بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Abū Hurayrah narrated from the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) that he said:
مَنْ صَامَ رَمَضَانَ إِيمَانًا وَاحْتِسَابًا غُفِرَ لَهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ ذَنْبِهِ ، وَمَنْ قَامَ رَمَضَانَ إِيمَانًا وَاحْتِسَابًا غُفِرَ لَهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ ذَنْبِهِ ، وَمَنْ قَامَ لَيْلَةَ الْقَدْرِ إِيمَانًا وَاحْتِسَابًا غُفِرَ لَهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ ذَنْبِهِ
“Whoever fasts Ramadān with faith (īmān) and seeking (divine) reward (ihtisāb), his previous sins will be forgiven. And whoever stands (in prayer throughout) Ramadān with faith and seeking reward, his previous sins will be forgiven. And whoever stands (in worship) on the Night of Decree (Laylat al-Qadr) with faith and seeking reward, his previous sins will be forgiven.” (Sahīh al-Bukhārī 1901)
Imām al-Mubārakfūrī said: (whoever fasts Ramadān) — meaning: during it, by fasting all of it when capable of doing so, or (fasting) part of it when incapable, with the intention to fast (the entirety) were it not for the incapacity.
(with faith) — (meaning) affirming that it is an obligation incumbent upon him as a right, and that it is one of the pillars of Islām, and (believing in) what Allāh has promised of reward and recompense for it. Al-Suyūtī said this.
It is said: it is in the accusative as a cause-indicating object, meaning: for the sake of faith in Allāh and His Messenger, and faith in what has come regarding the virtue of Ramadān and the command to fast it — i.e., the motivating factor and the impetus for doing so is faith in Allāh, or (faith in) what has been reported regarding its virtue and the obligation of fasting it.
It is also said: it is in the accusative as a circumstantial qualifier, with the verbal noun carrying the meaning of the active participle i.e., while being a believer — meaning one who affirms it as truth and an act of obedience, or one who affirms what has been reported regarding its virtue.
It is also said: it is in the accusative as a specification, or as a verbal noun — i.e., a fast of faith, or the fast of a believer.
(and seeking (divine) reward) — means: seeking reward from Him, The Most-High, in the Hereafter; or (it means) sincerity (ikhlās), i.e., the motivating factor for the fast is what has been mentioned (of faith and seeking reward), not fear of people, nor shame before them, nor the intention of (gaining) reputation and showing off (riyāʾ) before them.
Al-Khattābī said: (ihtisāb – seeking reward) means: with intention (niyyah) and resolve, which is that he fasts it with a desire for its reward, his soul being content with that, neither disliking it, nor finding its fasting burdensome, nor finding its days long; rather, he considers the length of its days an opportunity (to earn more reward) due to the greatness of the reward.
Al-Baghawī said: His statement: “ihtisāb” means: seeking the Face of Allāh, The Most-High, and His reward. It is said: “fulān (so-and-so yahtasibu l-akhbāra wa-yatahassabuhā)” — meaning he seeks them out. End (of his words).
(his previous sins will be forgiven) — “his sins” is a generic noun in the construct state, so it encompasses all sins; however, according to the majority (of scholars) it is restricted to minor sins.
Al-Nasāʾī added in al-Sunan al-Kubrā [#2523] , via the route of Qutaybah from Sufyān: “and what follows (of sins).” A group (of narrators) followed Qutaybah in this addition [T.N: The hadīth verifier Shu’ayb Al-Arnāūt commented on this hadīth saying in summary: A small number of narrators followed Qutaybah in transmitting this addition, all of them tracing it back to Ibn ʿUyaynah. However, a considerably larger and more reliable group of narrators — transmitting from the same Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah from al-Zuhrī — narrated the hadīth without this addition. On this basis, Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr judged the addition to be munkar (rejected), and the verifier considers the narration without it to be the correct/preserved one]
This addition has been questioned on the grounds that forgiveness presupposes a preceding sin, and the sins that come later have not yet occurred — so how can they be forgiven? The response (given) is that it means their sins will occur (already) forgiven.
(and whoever stands (in prayer throughout) Ramadān) – meaning (during) its nights, or the majority of them, or part of each night through the Tarāwīh prayer and other (acts of worship) such as Qurʾān recitation (tilāwah), remembrance of Allāh (dhikr), circumambulation (tawāf), and the like.
Al-Hāfidh (Ibn Hajr) said: (it) means: stood (in prayer) during its nights, and what is intended by qiyām al-layl (night-standing in prayer) is whatever constitutes a general standing (in prayer).
Al-Kirmānī went further, saying: they (the scholars) are agreed that what is intended is: qiyām Ramadān (is realized through) the Tarāwīh prayer.
(and whoever stands (in worship) on Laylat al-Qadr) — meaning whoever enlivens it (with worship), whether he knows it (to be Laylat al-Qadr) or not.
It is said: what suffices for this is whatever is called qiyām (standing in worship), to the extent that whoever performs the ʿIshāʾ prayer in congregation has (achieved a form of) qiyām. However, the apparent meaning of the hadīth, by (conventional) usage, as al-Kirmānī said, is that one cannot be said to have “stood the night” unless he stood for all of it or most of it.
(his previous sins will be forgiven) — that acts of expiation, if they encounter sins erase them when they are minor sins, and lighten them when they are major sins; and (if no sins are encountered, then) they serve as a means of elevation in degrees in the Gardens (of Paradise).”
(Abridged Mir’āt al-Mafātih Sharh Mishkāt al-Masābīh 8/137-139)
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