Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates that my father married me to a woman from the Quraysh. When I went to her, due to my strength and enthusiasm for acts of worship such as prayer and fasting, I did not pay any attention to her. The next day, my father, Sayyiduna Amr ibn al-As (may Allah be pleased with him), came to his daughter-in-law and asked her, "How did you find your husband?" She replied, "The best husband, who did not even seek my shadow nor did he approach my bed." Hearing this, he came to me and reproached me severely, saying harsh words and said, "I married you to a woman of good lineage from the Quraysh, and you showed such negligence, and did this and that." Then he went to the service of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and complained about me. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) summoned me, and I presented myself. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked me, "Do you fast during the day?" I replied, "Yes." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked, "Do you stand in prayer at night?" I replied, "Yes." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "But I fast and also leave fasting (i.e., do not fast every day), I pray at night and also sleep, and I go to women (i.e., fulfill marital relations). Whoever turns away from my Sunnah has nothing to do with me." Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Recite the Qur'an once a month." I said, "I feel I have more strength than that." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Then complete it in three nights." After that, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Fast three days every month." I said, "I feel I have more strength than that." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) kept giving me some concession until finally he said, "Then fast one day and leave fasting one day. This is the best fast, and this was the way of my brother, Sayyiduna Dawud (peace be upon him)." Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Every worshipper has an enthusiasm, and every enthusiasm has a period of decline—either towards the Sunnah or towards innovation. Whoever's decline is towards the Sunnah, he is guided, and whoever's decline is towards something else, he is destroyed." Mujahid (may Allah have mercy on him) says that when Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) became old and weak, even then he continued to fast in this manner, and sometimes he would combine several fasts together so that one would strengthen the other, and then he would leave fasting for the same number of days. Similarly, in the recitation of the Qur'an, sometimes he would increase or decrease, but he would definitely complete the number of seven or three. Later, he used to say, "If I had accepted the concession of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), it would have been more beloved to me than turning away from it, but now I do not like to oppose the state in which I parted from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)."