The one who stations himself (murabit) in the path of Allah has his deeds grow for him until the Day of Resurrection, and he is secured from the tempter of the grave." Narrated by Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi (4), who said: A Hasan Sahih (good and authentic) hadith. On the authority of Uthman ibn Affan, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said upon the minbar: "I had kept a hadith hidden from you that I heard from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), disliking that you might part from me, but then it occurred to me to narrate it to you, so that a man among you may choose for himself; I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: 'A day of Ribat in the path of Allah is better than a thousand days in any other station.'" Narrated by Abu Dawud, al-Athram, and others (5). Once this is established, Ribat may be little or much; every period a person stays with the intention of Ribat is considered Ribat, whether it is little or much. It is for this reason that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "A day of Ribat" and "A night of Ribat." Ahmad said: "A day is Ribat, a night is Ribat, and an hour is Ribat." He also said, on the authority of Abu Hurayrah: "Whoever stations himself (rabata) for a day in the path of Allah, the reward of one who fasts and stands in prayer is written for him (8), and whoever does more, Allah gives him more (9)." Sa'id ibn Mansur (10) narrated, with his chain of transmission from Ata al-Khurasani, from Abu Hurayrah, who said (11): "A day of Ribat in the path of Allah is dearer to me than that I should coincide with the Night of Decree (Laylat al-Qadr) in one of the two mosques; the Sacred Mosque or the Mosque of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). And whoever stations himself for forty days has completed the Ribat." And the completion of Ribat is forty days. This has been narrated from Abu