English Translation

Isma'il ibn Ibrahim told us, from Sa'id al-Jurayri, from Abu Nadrah, from Abu Sa'id, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, made i'tikaf during the middle ten days of Ramadan, seeking the Night of Decree before it had been made clear to him. When those days passed, he ordered his structure to be dismantled, and it was dismantled. Then it was made clear to him that it was in the last ten days, so he ordered the structure to be rebuilt, and it was rebuilt. Then he made i'tikaf during the last ten days. Then he came out to the people and said: "O people, it had been made clear to me which night is the Night of Decree, and I came out to inform you of it, but two men came disputing, and with them was Satan, so I was made to forget it. Seek it in the ninth, the seventh, and the fifth." I said: "O Abu Sa'id, you know the numbering better than we do." He said: "I have more right to that than you. What are the ninth, the seventh, and the fifth?" He said: "You leave out the night you call the twenty-first, and the one that follows it is the ninth; you leave out the night you call the twenty-third, and the one that follows it is the seventh; and you leave out the night you call the twenty-fifth, and the one that follows it is the fifth."