Laylat al-Nusf min Sha’baan (the middle of Sha’baan) should not be singled out for wo
Assalamu Aleikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu,
I found this thread very pertinent because the 15th of Shaban is approaching and this day is given extra attention and considered a special night for extra worshipping actions by the large amount of muslims in my country.
Before I did research on this subject I had already heard that celebrating this date is a religious inovvation to be avoided, and in the other hand, those who practice it defend there is nothing wrong with what they do since they're just doing devotion acts, such as fasting and praying extra salats during this night, in which they believe many souls are released from a destiny in Hell, and they pray for forgiveness.
When I took time for research and get informed with knowledgeable muslims, I've found that there's no solid evidence to show the 15th of Shaban is a special night, this belief has its base on fabricated and very weak ahadeeth, and to practice extra worshipping in this night because of this belief consists in bidah.
Here it is link I personally found quite useful, in which fatwa is summed up very well this question. If we have opportunity, we should gently show to our brothers and sisters who have the belief that 15th Shaban is a big special night due to misinformation or lack of information, the truth about it, the type of evidence which relies behind it, and that it is better and safer to avoid it, even if intentions are good, we muslims should always worship Allah swt based on true and solid evidence.
http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/8907
This is the content of the link above:
I read in a book that fasting on the middle of Sha’baan is a kind of bid’ah, but in another book I read that one of the days on which it is mustahabb to fast is the middle of Sha’baan… what is the definitive ruling on this?
Praise be to Allaah.
There is no saheeh marfoo’ report that speaks of the virtue of the middle of Sha’baan that may be followed, not even in the chapters on al-Fadaa’il (chapters on virtues in books of hadeeth etc.). Some maqtoo’ reports (reports whose isnaads do not go back further than the Taabi’een) have been narrated from some of the Taabi’een, and there are some ahaadeeth, the best of which are mawdoo’ (fabricated) or da’eef jiddan (very weak). These reports became very well known in some countries which were overwhelmed by ignorance; these reports suggest that people’s lifespans are written on that day or that it is decided on that day who is to die in the coming year. On this basis, it is not prescribed to spend this night in prayer or to fast on this day, or to single it out for certain acts of worship. One should not be deceived by the large numbers of ignorant people who do these things. And Allaah knows best.
Shaykh Ibn Jibreen.
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.
Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid
InshaAllah I hope more and more people open the eyes as I did, Alhamdulillah,
May Allah guide us to His straight path in knowledge and strong Imaan, Ameen!
Assalamu Aleikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu