Fasting is a shield as long as a man does not tear it

It is narrated from Iyad bin Ghutayf that we went to visit Sayyiduna Abu Ubaydah bin al-Jarrah (may Allah be pleased with him) in his illness. His wife Tuhayfah was sitting at his head, while he was lying with his face turned towards the wall. We asked her: "How did Abu Ubaydah spend the night?" She said: "He spent the night earning reward." Then Abu Ubaydah turned towards us and said: "I did not spend the night earning reward." Then he said: "Why did you not ask me about what I said?" We said: "What you said seemed strange to us (so we remained silent)." Then he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "Whoever spends something in the way of Allah, its reward is seven hundredfold; and whoever spends on himself or his family, or visits a sick person, or removes something harmful (from the road), then a good deed is rewarded tenfold. And fasting is a shield (against sins and the Fire) as long as it is not torn. And whoever Allah afflicts with some affliction in his body, it becomes a means of his sins falling away."

Yahya bin Sa'id says that Sayyiduna Abu Ubaydah (may Allah be pleased with him) passed away at the age of fifty-eight.

It is narrated from Sa'id bin Abd al-Aziz that Sayyiduna Abu Ubaydah bin al-Jarrah (may Allah be pleased with him) passed away in the year 18 AH in Jordan, and Sayyiduna Mu'adh bin Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) led his funeral prayer.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) states that Sayyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I never desired leadership (office), nor did I like it, except on one occasion, when some people of Najran came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and complained about their governor. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I will certainly send to you (as governor) a man who is trustworthy." Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says: So I began putting myself forward, hoping that he (peace and blessings be upon him) would send me, but he (peace and blessings be upon him) sent Abu Ubaydah bin al-Jarrah (may Allah be pleased with him).
This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim), but they did not record it.

It is narrated from Imam al-Hasan al-Basri that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There is none among my Companions except that, if I wished, I could (find fault or comment) on some aspect of his character, except Abu Ubaydah bin al-Jarrah."
This narration is mursal and gharib, but its narrators are trustworthy.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Sahl bin Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him) that Sayyiduna Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), when dispatching Abu Ubaydah (may Allah be pleased with him) to Syria, said: "I want you to know the honour and rank that you hold in my heart. By the One in whose hand is my soul, there is no man on the face of the earth, among the Muhajirun or anyone else, whom I would regard as your equal, not even this one (Umar); his rank with me is less than yours."