Salman al-Farisi told of God’s messenger saying in a sermon which he delivered to them on the last day of Sha'ban, “A great month, a blessed month, a month containing a night which is better than a thousand months has approached you people. God has appointed the observance of fasting during it as an obligatory duty, and the passing of its night in prayer as a voluntary practice. If someone draws near to God during it with some good act he will be like one who fulfils an obligatory duty in another month, and he who fulfills an obligatory duty in it will be like one who fulfills seventy obligatory duties in another month. It is the month of endurance, and the reward of endurance is paradise. It is the month of sharing with others, and a month in which the believer’s provision is increased. If someone gives one who has been fasting something with which to break his fast it will provide forgiveness of his sins and save him from hell, and he will have a reward equal to his without his reward being diminished in any respect.” Some of them remarked to God’s messenger that they did not all have the means to give one who had been fasting something with which to break his fast, and he replied, “God gives this reward to him who gives one who has been fasting some milk mixed with water, or a date, or a drink of water with which to break his fast, and anyone who gives a full meal to one who has been fasting will be given a drink from any tank by God and will not thirst till he enters paradise. It is a month whose beginning is mercy, whose middle is forgiveness, and whose end is freedom from hell. If anyone makes things easy for his slave during it, God will forgive him and free him from hell.”
وَعَن سلمَان قَالَ: خَطَبَنَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فِي آخِرِ يَوْمٍ مِنْ شَعْبَانَ فَقَالَ: «يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ قَدْ أَظَلَّكُمْ شَهْرٌ عَظِيمٌ مُبَارَكٌ شَهْرٌ فِيهِ لَيْلَةٌ خَيْرٌ مَنْ أَلْفِ شهر جعل الله تَعَالَى صِيَامَهُ فَرِيضَةً وَقِيَامَ لَيْلِهِ تَطَوُّعًا مَنْ تَقَرَّبَ فِيهِ بخصلة من الْخَيْرِ كَانَ كَمَنْ أَدَّى فَرِيضَةً فِيمَا سِوَاهُ وَمَنْ أَدَّى فَرِيضَةً فِيهِ كَانَ كَمَنْ أَدَّى سَبْعِينَ فَرِيضَةً فِيمَا سِوَاهُ وَهُوَ شَهْرُ الصَّبْرِ وَالصَّبْر ثَوَابه الْجنَّة وَشهر الْمُوَاسَاة وَشهر يزْدَاد فِيهِ رِزْقُ الْمُؤْمِنِ مَنْ فَطَّرَ فِيهِ صَائِمًا كَانَ لَهُ مَغْفِرَةً لِذُنُوبِهِ وَعِتْقَ رَقَبَتِهِ مِنَ النَّارِ وَكَانَ لَهُ مِثْلُ أَجْرِهِ مِنْ غَيْرِ أَنْ يَنْقُصَ مِنْ أَجْرِهِ شَيْءٌ» قُلْنَا: يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ لَيْسَ كلنا يجد مَا نُفَطِّرُ بِهِ الصَّائِمَ. فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: «يُعْطِي اللَّهُ هَذَا الثَّوَابَ مَنْ فَطَّرَ صَائِمًا عَلَى مَذْقَةِ لَبَنٍ أَوْ تَمْرَةٍ أَوْ شَرْبَةٍ مِنْ مَاءٍ وَمَنْ أَشْبَعَ صَائِمًا سَقَاهُ اللَّهُ مِنْ حَوْضِي شَرْبَةً لَا يَظْمَأُ حَتَّى يَدْخُلَ الْجَنَّةَ وَهُوَ شَهْرٌ أَوَّلُهُ رَحْمَةٌ وَأَوْسَطُهُ مَغْفِرَةٌ وَآخِرُهُ عِتْقٌ مِنَ النَّارِ وَمَنْ خَفَّفَ عَنْ مَمْلُوكِهِ فِيهِ غَفَرَ الله لَهُ وَأعْتقهُ من النَّار» . رَوَاهُ الْبَيْهَقِيّ