🧵 *15th Shaʿbān Series: Bidʿah Practices on the Night of 15th Shaʿbān*
In our previous post, we already presented authentic narrations from the Aḥādīth of Prophet ﷺ, the Salaf (Ṣaḥābah, Tābiʿīn, and Tābiʿ al-Tābiʿīn), the scholars of the 4 Madhabs as well as Salafīs/Ahl-e-Ḥadīth Scholars themselves confirming that the night of 15th of Shaʿbān definitely holds virtue. However, it should be noted that there is no specific, designated form of worship prescribed for this night. A person may worship in any form of voluntary (nafl) acts. Some people engage in innovated practices (bidʿah) on this night, which the scholars of the past and present have consistently refuted. The rejection of certain innovated practices on this night does not necessitate denying the virtue of the night itself. At the same time, we should be careful in observing the night with only the virtue attributed to it and refrain from extremism (ghulūw) in worship such that it leads to innovations (bidʿah).
📌 *Common Bidʿah Practices*
1️⃣ *Engaging in Fireworks and Decorative Lighting*
👉 Shah ʿAbdul Ḥaqq Muḥaddith Dehlawī رحمه الله (d. 1052 AH) writes:
❝An evil bidʿat that takes place quite commonly in India is the lighting of lanterns, etc. These are hung in the homes and on walls and people boast about the number of lights they have lit. Furthermore they gather in large numbers around these lights and engage in vain and sinful amusements. It is quite apparent that there is absolutely no religious basis for such a practice. No mention of it can be found in any Hadith (whether strong or fabricated), nor in any of the various Islamic books. An interesting point is that this particular bidʿat is seen to occur in India only. It does not occur in Makkah or Madinah or any of the Islamic countries. This fact would tend to support the theory that this bidʿat is an offshoot of the Hindu celebrations of Diwali. The Muslims of India being in close contact with the Hindus probably began imitating them in their practices, thus resulting in the introduction of this and various other bidʿats.❞
📚 [Ma-Ṭhabata-bis-Sunnah, pg. 215]
2️⃣ *Considering it Necessary to Prepare and Distribute Sweets and Desserts*
👉 Ḥakīm al-Ummah Maulānā Ashraf ʿAlī Thānvī رحمه الله (d. 1362 AH) mentions:
❝Some feel that it is compulsory to distribute food on this night with the intention of Isāle-Sawāb. There is no link between this practice and the significance of this night. Any virtuous act could be carried out without considering it as specific to this night. This custom should also be avoided. One could easily feed on any other day or night for that matter. Furthermore, no other special acts of charity, etc., have been prescribed for this night.❞
📚 [Fatāwā Imdādiyyah, 4/27]
3️⃣ *Ḥadīth on Rajab, Shaʿbān, and Ramaḍān*
👉 Some people quote the following narration in their lectures: Rasūlullāh ﷺ said: ❝Rajab is Allah’s month, Shaʿbān is my month, and Ramaḍān is the month of my Ummah.❞ It should be noted that this “Ḥadīth” has been declared unreliable by Ḥadīth masters like Imām al-Dhahabī (d. 748 AH), Imām Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751 AH), Imām al-Kinānī (d. 963 AH), Imām al-Manāwī (d. 1031 AH), Imām Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī (d. 1014 AH), Imām Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (d. 852 AH), Imām ʿAbd al-Ḥayy al-Laknawī (d. 1304 AH).
📚 [Talkhīṣ Kitāb al-Mawḍūʿāt, 433, 507; al-Manār al-Munīf, pg. 95; Tanzīh al-Sharīʿah, 2/90; Fayḍ al-Qadīr, 4411; al-Asrār al-Marfūʿah, pg. 438; Tabyīn al-ʿAjab, pg. 25-26; Akhbār-e-Mawḍūʿah, pg. 329]
4️⃣ *Specifying Certain Acts of Worship like Ṣalāt al-Alfiyyah and Ṣalāt al-Raghāʾib*
👉 Imām al-Nawawī رحمه الله (d. 676 AH) said:
❝The prayer of the middle night, consisting of one hundred rakʿahs on the night of the middle of Shaʿbān, and the prayer of al-Raghāʾib, are two blameworthy and reprehensible innovations.❞
📚 [Khulāṣat al-Aḥkām fī Muhimmāt al-Sunan wa Qawāʿid al-Islām, 1/615–616]
5️⃣ *Turning Individual Acts of Worship into Collective Practices*
👉 Imām Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī رحمه الله (d. 795 AH) mentions:
❝It is makrūh to get together and perform ṣalāh or duʿāʾ in the masjid, but it is not disliked for a person to perform it individually.❞
📚 [Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif, pg. 161]
👉 Imām Ibn Taymiyyah al-Ḥanbalī رحمه الله (d. 728 AH) mentions:
❝In any case, the night of the 15th of Shaʿbān has virtue, and people from the Salaf used to pray in it. However, worshipping collectively in a gathered manner is an innovation (bidʿah).❞
📚 [Mustadrak ʿalā Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā, 3/112]
6️⃣ *Holding Mixed (religious) Gatherings of Men and Women*
👉 Imām Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī رحمه الله (d. 795 AH) mentions:
❝Men and women mixing in gatherings is a reprehensible innovation, as stated by al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī رحمه الله.❞
📚 [Majmūʿ Rasāʾil al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī, 1/390]
👉 Imām al-Kāsānī al-Ḥanafī رحمه الله (d. 587 AH) states:
❝As for the woman, she is preoccupied with serving her husband and is prohibited from going out to gatherings of men, because going out to them is a cause of fitnah.❞
📚 [Badāʾiʿ al-Ṣanāʾiʿ, 2/186]
👉 Imām al-Māwardī al-Shāfiʿī رحمه الله (d. 450 AH) said:
❝A woman is forbidden from mixing with men and is ordered to stay in the house [when there is no need to come out].❞
📚 [al-Ḥāwī al-Kabīr, 2/51]
7️⃣ *Considering Visiting the Graveyard to be Obligatory*
👉 Muftī Saʿīd Aḥmad Pālanpūrī رحمه الله (d. 1441 AH) stated:
❝On this night, one can supplicate for himself and the deceased, and there is no need to go to the graveyard.❞
❝The narration of going to the graveyard is weak. Besides this, the Prophet ﷺ did not encourage the people to go to the graveyard on the night of the 15th of Shabān.❞
📚 [Tuḥfa al-Almaʿī, 3/114–116]
8️⃣ *Considering Staying Awake the Entire Night to be Obligatory*
👉 Imām al-ʿIzz ibn ʿAbd al-Salām رحمه الله (d. 660 AH) states:
❝As for the night of mid-Shaʿbān, it has virtue, and reviving it with worship is recommended, but individually without congregation. People [publicly] treating it as a [religious] season and symbol [of religion] is an evil innovation.❞
📚 [Musājalah ʿIlmiyyah, pg. 41]
👉 Imām al-Ḥaṣkafī al-Ḥanafī رحمه الله (d. 1088 AH) said:
❝Among the recommended acts are [...] remaining awake in worship on the two nights of the two ʿĪds, the night of the 15th of Shaʿbān, the last ten nights of Ramaḍān, and the first ten days of Dhū al-Ḥijjah.❞
📚 [al-Durr al-Mukhtār, pg. 92]
📝 Note: Here it is clearly mentioned that staying awake in worship is merely recommended and not obligatory. Therefore, deeming a recommended act to be obligatory will be a Bidʿah.
9️⃣ *Widowed Women Adorning Themselves and Sitting in Wait for Their Deceased Husbands*
🔟 *Laying Out Beds in Homes for the “Rest” of Men’s Souls*
1️⃣1️⃣ *Exchanging Greetings and Congratulations With One Another*
1️⃣2️⃣ *Considering Ritual Bathing (Ghusl) to Be a Means of Virtue and Something Necessary*
👉 Maulānā Ilyās Ghummān has explicitly mentioned these practices to be from some of the reprehensible innovations during this night.
📚 [Shab-e-Barāt Aḥkām wa Masāʾil, Bidʿat wa Khurāfāt, pg. 18]
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