THE REALITY OF SHABE BARAA'AT - 15TH SHABAAN

Dear respected brothers and sisters,

Very soon inshallah, the night of the 15th of Shabaan will be upon us. It is necessary for us to briefly understand the reality of this night, and to differentiate that which is correct and valid from that which is wrong and innovated.

There are numerous ahadith that have been narrated with regards to the virtue of this night. All of them have a certain degree of weakness in them. However, some are very slightly weak, while others are extremely weak. Putting all these ahadith together, the virtuousness and blessings of this night have been proven to be valid.

The specialty of this night is the forgiveness of Allah - according to the ahadith, a huge amount of people are forgiven on this night, and Allah casts a special gaze of mercy upon us from the very beginning of the night.

The salafis, due to their compound ignorance, refuse to accept that this night has any extra virtue over and above any other night, and in thus doing so deprive themselves of benefiting from Allah's forgiveness and mercy. We should be very careful and alert, lest we get deceived by their deviant methods of undermining the virtue of this night.

There is no special and specific ibaadat to be done in this night. One must strive to increase in all types of ibaadat generally - nafl salaah, recitation of Quran, dhikr, dua, taubah etc. Every hadeeth that is narrated regarding specific ibaadat on this night, or special surahs to be recited is fabricated.
Likewise, there is no exchanging and distributing of food or sweet dishes on the day of the 15th.

Shabe Baraa'at (or Laylatul Baraa'at) is not indicated towards anywhere in the Quran. It is famous among people that in this night the decisions regarding sustenance and death are made by Allah. This is not substantiated with any evidence, thus it is not correct, the Ulama have specified that such decisions, or any other decisions for that matter, are not made in this night.

Another misconception prevalent among the masses is that to fast on the 15th of Shabaan is sunnat. Please note that the fast of this day is not sunnat. If someone wishes to fast then he can do so, provided that he doesn't think the fast to be sunnat. To keep this fast thinking it to be sunnat is not permissible. There is no significance and virtue of fasting specifically on this day over and above fasting on any other day. 

In the ahadith there are a number of types of sinners mentioned who will be deprived of forgiveness on this blessed night -

1. The mushrik
2. The one who harbours hatred, malice, and enmity for others
3. The one who drinks alcohol
4. The one who disobeys his parents
5. The man who lets his lower garment cover his ankles
6. The one who indulges in zinaa
7. The murderer
8. The one who breaks off relations with family and relatives.

Respected brothers and sisters, it is still not too late, we still have a few days to make tauba from the above mentioned sins and completely purify ourselves from them before this night comes upon us, so that we can also be forgiven. On the contrary, if we will continue to indulge in these sins, then we will not be forgiven on that night, even if we stay up the whole night begging for forgiveness. From the above list, the most common is letting the lower garment touch the ankle - the vast majority of men are involved in this sin, and as a result deprive themselves every year from the blessings and forgiveness that are showered down in this night.

Let us all make a firm decision to once and for all get rid of these sins from our lives, so that we too can come under the protective blanket of the mercy of Allah.

THE REALITY OF THE 27TH OF RAJAB

                                                                                                                                                                    Dear respected brothers and sisters,                                                                                                       As we all know, we are approaching the 27th of Rajab, a night which is celebrated by many as the 'Night of Meraj.' There are a few important things we need to understand before discussing the applicable masaail -                                                                                                                                    1. To say that meraj took place on the 27th Rajab is wrong. 27th Rajab is one opinion among a myriad of other opinions. Numerous Ulama of the past have actually given preference to dates other than 27th Rajab. Thus, the exact date of meraj is unknown, and in fact even the year in which it took place is subject to a difference of opinion. The reason for this is simple - neither did Nabi sallallahu alaihi wasallam nor the Sahaba RA ever 'celebrate' the night of meraj in the years following the incident, they never gave any significance to the anniversaries of this event.                                            2. The virtuousness and auspiciousness of specific days or nights isn't dependent upon the opinions, whims and fancies of people. Rather it is something that it is entirely in the control of The Creator of these days and nights. It is Allah who has already chosen for us the days and nights which hold extra significance and virtue. And the only way for us to become aware of this decision of Allah is through the exemplary life of our beloved Nabi sallallahu alaihi wasallam.                                                         3. One big difference between the Sahaba RA and us is that they wouldn't celebrate anniversaries of special events, but the reality of those events would be found firmly embedded in their practical lives. For example, as mentioned above, they never celebrated the anniversary of meraj, but the reality of meraj - salaah and the other deep messages that Nabi sallallahu alaihi wasallam returned with - was a salient feature of their day to day lives. Similarly, they never celebrated the birthday of Nabi sallallahu alaihi wasallam, but they were walking copies of his mubarak lifestyle in totality. On the other hand, we today have relegated our Deen to be merely a collection of customs and celebration of anniversaries and birthdays thinking that this will fulfill the rights of Allah and Nabi Sallallahu alaihi wasallam upon us, while the reality being that our daily lives are empty of any semblance of the profound practical significance that these events hold. We claim to fulfill the haq of meraj by celebrating on a certain night which we stubbornly insist is the very night it happened, while our lives are empty of salaah and it's reality, and filled with the sins the punishments of which were witnessed by Nabi sallallahu alaihi wasallam in this blessed journey. We celebrate the birthday of Nabi sallallahu alaihi wasallam on a day regarding which it has been proven to be impossible that his mubarak birth took place in it, while we proudly display a life that is in every way opposite to the lifestyle he came with.                                                                                                                                 Having understood the above, we will proceed with a few masaail -                                                   1. There is absolutely no special ibaadat to be done in this night.                                                              2. There is no extra virtue and reward for any general ibaadat done in this night.                                3. To fast on the 27th is not mustahab - there is no extra reward over and above the reward for fasting on any other day.                                                                                                                                      4. It is an innovation, and thus not permissible for people to exchange gifts and items of food specifically on this day.

May Allah grant us the ability to stay away from all such acts which are not part of our beautiful and complete Deen.