Shaban and Shabe Barat/Mid Shaban are in the grip of excess and separation.

 

 Shaban and Shabe Barat/Mid Shaban are in the grip of excess and separation.

 -Maulana Abdul Malek (D:B)[Editor Of Monthly Alkausar]

English Translation :Sheikh Ahasan Uddin 

 Until now, a class of people was involved in excesses centering on Shabe Barat/mid shaban.  They were following various inappropriate activities and rituals on the occasion of this night.  The ulama have always protested against this and are still doing so.  Nowadays, there is a tendency of separation among a class of people.  They claim that there is no concept of Shabe Barat in Islam.  All the traditions in this regard are Mauzu or Zaif.  It is not permissible in the eyes of the Shari'ah to act according to these and to consider Shabe Barat as a special virtuous night.  They make small booklets and leaflets containing these statements and distribute them among the people.

 In fact, just as the path of exaggeration was not right in the past, so is the path of abandonment now.  Islam is the religion of balance and all its teachings point the way to the straight path free from extremes.  The correct and balanced position regarding Shabe Barat is that the virtue of this night is proved by Sahih Hadith.  It is also proven by reliable tradition to perform more acts of worship without any combination of forms and without inventing any special way of celebrating this night.  It is a mistake to think of this night as all other ordinary nights and to consider all the hadiths about the virtues of this night as Mawzu or Zaif, just as it is a baseless idea to consider this night as Shabe Qadr or even more virtuous.

 Here are some hadiths on the virtues of Shabe Barat (the night of the fifteenth of Shaban) and the details of the authenticity of the hadith.

 1st Hadith:

 On the authority of Malik from Yakhmer, on the authority of Mu'adh ibn Jabal, on the authority of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, he said:  Yes, the religion of Al-Hamhurfi is meaningful, and I do not believe in the gold of Ibn Makhul al-Yalaq, the owner of Ibn Yakhmer, as he claims, and he said on the way of Hassan, refer, patience of the signs of the nobles.

 Mu'adh ibn Jabal said, the Prophet.  Irshad said, Allah looks at the creation (of mercy) on the night of mid-Sha'ban (the fourteenth day of Sha'ban) and forgives everyone except the polytheists and the haters.

 This hadith proves that this night is wide open with mercy and forgiveness from Allah.  But those who engage in shirk and those who harbor enmity towards others are also deprived of this broad mercy and general forgiveness.  When mercy and forgiveness are declared by Allah for a particular time, it means that at this time one should be careful about the good deeds through which one can be worthy of Allah's mercy and forgiveness and refrain from those sins.  For this reason, they are deprived of mercy and forgiveness from Allah.

 Since in the above hadith and other hadiths, the night of Ardh-Shaban has been declared as a great apology, so this night has long been known as Shabe Barat, the night of liberation.  For, on this night one is freed from sins and is freed from the evil consequences of sin.

 If there were no other hadith about the virtue of Shabe Barat, then this hadith alone would have been enough to prove the virtue of this night and to prove the importance of good deeds suitable for forgiveness on this night.  However, in the books of hadith, more than one hadith has been narrated on this subject in reliable sources.

 Discussion on the chain of transmission of the hadith:

 The above hadith has been narrated in the books of many reliable hadiths through reliable sources.  Imam Muhammad ibn Hibban has quoted this hadith in his book Sahih A (which is better known as Sahih Ibn Hibban, 13/471).  This is Hadith No. 565 of this book.  Besides, Imam Baihaqi (R) Shuabul Iman A (3/362, Hadith 3633);  Imam Tabarani Almuzamul Kabir and Almuzamul Awsat have narrated this.  In addition, the imams of many other hadiths have mentioned the hadith in their respective books.

 The sanad of the hadith is saheeh.  That is why Imam Ibn Hibban has described it as Kitabus Sahih.  Some call the hadith Hasan from a technical point of view;  But Hasan Hadith is a type of Sahih or reliable Hadith.

 Imam Manziri, Ibn Rajab, Nuruddin Haisami, Qastallani, Yurkani and other hadith scholars have said that this hadith is valid.  See Attargib Wattarhib 2/18;  3/459.  Latayful Maarif 151;  Mazmauz Yawaid 6/75;  Sharhul Mawahibil Ladunniya 10/561.

 The famous Shaykh Nasiruddin Albani (RA) of the present time writes after quoting eight more hadiths in support of this hadith in Silsilatul Ahadis: Sahiha 3 / 135-139:

 And the statement that the hadith is combined with this method is correct.  And the health is confirmed by the number of them, the integrity of the strong from the weak, the goodness in this hadith.

 Through all these traditions, this hadith is collectively proved to be saheeh.  Then Albani (RA) refuted the statements of those people who said without any research that there is no saheeh hadeeth about Shabe Barat.

 Nowadays we see some Salafi or Ahle Hadith friends, they distribute various leaflets.  It is written in it that none of the virtues of Shabe Barat (Lailatul Nisfi Min Shaban) has been proved in Hadith Sharif.  Those friends can learn from the research and decisions of Shaykh Albani (RA).  Because, they seem to be big fans of Albani (RA) and are seen preaching by translating his Kitab.  I humbly implore those brothers who, if you can deny the virtue of this night following Shaykh Ibn Baaz or your own Tahqiq, who believe in the virtue of this night based on the hadith mentioned above and following all the hadiths and jurists, and all kinds of innovations  Do they try to stay engrossed in the good times by avoiding them? Did they commit such a crime that you have to follow them?  And is it really too much to help the ulema here to distrust the decision of the ulema and help them to succeed in their mission by propagating among the common people a different view which is not above the possibility of error as opposed to the document-based decision of the ulama?  There is no doubt that if you think too much of your opinion, there is a possibility of an Ijtehadi error, and surely you do not consider your opinion to be a revelation at all.  Think a little cold head, then do you have any logical explanation of this position?

 My last request to you is that please, Shaykhul Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (R) about the virtues and deeds of this night [R.H.]  Iktiyaus Siratil Mustaqim / 631-641 of 627 AH and Imam Zaynuddin Ibn Rajab (R) [d.  Read Latayful Ma'aref 151-157 of 695] and consider whether their document-based tahkeek is to be followed, or an emotional opinion of Shaykh Ibn Baaz (R)?  Which he may have used as a remedy for the excesses of the ignorant people with reference to Shabe.  But it is clear that the remedy for excess does not deny any real truth;  Rather, it is through the proper presentation of the truth.

 This is the night

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 I have already mentioned in the above mentioned Hadith Sharif what are the instructions and hints of this night.  Below I am presenting another hadith on this subject.

 Narrated A'la Ibn Harith: Ayesha said: Once the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, stood up in prayer at night and prostrated so long that I thought he might have died.  I then got up and moved his thumb.  His thumb moved.  When he got up from prostration and finished the prayer, he looked at me and said, O Ayesha, or he said, O Humaira, do you fear that the Messenger of Allah will ruin your rights?  I replied, "No, O Messenger of Allah."  From your long prostration I had this fear, whether you died.  The Prophet asked, "Do you know which night it is?"  I said, "Allah and His Messenger know best."  The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) then said,

 This is the night of the half of Sha'ban, may Allah be glorified and exalted, let him be worshiped in the night of the half of Sha'ban, forgive me, forgive me, have mercy on me, be merciful to me, and be the last of the people of truth.

 ‘This is the night of mid-Shaban (the daytime night of the fourteenth of Shaban).  Allaah pays attention to His slaves on the night of mid-Shabaan and forgives those who ask for forgiveness and bestows favors on those who seek mercy and leaves those who hate in their condition. '

 Imam Bayhaqi (R) after narrating this hadith said about its sanad,

 This sender is serious

 This hadith proves that it is desirable in the eyes of the Shari'ah to perform a long nafl on this night so that the prostration will be long.  However, it should be kept in mind that the rules and regulations of prayer which are written in many unreliable Wayfar books, that is, there should be so many rak'ats, this Surah should be recited so many times in each rak'at - these are not correct.  There is no such thing in Hadith Sharif.  These are man-made methods.  The correct method is to recite as many rak'ats as possible in two rak'ats according to the general rules of naafil prayers.  To recite the Qur'an.  Reading Darood Sharif.  To apologize  Pray and sleep if you need some sleep.  It should not be the case that it was not possible to perform the Fajr prayer with the congregation due to the fatigue of long night prayers.

 Fasting the next day

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 It has been narrated in Sunan Ibn Majah

 On the authority of Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) he said: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said:  , Except for the afflicted, not so much, not so much, until dawn.

 Narrated Ali ibn Abu Taleb: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: When the night of Sha'ban (day of the fourteenth day) comes, spend this night in worship and fast during the day.  Because, after sunset on this night, Allah first came to the sky and said, is there any apologist?  I will forgive him.  Is there any candidate for sustenance?  I will provide for him.  Thus, in the morning, Sadiq used to call people to the needs of the people. [Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 1384]

 The credentials of this narration are Zayef.  But the unanimous decision of Muhaddisin Keram is that in the case of Fazail, Zayef Hadith is acceptable.  Moreover, it is mentioned in the Sahih Hadith that more and more supererogatory fasts are observed in the month of Sha'ban, and the fact that fasting on the 13th, 14th and 15th of every lunar month is also proved by the Sahih Hadith.

 Needless to say, the day of the fifteenth of Sha'ban is a day of the month of Sha'ban and it is included in the Ayam.  For this reason, fasting has been written as mustahab or masnun in several books of fiqh on this day.  Again, many have specifically refused to call this day's fast mustahab or masnun.  In this regard, Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Taqi Usmani said in his Islahi Khutubat, ‘Another thing is to fast on the day after Shabe Barat, i.e. on the fifteenth day of Shaban.  The matter needs to be deeply understood.  There is only one hadith in support of the Prophet's vast collection of hadiths.  It says, “Fast on the day after Shabe Barat.” The hadith is weak from the point of view of the source of narration.  Therefore, in the eyes of many scholars, it is inappropriate to call this day's fast as Sunnah or Mustahab by looking at this one weak hadith. '

 But yes, fasting for the entire month of Sha'ban is found in many hadiths.  That is, there are enough virtues to fast from 1st Shaban to 26th Shaban.  But the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) himself forbade fasting on the 28th and 29th.  Irshad said, do not fast a couple of days before Ramadan, so that you can prepare for Ramadan spontaneously with full relief.  But daily fasting till the 27th is very blessed.

 It is noteworthy that this 15th date of Sha'ban is included in 'Ayyam Biy'.  And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to fast at Biyam every month.  So if a person fasts on the 15th of Sha'ban for these two reasons, which is included in the Ayam Biy, as well as a significant day of Sha'ban, then insha'Allah he will surely be rewarded.  However, according to many scholars, it is not correct to call this fast as Sunnat with special importance because of only 15 Shaban.  And that is why in most of the Fuqaha ', Keram Mustahab mentions the 10th of Muharram and Ayam Arafa (the 9th of Zilhajj) in the list of fasting, while no one mentions the 15th of Sha'ban separately.  Rather, they say, it is better to fast on any day of Sha'ban.  So if one fasts keeping in view all these things, then insha'Allah he will get the reward.  However, it should be kept in mind that there is no special feature of fasting on any particular day of this month.

 The supererogatory acts of this night are not combined, but personal

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 The supererogatory deeds of this night should be done alone according to the pure opinion.  Obligatory prayers must be performed in the mosque.  After that, whatever Nafl is read will be read alone in their respective rooms.  There is no evidence in Hadith Sharif that these groups came to the mosque in groups for these supererogatory acts and it was not the custom of the Companions even in the time of Karam.  [Iktiyaus Siratil Mustaqim 2 / 631-641;  Marakil Falah 219]

 However, if some people come to the mosque without any call or announcement, then everyone will be busy in their own time, there will be no reason to disturb each other's time.  

In some places there is a custom that the sermon starts after Maghrib or Isha on this night.  Milad-mahfil is performed after Waz.  Somewhere, the whole night is play shabina over in loudspeaker.  In addition none of this is done with the mic and the outside mic is also left out.

  Remember, none of this is wrong. Fayel and Masael of Shabe Barat can be discussed earlier.  It is not right to leave the mic tonight and organize a lecture-waz.  It is not possible for people who are interested in worship to worship with concentration at home, nor in the mosque.  The comfort needed by sick people is also severely disrupted.  May Allah help us to avoid these wrongdoings.