Al-Matalib al-'Aliyah 1006 — The virtue of Ramadan

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Salman al-Farisi (may Allah be pleased with him) that on the last day of Sha'ban the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) delivered a sermon to us, in which he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O people, a most blessed and great month has cast its shade over you. In it is a night that is better than a thousand months. Allah Almighty has made fasting in this month obligatory, and has made standing (in worship) in its nights voluntary (a meritorious act). Whoever performs any good deed in this month voluntarily will be like one who performed an obligatory act in other months, and whoever performs an obligatory act in it will be like one who performed seventy obligatory acts in other months. It is the month of patience, and the reward of patience is Paradise. It is the month of consoling and mutual sympathy, and it is the month in which the provision of the believer is blessed and increased. Whoever provides a fasting person with food to break his fast in it will have (the reward of) freeing a slave, and forgiveness of his sins." The Companions said: O Messenger of Allah, not every one of us has the means to provide a fasting person with food to break his fast. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Allah Almighty grants this reward even to the one who gives a fasting person his iftar with a sip of diluted milk, a single date or a sip of water. And whoever feeds a fasting person to his fill, his sins will be forgiven, and Allah Almighty will give him a drink from my Pond (al-Kawthar) after which he will never feel thirst until he enters Paradise; and he will also receive a reward equal to that of the fasting person, without the fasting person's own reward being diminished in the least. It is the month whose first part is mercy, whose middle part is forgiveness, and whose last part is freedom from the Fire of Hell. And whoever lightens the work of his slave (or subordinate) in this month, Allah Almighty will free him from Hell."
Explanation: The contents of this blessed hadith are of great importance in the chapter on the virtues of Ramadan, and they encourage the believer towards good deeds.