The Book of the Prayer of the Traveler and Its Shortening-08b

The reciter: And Ibn Numayr narrated to us, saying: My father narrated to us, saying: Sa'd ibn Sa'id narrated to us, saying: Al-Qasim ibn Muhammad informed me from A'ishah, who said: He said: "And A'ishah, when she performed a deed, would stick to it".

The Shaykh : This also contains the recommendation of consistency in righteous deeds. It follows from this that a person should not make things difficult for himself at the beginning of a deed. He may be enthusiastic and say, "I will be able to do such and such," but then he regrets it and stops after having been consistent. There is some blame in stopping after consistency. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Ibn 'Umar: And look at what happened to 'Abd Allah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) negotiated with him regarding fasting until he reached the point of fasting one day and breaking the fast the next. At the end of his life, he said: "I wish I had accepted the dispensation of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)". It became difficult for him to fast one day and leave the next, so he began to fast fifteen days in a row and then break the fast for fifteen days in a row. Therefore, a person should assess matters.