Please read the disclaimer before reading the post!
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Assalamu3alaikum everyone!
While I’m still working on part 4 of the Ramadan Is (Almost) Here! series, I realised that I need to blog about this very important topic.
Yesterday I was grocery shopping with my mum where I saw this lady stocking up on sweets and packing them in gift bags. I didn’t find this weird but my mum commented. She said “Do you know why she’s doing this? She’s going to distribute the sweets because it’s the 15th of Sha’baan.” I got a little annoyed with my mum at this point. And I told her that there’s absolutely no way of knowing that and what you’re doing is wrong. She says “I don’t think so.” And then we got busy doing other stuff. After a few minutes I saw the same lady with another bag filled with pamphlets which had ‘Mid Sha’baan’ written in bold letters.
Mums are awesome, aren’t they? ^_^
Anyhow, I will cover this very, very briefly.
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Bid’ah of Sha’baan
The practice of spending the 15th night of Sha’baan in prayer and fasting the following day is an innovation. This night has various names. South Asians call it Shab-E-Baraat while Arabs call it Laylatul Bara’ah/An Nusf Min as-Sha’baan. The apparent significance of this night is that Allah (SWT) gives gives the knowledge to the Angels, about what is going to happen in the following year, for example, who is going to die, who will be born, who will be ill and how much food people will have in the year, etc. The supporters of this act of worship highlight that there is a hadith that does signify this night. But what they fail to point out that one of the narrators from the chain of this hadith may not be reliable.
It is very important to know who the narrators of any hadith are. Because in this chain of narrators there might be one who was known to fabricate hadiths or maybe is proven to be unreliable by the scholars. Hence one must be very careful and vigilant whilst researching for hadiths on the web as we may not be very informed about what is fabricated and what isn’t.
Coming back to the topic, the scholars regarded celebrating this day as an innovation (bid ‘ah). What is narrated concerning the virtue of praying, fasting and worshipping on the fifteenth of Sha’baan (al-nusf min Sha’baan) does not come under the heading of da’eef (weak), rather it comes under the heading of mawdoo’ (fabricated) and baatil (false). So it is not permissible to follow it or to act upon it, whether that is in doing righteous deeds or otherwise.
Even if we assume that the hadeeth is da’eef (weak) and not mawdoo’ (fabricated), the correct scholarly view is that weak ahaadeeth should not be followed at all, even if they speak of righteous deeds or of targheeb and tarheeb (promises and warnings). The saheeh reports are sufficient and the Muslim has no need to follow the da’eef reports. Nothing is known in Islam to suggest that this night or day is special, either from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) or from his companions.
The following is a very detailed explanation that follows this night:
Muhammad ‘Abd al-Salaam al-Shuqayri said: Imam al-Fatni said in Tadhkirat al-Mawdoo‘aat: Among the innovations that have been introduced on “Laylat an-Nusf” (mid-Sha‘baan) is al-Salaat al-Alfiyyah, which is one hundred rak‘ahs in which Soorat al-Ikhlaas is recited ten times in each rak‘ah, offered in congregation; they pay more attention to this than to Jumu‘ah and Eid prayers, although there is no report concerning it, except da‘eef (weak) and mawdoo‘ (fabricated) reports, and we should not be deceived by the fact that these reports were quoted by the authors of al-Qoot and al-Ihya’ and others, nor should we be deceived by what was mentioned in Tafseer al-Tha‘labi, that it is Laylat al-Qadr. End quote.
Al-‘Iraaqi said: The hadeeth about the prayer on Laylat al-Nisf (mid-Sha‘baan) is false. Ibn al-Jawzi narrated it in al-Mawdoo‘aat (which is a compilation of fabricated hadeeths):
Chapter on the hadeeth, prayer and supplication on Laylat al-Nisf:
The hadeeth, “When the night of ‘nisf Sha‘baan’ (mid-Sha‘baan) comes, spend the night in prayer and fast on that day” was narrated by Ibn Maajah from ‘Ali. Muhashiyyah said: (It was also narrated) in al-Zawaa’id. Its isnaad is da‘eef (weak) because of the weakness of Ibn Abi Basrah, of whom Ahmad and Ibn Ma‘een said: He fabricates hadeeth. End quote.
Praying six rak‘ahs on Laylat al-Nisf with the intention of warding off calamity, having a long life and being independent of people, and reciting Ya-Seen and offering du‘aa’ in between that — there is no doubt that this is something that has been introduced into the religion and is contrary to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). The commentator on al-Ihya’ said: This prayer is well known in the books of later Sufi masters, but I have not seen any saheeh report in the Sunnah to support it and the connected du‘aa’. Rather this is the action of some shaykhs. Our companions said: It is makrooh to gather on any of the nights mentioned in the mosques or elsewhere. Al-Najm al-Ghayti said, describing spending the night of al-Nisf min Sh‘baan (mid-Sha‘baan) praying in congregation: That was denounced by most of the scholars of the Hijaz, including ‘Ata’ and Ibn Abi Mulaykah, the fuqaha’ of Madinah and the companions of Maalik. They said: All of that is an innovation (bid‘ah) and there is no report to suggest that the Prophet spent that night in praying in congregation or that his Companions did that either. Al-Nawawi said: The prayers of Rajab and Sha‘baan are two reprehensible innovations. End quote from al-Sunan wa’l-Mubtada‘aat, p. 144
Al-Fatni (may Allah have mercy on him) said, after the comments quoted above: The common folk are so infatuated with this prayer that they stored up a lot of fuel for it and many evils resulted from it, and many transgressions are committed which we do no need to describe. (It is so bad that) the close friends of Allah feared His punishment and fled into the wilderness. The first time this prayer occurred was in Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem) in 448 AH. Zayd ibn Aslam said: We never saw any of our shaykhs or fuqaha’ saying that Laylat al-Baraa’ah (15 Sha‘baan) had any superiority over other nights. Ibn Dihyah said: The hadeeths about the prayer on Laylat al-Baraa’ah are fabricated and one has an interruption in the isnaad. Anyone who acts upon a report which is known to be false is a servant of the Shaytaan.
End quote from Tadhkirat al-Mawdoo‘aat by al-Fatni, p. 45
See: al-Mawdoo‘aat by Ibn al-Jawzi, 2/127; al-Manaar al-Muneef fil Saheeh wa’l-Da‘eef by Ibn al-Qayyim, p. 98; al-Fawaa’id al-Majmoo‘ah by al-Shawkaani, p. 51
Some people use the word al-Sha‘baaniyyah to refer to the last days of Sha‘baan, and say, “These are the days of bidding farewell to food,” and they take advantage of these days to eat a lot before Ramadan begins. Some scholars say that this idea was originally taken from the Christians, who used to do that as their fasting period (Lent) approached.
To sum up, there is no celebration in Sha‘baan and there is no special act of worship to be performed in the middle of it or during the last days of the month. Doing that is an innovation that has been introduced into the religion.
What about fasting on the 15th as it is one of the White Days (Ayyam Beedh)?
Fasting on the 13th, 14th and 15th of every month in the Lunar/Hijri calender was recommended* by the Prophet (PBUH). These days are called White Days or Ayyaam Beedh.
*(These are voluntary/nafl fasts)
It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “My close friend [the Prophet (PBUH)] advised me to do three things which I will not give up until I die: fasting three days of each month, praying Duha, and sleeping after Witr. (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 1124; Muslim, 721.)
It was narrated from Jareer ibn ‘Abd-Allaah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Fasting three days of each month is fasting for a lifetime, and ayaam al-beed are the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth.” (Narrated by al-Nasaa’i, 2420; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Targheeb, 1040.)
There is broad scope in the command to fast three days, as it says in the hadeeth of ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her), but the best days of the month for fasting are the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth, as it says in the other saheeh ahaadeeth.
Now what if someone who is fasting on these 3 days? Is he committing Bid’ah?
No.
If a person wants to pray qiyaam on this night as he does on other nights – without doing anything extra or singling this night out for anything – then that is OK. The same applies if he fasts the day of the fifteenth of Sha’baan because it happens to be one of the ayyaam al-beed, along with the fourteenth and thirteenth of the month, or because it happens to be a Monday or Thursday. If the fifteenth (of Sha’baan) coincides with a Monday or Thursday, there is nothing wrong with that (fasting on that day), so long as he is not seeking extra reward that has not been proven (in the saheeh texts). And Allaah knows best.
Every deed is based on our intention. And Allah knows them the best.
May Allah forgive us all.
Ameen!
References
The Struggle Within 