Dear brothers,
Ramadan, the month of piety is coming and today inshaallah we will talk about the night of mid Sha’ban and about an introduction to the month of Ramadan. Before that, there should be an introduction. You know that Allah Almighty says:
(148. For every nation there is a direction to which they face. So hasten towards all that is good. Wheresoever you may be, Allah will bring you together (on the Day of Resurrection). Truly, Allah is Able to do all things.)
[Al-Bakara surah]
Man has free will to choose the way of belief or disbelief, the way of doing good or doing bad, the way of obedience or disobedience, Allah says:
(For every nation there is a direction to which they face. So hasten towards all that is good)
It is well proved that man has free will. If man was not free to choose, there wouldn’t have been a reward or punishment, promise or warning, responsibility or obligation. In that case bearing the trust would have been a mere play, and the Quran would have been useless. Had Allah forced His servants to be obedient, there would have been no reward, and had He forced them to be disobedient, there would have been no punishment, but if He had left them, it would have been a lack of ability. Man has free choice.
(For every nation there is a direction to which they face. So hasten towards all that is good)
This means that for every human being since Allah created the earth and till the Doomsday has a direction he faces. He gets sins if that direction is wrong or he gets reward if it is correct. Allah says:
(So hasten towards all that is good)
The meaning is that now you are free to choose, you have the opportunities of survival, of happiness. Now you are is the place of racing, action, repentance, correction, and forgiveness. As long as your heart is beating, you have time, the door of repentance is open, the door of forgiveness is open, the door of correction is open, the door of coming closer to Allah is open. To every nation there is a direction they face so hasten towards all that is good. This means that the direction that you may face wherever you are, you don’t control that direction always, you control it temporarily. The evidence is:
(Wheresoever you may be, Allah will bring you together)
[Al-Bakara surah]
It means, you have to hasten and race to Allah’s obedience. Once, the prophet (PBUH) went up the minbar (pulpit) and said (Amen), went up the second step and said (Amen), and went up the third step and said (Amen), then he delivered a speech, performed the prayer, and some of his companions asked him why he said (Amen). He said :
((Jibrael came to me and said: May his nose be rubbed in dust (a sign of humiliation), who remembers you and does not send peace on you, so I said: Amen, so he said: May his nose be rubbed in dust, who attains parents and does not enter Paradise, so I said: Amen, so he said: May his nose be rubbed in dust, who attains Ramadan and is not forgiven by it, so I said: Amen”.
If he was not forgiven in it, then when would he be forgiven?
In other words, Ramadan is an occasion, an occasion for worship, Thikr (remembrance of Allah), good deeds, and Quran recitation, so our state with Allah should not be ordinary in this occasion. We should work hard to win the race. There is a point that leads us to Sha’ban or to the night of mid Sha’ban, which is that machines need preparation, training. If you stay as you are till the first day of Ramadan, your body and soul can’t take off directly, but if you notice in Sha’ban that this month is approaching, if you free yourself of some work and prepare to meet this month with connection, seeking Allah’s forgiveness, love, and passion, the first day of Ramadan would come when this machine is prepared to take off in fasting, night prayer, worship, Quran recitation and good deeds to gain Allah’s pleasure.
In fact, there are many things related to the night of mid Sha’ban, but most of them are not authentic. What is authentic is the hadith:
((Usama bin Zaid said: I said: O Messenger of Allah, I haven’t seen you fasting in any month as you fast in Sha’abn. He said: It is a month that people forget between Rajab and Ramadan, and it is a month in which deeds are raised to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, so I would love my deeds to be raised while I am fasting))
[related by An-Nasa’I and Ahamad]
The prophet (PBUH) used to do many acts of worship in Sha’ban as a preparation to Ramadan. There is also another thing. Anas (May Allah be pleased with him) said:
(( Upon seeing the crescent of Sh’aban ,the prophet’s companions used to take mushafs and recite them, the rich paid the zakat of their money to support the weak and the needy in fasting Ramadan, the governors used to call the prison managers to punish those who deserve legal punishment or else to set them free, traders used to settle their payments, so when they saw the crescent of Ramadan they used to take baths and stay in the mosques in I’tikaf.))
So the prophet’s companions and the righteous Muslims who came after them used to make the month of Sha’ban as a preparation to Ramadan, as I said before, so that their souls would be fully prepared to start one of the most sacred and great occasions.
Some scholars use to recite Ya-sin surah once asking Allah to give them long life in Allah’s obedience;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
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