
The word Sha'baan [in the Arabic script] is spelt with five letters:
These are the gifts from Allah Almighty to His servant in this month. It is a month in which treasures are laid open, in which blessings are sent down, in which faults are forsworn, in which sins are expiated, and in which benedictions are multiplied upon His Beloved Prophet Muhammad Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam, the best of human creatures. This is the month of blessings upon the Chosen Prophet.
It is a month in which treasures are laid open, in which blessings are
sent down, in which faults are forsworn, in which sins are expiated, and in which benedictions are multiplied upon the Beloved Prophet Muhammad Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa
'aalihi wa Sallam, the Best of human Creation.
This is the month of blessings upon the Chosen
Prophet [Peace and Blessings upon him & His Family]. Allah the Almighty has said,
According to Mujaahid Radi Allahu anhu:
It was Ibn 'Ataa' 'alayhir rahman who said:
As someone else put it:
As he himself (The Noble Last Messenger, Salla
Allahu 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam) has told us:

On
the special merit of the month of Sha'baan, and the divine
forgiveness [maghfirah] and good pleasure [ridwaan] sent
down
on the middle night of that month.
Sayeda A'isha Radi Allahu anha, the wife of the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa
Sallam is reported as having
said :
Sayeda A'isha Radi Allahu anha is also reported as having said:
Umm Salma Radi Allahu anha is reported as having said:
Hadrat Ubaydullah ibn Qais once heard A'isha Radi Allahu anha say:
According
to Hadrat Abdullah Radi Allahu anhu, Allah's Messenger Salla Allahu alayhi wa
'aalihi wa Sallam once said:
Anas
ibn Malik Radi Allahu anhu is the authority for the report
that Allah's Messenger Salla Allahu 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa
Sallam once said:
Allah
Almighy (Exalted is He) has said:
According to Abu Hurayra Radi allahu anhu, the Beloved Messenger of Allah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi
wa Sallam once said:
He
Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi
wa Sallam also said :
According to Anas ibn Malik Radi Allahu
anhu, the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi
wa Sallam once said:
Anas
ibn Malik Radi Allahu anhu is also reported as having said:
Concerning the Night of Absolution [Laylat
al-Bara'ah], its special mercy, grace and merits. Allah (Almighty &
Glorious is He) has said:
According to the greatest Faqih in al-Islam, Hadrat
Ibn 'Abbas Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu, and with his father),
In the Quran al-karim, Allah (Exalted is He) calls
many things 'blessed,' including the Qur'an itself, of which He has said:
Part of its blessedness is that one who enters it,
bearing a heavy load of sins, will come out having been forgiven. Allah
(Exalted is He) has said:
The sanctity of the Ka'ba is due to the sanctity of
Allah, the sanctity of the Mosque to the sanctity of the Ka'ba, the sanctity
of the Makkah to the sanctity of the Mosque, and the sanctity of the Sacred
Precinct to the sanctity of Makkah As it is said:
The
olive tree is another thing called ' blessed' by Allah (Exalted & Glorious is He):
This was the first tree from which Adam 'alayhis-salaam ate when he was cast down to earth. It contains nourishment and
enlightenment. In the words of Allah (Exalted is He):
Some
say the' blessed tree' is Hadrat Ibrahim 'alayhis-salaam, some
say it is the al-Qur'an, and others say it is true faith. Still
others say it is the tranquil soul of the believer, insistent
on good conduct, obedient to commandment, restrained by
prohibition, submitted to destiny, conforming to the Lord in what He
has decreed and ruled. Hadrat Isa (Jesus) 'alayhis-salaam is also among
those Allah (Almighty & Glorious is He) calls blessed :
His blessedness ( peace be upon him ) includes the
sprouting of the fruit from the date palm for his faithful mother,
Hadrat Maryam (The Blessed Mother Mary, peace be upon both mother &
son), and the gushing forth of water beneath him.
In
the words of the Almighty & Glorious :
Then
[a voice] cried to her from below her, saying:
As The Noble Last Messenger, Salla
Allahu 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam) has told us:
This must be done without delay and not put off
until tomorrow, for the days are three:
Thus [1] yesterday is a caution, [2] today is an opportunity,
and [3] tomorrow is a risk.
The months are likewise three:
Rajab, now past and
gone beyond return; Ramadan, awaiting in a future you may not live to see;
and in between we have Sha'baan, so let us seize this opportunity for
worshipful devotion.
Allah
Almighy (Exalted is He) has said:
Thus Allah (Exalted is
He) has selected four out of each kind of thing, then He has
chosen one of the four:
From among the Angels, He selected :
From
all the Ambiya* Salla Allahu 'alayhim ajma'een, the four He
selected were :
The
four He selected from among the Noble Companions Radi Allahu ta'ala anhum were :
The
four mosques:
Of these He chose the Sanctuary Mosque [al-Masjid al-Haraam].
The
four days:
The
four nights:
The
four sites :
The
four mountains:
The
four rivers:
The
four months:
QUESTIONS ON FASTING AND EXTRA WORSHIP IN RAJAB AND SHA'BAN
It is recommended to fast the months of Rajab and Sha'ban as a nafila or
supererogatory worship, with the intention of following the Sunnah of the Beloved of Allah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam which has
established the merit of this fast. As for extra devotions on certain nights of Rajab and
Sha'ban there is grounds for prohibiting them as the "Salafis" try to do now and
then, and only the those with deficient understanding or faith would object to increasing
remembrance of Allah on such nights as Laylat al-isra' or 15th of
Sha'ban.
The Night of
Absolution has also been called ' blessed ', because it is a vessel
for the mercy, a blessing, a benefit, and pardon & forgiveness descending
for the people on earth.
According to Abu
Nasr, the Beloved Nabi Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa
Sallam is reported as having said:
Again from Abu Nasr,
we learn that Hadrat A' isha Radi Allahu ta'ala anha once said:
[The
reporter said:] ''' Glory be to Allah!' I said to her, ' So what was
it made of ?''
She replied:
She continued:
''So he did not cease from worship, now standing and now sitting
[on his heels], until morning came. Then his feet were put up, and
as I massaged them I said:
'He (Salla Allahu 'alayhi wa
'aalihi wa Sallam) replied :
I asked, and he said :
'' O
Messenger of Allah,' said I, ' Will no one enter Paradise except
by Allah' s mercy?'
' No one will enter Paradise except by
Allah' s mercy,' he (Salla Allahu 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa
Sallam) told me.
Then he rubbed his hand over
his head and his face.
The
following account, which I also received from Abu Nasr, tells how
Hadrat A' isha Radi Allahu ta'ala anha related that Allah' s
Beloved Messenger Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam once said
to her:
Then he said:
He held the upright position only
briefly, and recited al-Hamd and a short Surah; then he
stayed in prostration till the middle of the night; then he stood
up to begin the second cycle with a recitation similar to the
first, and then his prostration lasted until dawn.
A' isha Radi Allahu anha went on to say:
'I watched him till I thought that
Allah (Exalted is He) had taken His Messenger Salla
Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam, then, after a long
time had elapsed, I got close enough to touch the soles of his
feet. He stirred, and I heard him say in his prostration:
''I said: ' O Messenger of Allah, tonight I
have heard you utter something, during your prostration, that I
never heard you mention before?'
' And have you learned it?' he
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa
Sallam) asked.
When I said yes, he (Salla
Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) told me:
According
to another report, of which Abu Nasr informed me, Hadrat A'
isha Radi Allahu anha once said:
' Were you afraid that Allah and His Messenger would treat
you unfairly?'
I replied: ' O Messenger of Allah, I thought you
had gone to one of your [other] wives.'
He (Salla Allahu 'alayhi wa
'aalihi wa Sallam) said:
' On the night of mid-Sha' baan, Allah (Exalted is He) descends to the lowest heaven and forgives more than the number of woolly hairs on the flocks and herds of [the tribe of] Kalb.' '
Ikrima (may Allah bestow his mercy upon him),
the client of Hadrat Ibn ' Abbaas Radi Allahu anhu and with his
father), is reported as having said, about the words of Allah
(Exalted is He):
Hakiim ibn Kaysaan
said:
According to ' Ataa'
ibn Yasaar:
Abu
Nasr informed me that Hadrat A' isha Radi Allahu anhu
once said: