Comparing the Virtue of Fasting Six Days of Shawwal and the Night of Decree

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Question:
The questioner, may Allah preserve you, asks about the ruling. He says, may Allah preserve you, regarding the Night of Decree, he says: Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said:

The Night of Decree is better than a thousand months.

لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ خَيْرٌ مِّنْ أَلْفِ شَهْرٍ

[Al-Qadr 97:3]

And it is reported in the hadith regarding the six days of Shawwal that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

He who observed the fast of Ramadan and then followed it with six (fasts) of Shawwal

من صام رمضان ثم اتبعه ستا من شوال كان

Sahih Muslim 1164a

as if he had fasted the entire year. He asks: Are the six days of Shawwal better than the Night of Decree because it is a complete year?

Answer:
My brother, what is meant by "the age" (al-dahr)? It refers to the complete age, meaning the year.

Whoever fasts Ramadan and then follows it with six days of Shawwal, it is as if he had fasted the entire year

مَنْ صَامَ رَمَضَانَ فَأَتْبَعَهُ سِتًّا مِنْ شَوَّالٍ فَكَأَنَّمَا صَامَ الدَّهْرَ

As-Sunan al-Kubra lil-Nasa'i 13:437

It means the year, because Ramadan is equivalent to ten months, and the six [days] are equivalent to two months, and a good deed is rewarded tenfold. As for the Night of Decree, it is equivalent to a thousand months. A thousand months, or eighty-four years plus some months. This is what is multiplied for whoever wills.

the favor of Allah; He bestows it upon whom He wills. And Allah

فَضْلُ اللَّهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَن يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ

[Al-Ma'idah 5:54]

Yes.

Source شرح كتاب المنتقى من أخبار المصطفى صلى الله عليه وسلم، بداية من باب المضمضة والاستنشاق — islamhouse.com (1:08:28)

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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