that al-Bukhārī and Muslim reported: "Recite the Quran in every month." He said: I said, "I find strength." He said: "Then recite it in twenty nights." He said: I said, "I find strength." He said: "Then recite it in seven and do not exceed that." (al-Nasāʾī, al-Tirmidhī, and he authenticated it) Then he permitted him to recite it in five (al-Bukhārī and Aḥmad) then he permitted him to recite it in three and forbade him from reciting it in less than that, explaining this by saying to him: (Aḥmad with a sound chain) "Whoever recites the Quran in less than three [days] does not understand it." In another wording: (al-Dārimī and al-Tirmidhī) "He does not understand who recites the Quran in less than three [days]." Then in his saying to him: (Aḥmad and Ibn Ḥibbān in his Ṣaḥīḥ) "For every worshiper there is a period of enthusiasm, and for every enthusiasm there is a period of slackness, either towards a sunnah or towards an innovation. Whoever's slackness is towards a sunnah has been rightly guided, and whoever's slackness is towards anything else has perished."