Allah Talah , due to his infinite grace and mercy, presented
to His bondsmen some special occasions wherein they have a golden opportunity
of earning the mercy and forgiveness of Allah.
Some explicit examples of these special occasions are the nights
of Ramadan and Laylatul Qadr. In the same mold is the fifteenth night of
Sha'baan.
Several Ahaadith extol the tremendous merit of this
occasion. Amongst them is the fact that countless people are forgiven by Allah
during this blessed night. It is due to this reason that this night is called
"The night of Bara'at" (i.e. the night wherein judgment of being free
from Jahannam and punishment is passed).
SOME AHADITH CONCERNING SHAB-E-BARA'AT
1. It is
reported from Hazrat Mau’dh Ibn-e-Jabal (R.A.) that Rasulullah (S.A.W.)said:
"On the fifteenth night of Sha’ban Allah bestows his special attention on
His entire creation. He then pardons His entire creation except an idolater and
one who harbours enmity.'
2. It
is narrated from Hazrat Abdullah bin Amr (R.A.) that RasulAllah (S.A.W.)
said "Allah looks with special attention towards His creation on the
fifteenth night of Sha'baan and forgives all his servants except two categories
of people; the person who harbours enmity and a murderer."
And countless other such narrations are found. However while
some of the narrations regarding Laylatul Bara’ah are weak and may lead one
into the error of totally disregarding this wondrous night, we have to see what
the understanding of Muhaditheen was regarding these narrations & save
ourselves from adopting an attitude that might lead us into missing out on this
night’s Barakah.
VIEW OF MUHADITHEEN REGARDING SHAB-E-BARA'AT:
“An overview of the various narrations regarding this night
lends credence to the acceptability of the virtue of this night. The Reason
being that although these narrations are weak, they are numerous and narrated
by a number of Sahabah.
Some are such that not much criticism has been leveled
at their Sanad (chain of narrators). Ibnu-Hibbaan has included some of these
narrations in his 'Sahih" and Hafiz Mundhiri has remarked regarding the
Sanad of some that 'LA BA'SA BIHI' (it is acceptable).
Therefore, according to the principal of the
Muhadditheen, the excellence of the night of Bara'at is proven from a
conjunction of all narrations. This is the general consensus of the
Muhadditheen and Fuqaha and this is correct.
Even Ibn-e-Taymiyyah, accepts the virtue of the night
of Bara'at. He says: 'So many Ahaadith and reports exist regarding the
excellence of the fifteenth night of Sha'ban that one is compelled to accept
that this night does possess some virtue.' Some of the pious predecessors used
to specially devote this night for Salah” -Muhaddith Shaykh Fazl-ur-Rahman
al-Azam
VIRTUE OF THIS NIGHT AS ESTABLISHED BY MUHADITHEEN
“The virtue of this night that is established from
these Ahaadith is that from the very beginning of the night Allah turns with
special mercy and attention towards the creation and forgives those who repent
and seek forgiveness. Every Muslim should therefore value this night. Turn
towards Allah with sincere regret and shame over sins committed and make a
promise never to return to sin again and seek forgiveness from Allah. Seek
forgiveness for oneself and the rest of the Muslims, living and deceased.
Have the firm hope and resolution in the heart that Allah will surely show
mercy and forgiveness.” - Muhaddith Shaykh Fazl-ur-Rahman al-Azam
UNFORTUNATE PEOPLE WHO ARE DEPRIVED ON THIS NIGHT:
It is understood from the Ahaadith that even on this night,
some servants of Allah are deprived of His forgiveness. They are as follows:
1. Idolaters
2. Those who harbour enmity against others
3. Consumers of alcohol
4. Those who disobey their parents
5. Those who wear their trousers, kurtas, lungis, etc. below
their ankles;
6. Those who commit adultery and murderers
7. And those who sever family ties.
We can thus gauge the severity of these sins and the
need to perpetually abstain from them as they are so grave that even on an
occasion when Allah's mercy comes to the fore, they still pose an obstacle to
our forgiveness.
Every Muslim should consider carefully and if he is involved
in any of these sins, he should sincerely repent and seek forgiveness for his
sin lest he be deprived of this night.
THE SPECIAL VIRTUE OF THE NIGHT OF BARA'AT:
The special virtues of the night of Bara'at are:
1. Contrary
to other nights wherein the last third of the night has special blessings and
Allah descends to the lowest Heaven during this section of the night, on the
night of Bara'at the special rain of the mercy and forgiveness of Allah begins
to shower down right from the beginning of the night and continues right up
till dawn.
2. The
sins of countless of people are pardoned. The numbers of pronouncements
seeking out those who want forgiveness far supersede those which occur on other
nights.
THE FAST OF THE 15TH OF SHA'BAAN
Whereas the fast of 15th of Sha’ban is not Sunnah,
however it was a Sunnah of Nabi SAW to fast a lot in the month of Sha’baan. And
if we have uptil now been deprived of this Sunnah, 15th of Sha’baan can be a
good chance for us; a night of Ibadah followed up by a day of fasting will
inshAllah benefit us spiritually.
Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed, regarding
the fast of 15th of Sha’ban states:
“Muhadiseen have viewed the reports about the 15th of Shaban
to be transmitted by a chain that is known as ‘hasan’. Ibn-e-Tamiyah himself
mentions the amal or the practice of all the great and pious generations of
Muslims, that they would make special worship on this night and that they would
fast on the day of the 15th of Sha’ban. So, I would encourage generally
that the Prophet saw used to increase his fasts in the month of Sha’ban and if
someone hasn’t started as yet, starting from the 15th would be a wonderful way
to start. Otherwise, it was a year round sunnah of the Prophet saw, that he saw
used to fast on the 13th, 14th and 15th of any month.”
The shaykh
also states:
“For us, who live extremely busy lives that are distracted
from the remembrance of Allah swt, we may need something to snap us into
this reality that the month of Ramadan is indeed coming soon and I think
for that reason, if nothing else, marking the night before the 15th of
Sha’ban with extra ibadat and spending the day of the 15th of Shaban in a state
of fasting is even more important and critical for us modernity afflicted
Muslims, because we don’t have that Sunnah temperament that we are present
and preparing for the month of Ramadan, which for us still seems like a distant
future event.
The thing that is critical for many of us that we
should spend the night of the 15th of Shaban with as much ibadat as we can and
that day in a state of fasting to snap us out of worldly distractions and back
into heightened remembrance and awareness of Allah swt and to really make us feel
the imminent coming of the month of Ramadan like the Prophet saw felt the
imminent coming of the month of Ramadan.”
WHAT IBADAH TO DO IN THIS NIGHT?
A person can do any sort of Ibadah on this night. No
nawafil or special Salah of Laylatul Bara’ah are sunnah. One should try to do
all sorts of Ibadah; darood, astaghfar, nawafil, zikr, dua etc.
Also no special amal is associated with this night,
according to Sunnah.
MAKE SPECIAL DUA ON THIS NIGHT REGARDING SPIRITUAL RIZQ
Shaykh
Kamaluddin Ahmed states:
“There are some Ahadith that mention that the night of 15th
Sha’ban is a night in which Allah swt decides the Rizq of the creation for the
upcoming year again these ahadith are hasan in their chain of narration,
they are reliably sound but not of utmost soundness. So, it’s not a necessary
part of the Deen of Islam that a person believe in this but again we have to
look and make our response the way that the muhadiseen and ullema was and it is
that the vast overwhelming 95% of all of the mufasireen, muhadiseen, fuqaha,
usooleen, auliya-e-kamileen took this to heart and they would make extra
prayers and dua to Allah swt to make them a good Rizq in the following year.”
CONCEPT OF RIZQ
Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed: “We need to understand that
the concept of Rizq is much more than just monetary wealth and our
sustenance, it includes first and foremost our spiritual rizq: that how much
‘amal we are going to do next year, how much ikhlaas it is going to have, how
much qubooliat it will have i.e. how much will be accepted by Allah swt,
how much tahajjud we are going to do, how much fajr we are going to do, how
much isha we are going to do or how much jama’at we are going to do, how much
dhikr we are going to do, how much tillawat, istighfar, durood salawaat,
khidmat etc that we are going to do.
And when we think of it like that, it’s very interesting
that in the deen of Islam, Allah swt has linked this annual planning to the
month of Ramadan, it almost seems that the 15th of Shaban is the initial
decision by Allah swt about about how much to bestow upon us the following year
but then Allah swt gave us the rest of Sha’ban and all of Ramadan to earn more
and more.
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**The above mentioned text has either been taken from “15th
of Sha’ban in the Light of Quran & Hadith” by the great Muhaddith Shaykh
Fazl-ur-Rahman al-Azam. Or from the audio by Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed.
The full
text can be read at:
And the
audio at:
