Musnad Ahmad

Abdullah bin Abi Musa says that once Madrak or Ibn Madrak sent me to Hazrat Aisha to ask some questions. When I reached her, she was performing the Duha prayer. I thought I would sit and wait until she finished, but people told me that she would take a long time. I asked the person who was to inform her how I should seek permission from her. He said, say like this: "Peace be upon you, O Prophet, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Peace be upon us and upon the righteous servants of Allah. Peace be upon the mothers of the believers." I greeted in this way and entered, and began to ask her questions. She said, "Are you the brother of 'Azib? What a good family that is." Then I asked her about continuous fasting "in which there is no breaking of the fast." She said that on the day of the Battle of Uhud, the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his companions fasted in this way, but the companions faced hardship, so as soon as they saw the moon, they informed the Prophet (peace be upon him). The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "If this month had continued further, I would have continued fasting." (He expressed disapproval of it.) Someone said, "But you yourself do this?" The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "I am not like you. I spend the night in such a state that my Lord feeds me and gives me drink." Then I asked her about the two rak'ahs after 'Asr. She said that once the Prophet (peace be upon him) sent a man to collect zakat. That zakat wealth reached the Prophet (peace be upon him) at the time of Dhuhr. The Prophet (peace be upon him) performed the Dhuhr prayer and remained busy distributing it until the 'Asr prayer. On that day, after 'Asr, the Prophet (peace be upon him) performed these two rak'ahs. Then she said, "Make Qiyam al-Layl obligatory upon yourself, because the Prophet (peace be upon him) never abandoned it. If he was ill, he would perform it sitting. I know that some of you say, 'I will perform the obligatory prayers, that is enough,' but how can that be?" Then I asked her about the day concerning which there is doubt whether it is Ramadan or not. She said, "In my view, fasting one day of Sha'ban is more beloved than missing one day of Ramadan." After that, I left from there and asked the same questions to Hazrat Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) and Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him), and each of them gave the same answer: "The pure wives of the Prophet (peace be upon him) know these matters better than us."