The Prophet Mohammed said, "O People! You are about to have the opportunity of a month which is at once glorious and full of blessing. It is a month which has a night that is better than a thousand months and that is laylat al Qard (Night of Power). Allah has prescribed for you fasting during this month and has made your standing in worship during its night an optional act (taraveeh prayers). If anyone does an act of piety during this month to gain nearness to Allah then he gets as many rewards as one gets after performing a fard (compulsory) in any other month. If he performs a fard (compulsory) during this month then he gets so many rewards as he accrues on doing seventy faraid (compulsory acts) in any other month.

This is the month of patience. The reward against patience is Paradise. This is a month of good-will and compassion. It is a month in which the provisions of a believer are increased. If anyone offers iftaar (meal taken at breaking fast) to a fasting person in this month, his conduct becomes a means of forgiveness for his sins and deliverance from the fire and he gets as many rewards as the fasting person will get without anything being deducted from the rewards of the fasting person.

The companions enquired, "O Messenger of Allah! Everyone of us does not have so much as to offer iftaar to a fasting person."
The Holy Prophet replied, 'Allah rewards even that person who offers a single date, a sip of water, or milk to which water is added as iftaar to anyone'.

It is a month whose first portion is mercy, the middle of it is forgiveness and the final part of it is deliverance from hell. If anyone remits some of the task of his servant (employees) in this month, Allah will forgive him and deliver him from hell.

Therefore, do four things frequently in this month, two of which will fetch you the pleasure of your Lore and the other two are such that you cannot do without. The two which will fetch you the pleasure of your Lord are:
1. Keep testifying "Laa ilaha illa Allah" (There is no god but Allah)
2. Seek forgiveness of Allah by saying AstaghfiruAllah
The two which you cannot do without are:
1. Keep asking Allah for paradise and,
2. Seek his protection from the hellfire.

If anyone feeds a fasting person to a satiating point, Allah will give him such a drink from my spring (al-Kauther) that on drinking it he will not feel thirst until he enters paradise.
The fasts of the month of Ramadan remain suspended between heaven and earth and only through sadaqat al-fitr they are raised to heaven.
When it is the day of Eid-ul-Fitr, the Angels stand at the corners of roads and call out 'O Muslims! Come to the Lord who inspires you to good and thus favors you and then rewards heavily against that. You were asked to stand in the nights and you stood accordingly. You were commanded to observe fasts during the days and you kept the fasts. You obeyed your Lord, so now collect your rewards.'
So when the people have offered prayers, a caller announces: 'Listen! Your Lord has forgiven you. Go now, to your homes having received guidance." In fact, the day of Eid is a day of rewards and in the heavens it is called Yawm ul-Ja'izah (the day of rewards). (Tabarani, Targheeb, Abu Hafs, Ibn Khazeemah, Bayhaqi)

The Prophet once said, "There is a Zakah for everything and the Zakah for the body is fasting." (Ibn Ma'ajah). The word Zakah means 'purification', by fasting we purify ourselves in mind, body, heart and soul, from the handiwork of Satan and from the evil we did with our own hands.

The Prophet said,  "Allah has said that every deed of the son of Adam is for himself except fasting, which is for me and I will give its reward. Fasts are shields protecting from punishment. Thus when any of you is fasting, he must not indulge in obscenity, nor shout: if anyone speaks to him in a vulgar manner or fights with him then he must tell him that he is fasting. By Him in whose hand is Mohammed's life, the odor in the mouth of the fasting person is better to Allah than the fragrance of musk. There will be two moments of happiness for the fasting person - one at the time of breaking the fast because of that and the other when he will meet his Lord and he will feel glad because of his fasting." (Bukhari)

He also said, "Fasting and the Quran will intercede for the worshipper on the day of resurrection. Fasts will say, "Lord! I kept him away from eating and sexual desires so accept my intercession for him." The Quran will say, "I kept him from sleeping in the night so accept my intercession for him." Therefore the intercession of both of them will be accepted." (Ahmad, Targheeb)

Arfajah said "We were with `Utbah ibn Farqad while he was discussing Ramadan. A companion of the Prophet entered upon the scene. When `Utbah saw him, he became shy and stopped talking. The man [the companion] spoke about Ramadan, saying "I heard the Messenger of Allah say during Ramadan: "The gates of Hell are closed, the gates of Paradise are opened, and the devils are in chains. An angel calls out : 'O you who intend to do good deeds, have glad tidings. O you who intend to do evil, refrain, until Ramadan is completed. [Ahmad and an-Nasa'i]

Therefore, when you know, O Dear Sister, that fasting subdues the desires and reduces their severity, and that it is these desires and lusts that lead to Hell Fire, then you will see how fasting comes between a fasting person and Hell Fire and you will rush to fast in Ramadan and after Ramadan in the best possible way.

Abu Said al-Khudri reported that the Messenger of Allah, said: "No servant fasts on a day in the path of Allah except that Allah removes the Hell Fire seventy years further away from his face." [Bukhari and Muslim]

Abu Sa`eed al-Khudri relates that the Messenger of Allah said : "Fasting is a shield with which a servant protects himself from the Fire" [Ahmad, Sahih]

Uthman Ibn Abil-`Aas relates that the Messenger of Allah said : "Whoever fasts a day in the way of Allah, Allah places between him and the Fire a trench like that between heavens and the earth". [at-Tirmithi and at-Tabarani, sahih]

Abu Huraira narrated that Allah's Messenger, said : "When the month of Ramadan starts, the gates of the heaven are opened and the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are chained." [Bukhari]

The Messenger of Allah, said : "When it is the first night of Ramadan the evil devils are chained. The gates of Fire are locked- not a single gate is opened, and the gates of Paradise are opened- not a single gate is locked, and a caller calls out :'O seeker of good come forward, and O seeker of evil withhold, and there are many whom Allah frees from the Fire - and that is every night. [at-Tirmithi, Ibn Majah, and Ibn Khuzaimah : Hasan]

Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet, climbed upon the mimbar (pulpit) and said: "Aameen [O Allah grant it], aameen, aameen". So it was said, "O Messenger of Allah, you climbed upon the mimbar and said : "aameen, aameen, aameen"? So he said :"Jibraa'eel, `alaihi assalam, came to me and said, 'Whoever reaches the month of Ramadan and does not have [his sins] forgiven and so enters Fire, then may Allah distance him, say aameen". So I said "aameen". [Ibn Khuzaimah, Ahmad and al-Baihaqui : Sahih]

Jabir,radhiya Allahu `anhu relates that the Messenger of Allah, said :"In every day and every night, during the month of Ramadan, there are people to whom Allah grants freedom from the Fire, and there is for every Muslim a supplication which he can make and will be granted". [al-Bazzaar, Ahmad and Ibn Majah; Sahih]