Salam Alykum wa Rahmatullah
قَالَ كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُولُ فِي خُطْبَتِهِ يَحْمَدُ اللَّهَ وَيُثْنِي عَلَيْهِ بِمَا هُوَ أَهْلُهُ ثُمَّ يَقُولُ " مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلاَ مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْهُ فَلاَ هَادِيَ لَهُ إِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ وَأَحْسَنَ الْهَدْىِ هَدْىُ مُحَمَّدٍ وَشَرَّ الأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلاَلَةٌ وَكُلَّ ضَلاَلَةٍ فِي النَّارِ"
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to praise Allah as He deserves to be praised, then he would say: 'Whomsoever Allah (SWT) guides, none can lead him astray, and whomsoever Allah sends astray, none can guide. The truest of word is the Book of Allah and best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. The worst of things are those that are newly invented; every newly-invented thing is an innovation and every innovation is going astray, and every going astray is in the Fire.' [Sunan An-Nasa'i]This hadith is self explanatory but before I begin my explanation, I would like you to watch a video which shows the similarities between all bid'ah, i.e, The rationale behind it and circumstances in innovations found in Islam & Christianity or any other religion for that matter.
Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hdd0g8Hj4YLets look at what are the basis of this celebration of laylatul bara.
There are actually 2 ahadith which are used by the supporters of Shab e Bara/Laylatul Bara:
1. "I could not find the Messenger of Allah one night. So I left and found him at Al-Baqi. He said: 'Did you fear that you had been wronged by Allah and His Messenger?' I said: 'O Messenger of Allah! I thought that you had gone to one of your wives.' So he said: 'Indeed Allah, Mighty and Sublime is He, descends to the lowest Heavens during the night of the middle of Sha'ban, to grant forgiveness to more than the number of hairs on the sheep of (Banu) Kalb." [at-Tirmidhi]
2. “The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘When it is the night of the middle of Sha’ban, spend its night in prayer and observe a fast on that day. For Allah descends at sunset on that night to the lowest heaven and says: ‘Is there no one who will ask Me for forgiveness, that I may forgive him? Is there no one who will ask Me for provision, that I may provide for him? Is there no one who is afflicted by trouble, that I may relieve him?’ And so on, until dawn comes." [Ibn Majah]
Hadith number 1 is classified as
Da'if (weak) & hadith number 2 is classified as
Mawdu (fabricated).
Furthermore other ahadith which are graded as Sahih are in conflict with these hadiths for example:
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) (p.b.u.h) said, "Our Lord, the Blessed, the Superior, comes every night down on the nearest Heaven to us when the last third of the night remains, saying: "Is there anyone to invoke Me, so that I may respond to invocation? Is there anyone to ask Me, so that I may grant him his request? Is there anyone seeking My forgiveness, so that I may forgive him?" [Sahih Al Bukhari]
So by simple logic you can see that the 2 ahadith used for propagating the bidah of shabaan are in clear conflict with the rest of well established ahadith and should be steered clear of.
Here are some opinions of reputed scholars regarding 15
th of shaaban:
Muhammad ‘Abd al-Salaam al-Shuqayri said: Imam al-Fatni said in Tadhkirat al-Mawdoo‘aat: Among the innovations that have been introduced on “Laylat an-Nusf” (mid-Sha‘baan) is al-Salaat al-Alfiyyah, which is one hundred rak‘ahs in which Soorat al-Ikhlaas is recited ten times in each rak‘ah, offered in congregation; they pay more attention to this than to Jumu‘ah and Eid prayers, although there is no report concerning it, except da‘eef (weak) and mawdoo‘ (fabricated) reports, and we should not be deceived by the fact that these reports were quoted by the authors of al-Qoot and al-Ihya’ and others, nor should we be deceived by what was mentioned in Tafseer al-Tha‘labi, that it is Laylat al-Qadr. End quote.
Al-‘Iraaqi said: The hadeeth about the prayer on Laylat al-Nisf (mid-Sha‘baan) is false. Ibn al-Jawzi narrated it in al-Mawdoo‘aat (which is a compilation of fabricated hadeeths):
Chapter on the hadeeth, prayer and supplication on Laylat al-Nisf:
The hadeeth, “When the night of ‘nisf Sha‘baan’ (mid-Sha‘baan) comes, spend the night in prayer and fast on that day” was narrated by Ibn Maajah from ‘Ali. Muhashiyyah said: (It was also narrated) in al-Zawaa’id. Its isnaad is da‘eef (weak) because of the weakness of Ibn Abi Basrah, of whom Ahmad and Ibn Ma‘een said: He fabricates hadeeth. End quote.
Praying six rak‘ahs on Laylat al-Nisf with the intention of warding off calamity, having a long life and being independent of people, and reciting Ya-Seen and offering du‘aa’ in between that -- there is no doubt that this is something that has been introduced into the religion and is contrary to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). The commentator on al-Ihya’ said: This prayer is well known in the books of later Sufi masters, but I have not seen any saheeh report in the Sunnah to support it and the connected du‘aa’. Rather this is the action of some shaykhs. Our companions said: It is makrooh to gather on any of the nights mentioned in the mosques or elsewhere. Al-Najm al-Ghayti said, describing spending the night of al-Nisf min Sh‘baan (mid-Sha‘baan) praying in congregation: That was denounced by most of the scholars of the Hijaz, including ‘Ata’ and Ibn Abi Mulaykah, the fuqaha’ of Madinah and the companions of Maalik. They said: All of that is an innovation (bid‘ah) and there is no report to suggest that the Prophet spent that night in praying in congregation or that his Companions did that either. Al-Nawawi said: The prayers of Rajab and Sha‘baan are two reprehensible innovations. End quote from al-Sunan wa’l-Mubtada‘aat, p. 144
Al-Fatni (may Allah have mercy on him) said, after the comments quoted above: The common folk are so infatuated with this prayer that they stored up a lot of fuel for it and many evils resulted from it, and many transgressions are committed which we do no need to describe. (It is so bad that) the close friends of Allah feared His punishment and fled into the wilderness. The first time this prayer occurred was in Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem) in 448 AH. Zayd ibn Aslam said: We never saw any of our shaykhs or fuqaha’ saying that Laylat al-Baraa’ah (15 Sha‘baan) had any superiority over other nights. Ibn Dihyah said: The hadeeths about the prayer on Laylat al-Baraa’ah are fabricated and one has an interruption in the isnaad. Anyone who acts upon a report which is known to be false is a servant of the Shaytaan.
End quote from Tadhkirat al-Mawdoo‘aat by al-Fatni, p. 45
See: al-Mawdoo‘aat by Ibn al-Jawzi, 2/127; al-Manaar al-Muneef fil Saheeh wa’l-Da‘eef by Ibn al-Qayyim, p. 98; al-Fawaa’id al-Majmoo‘ah by al-Shawkaani, p. 51
But apart from all the bickering and arguments why is it so difficult for people to see that what they are doing is hacking away at their Imaan. Look at all the grave worship, music and intermingling of the sexes that goes on during these "celebrations".
They claim that they do it for the pleasure of Allah and to show their respect to the Prophet Pbuh.
They should be asked that if the Prophet Pbuh or his companions RA did not perform this act then do they think that they know better than the Prophet Pbuh?
Or do they want to imply that the Prophet forgot to teach these forms of Ibadah?
Or perhaps they came up with better ways of worshiping Allah and honoring the Prophet Pbuh than the Prophet Pbuh taught us himself?
Salam Wa Rahmatullah
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