to fast until we said, ‘He will not break his fast.’ And he used not to fast until we said, ‘He will not fast.’ And I never saw the Messenger of Allah [saws] fast more in any month than in Sha’ban.”[56]
“I [Abu Salamah (ra)] asked ‘A’ishah [ra] about the fasting of the Messenger of Allah [saws] and she said, ‘He used to fast until we would say, ‘He has fasted,’ and he used not to fast until we would say, ‘He is not fasting.’ And I never saw him fast more in any month than he fasted in Sha’ban. He used to fast all of Sha’ban he used to fast all of Sha’ban but a little.’”[57]
“The Messenger of Allah [saws] did not fast more in any month of the year than he did in Sha’ban and he used to say, ‘Take on as much deeds as you are able to for Allah [swt] does not grow weary but you do.’ And he used to say, ‘The dearest of deeds to Allah [swt] are those that a person does regularly even if they are small.’”[58]
Not on or after the fifteenth of Sha’ban
“When half of Sha’ban remains then do not fast.”[59]
Unless you are a Prophet
“The Messenger of Allah [saws] did not fast any month more than Sha’ban; he used to fast [all of] it or most of it.”[60]
“The Messenger of Allah [saws] used to fast until we said, ‘He will not stop fasting,’ and he used not to fast until we said, ‘He will not fast.’ And he used to fast Sha’ban or most of Sha’ban.”[61]
“He [saws] used to fast all of Sha’ban until he joined it to Ramadan.”[62]
The virtue of fasting Sha’ban
“I [Usamah bin Zaid (ra)] said, ‘O Messenger of Allah [saws] I do not see you fasting any month as much as Sha’ban.’ He said, ‘That is a month to which people do not pay much attention between Rajab and Ramadan. It is a month in which the deeds are taken up to the Lord of the worlds, and I like that my deeds to be taken up when I am fasting.’”[63]
Fasting Mondays and Thursdays
“The Messenger of Allah [saws] used to be keen to fast on Mondays and Thursdays.”[64]