from Salamah, on the authority of ʿĀʾishah, similar to the narration of Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr.¹

And it is narrated from Ibn al-Mubārak that he said regarding this ḥadīth: he said, "It is permissible in the speech of the Arabs, when one has fasted most of the month, to say: 'He fasted the entire month.' And it is said: 'So-and-so stood in prayer his entire night,' even though he may have eaten supper and busied himself with some of his affairs." It is as though Ibn al-Mubārak regarded both ḥadīths as consistent, saying: "The meaning of this ḥadīth is only that he used to fast most of the month."

38 — Chapter on what has been reported concerning the disapproval of fasting in the latter half of Shaʿbān on account of Ramaḍān

748 — Qutaybah narrated to us, he said: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad narrated to us, from al-ʿAlāʾ ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from his father, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "When half of Shaʿbān remains, do not fast."²

The ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah is a ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīth; we do not know it except from this [chain]—

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¹ The chain of Sālim Abū al-Naḍr was transmitted by Abū Yaʿlā (4788).
² A ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīth, transmitted by Abū Dāwūd (2337), Ibn Mājah (1651), al-Nasāʾī in al-Kubrā (2911). It is in al-Musnad (9707) and Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān (3589). Abū Dāwūd said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān — i.e., Ibn Mahdī — would not narrate it. I said to Aḥmad: Why? He said: Because he held that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, used to join Shaʿbān to Ramaḍān, and he said something contrary to it on the authority of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Abū Dāwūd said: This is not contrary to it in my view, and none brought it except al-ʿAlāʾ from his father.