Should Muslims celebrate Shubrat

                                             'Shab-e-Barat or

 Please see my note of Friday 15th of July last year (2011). I wrote things that I do during the month of Sh'aban but that is not celebration of this night, which as I said some Muslims do by praying all night.
 15th night of Sha'ban is called Shab-e-Bara't or (Persian naming) or shortened form "Shubrat". This night  Shubrat'has been singled out for "celebration" and I wish to talk about the TWO POINTS of VIEW.
 Celebration is related to either a weak hadeeth or mis-understanding/mis-interpretation of the following verses of Sura Dukhan 44th Sura which states (Verses 1-5 Trans. by Farooq-e-Azam Malik)
" Ha Meem,  We swear by the Book that makes things clear. We sent it (Qur'an) down during a blessed night; for We wanted to forewarn (mankind). In that (night) every matter is decided wisely, By a command, from Ourself;  Surely We have been sending (the messengers)- 
 There seems to be no doubt that " blessed Night" is the Lailat-ul-Qadr (Night of Destiny or night of Power) clearly stated in Qur'an to be during the month of Ramadhan, with similar message that ".....Angels and Spirirt (Jibraeel AS) come down by the leave of their Rabb, with all decrees...."
 As seen here the Qur'an is referring in both places (Sura Dukhan and Sura Al-Qadr) the subject of  "Kullo Amr" all the affairs (meaning destiny - like what the person will make, get rich or get poor,  who will die who will live, or will commit such and such sins or perform good deeds etc. etc.). Hadeeth notes indicate that from one night (of destiny) to the next for the whole year "commands" are "written" down. One weak hadeeth says "written down on the 15th Sh'aban and given to the angels on the Lailat-ul-Qadr during Ramadhan". This suggests that some attempt at 'compromise' between the two statements is being made. Because the Qur'an clearly states that night occures during Ramadhan, any suggestion or statement indicating any other night to be the same would be totally incorrect. (Strictly speaking these things are already in the knowledge of Allah SWT- written in Lauh-e-Mahfooz) These are descriptions I am summarizing from M'arif-ul-Quran (Mohammad Shafi) and Tafheem-ul-Qur'an (Maudoodi). M. M. Shafi, however says the following and I must quote it in Urdu
"رہا شب براءت کی فضیلت کا معامہ سو وہ ایک مستقل معاملہ ہے جو بعض روایات حدیث میں منقول ہے مگر وہ اکثر ضعیف ہیں اسی لئے قاضی ابو بکر نے اس رات کی فضیلت سے انکار کیا ہے لیکن شب براءت کی فضیلت کی روایات اگرچہ باعتبار سند کے ضعف سے کوئ خالی نہیں لیکن تعدّد طرق اور تعدّد ورایات سے ان کو ایک طرح کی قوّت حاصل ہو جاتی ہے اس لئے بہت سے مشائخ نے ان کو قبول کیا ہے کیونکہ فضائل اعمال میں ضعیف ورایات پر عمل کر لینے کی بھی گنجائش ہے- واللہ اعلم"
   Not being  insolent but here Mufti Sahb is making "grounds" for those who wish to make "good deeds" on the special night. All mofassirin and other Ulama quote the name of "Ikrima" who is a prominent Tabiee and student of Abdullah Ibn Abbas RA (if I am not mistaken) who insists on this Mid-Sha'ban night although most mufassirin including Ibn Abbas, Ibn Umer, Mujahid, Qatadah Hasan Basri Saeed bin Jubair zDahhak etc. all agree that the night is the Laialt-ul-Qadr in Ramadhan. (Maudoodi-TafheemulQuran) M. Maudoodi also quotes Ibn kathir (English Translation of Tafheem):
  "The traditions thatImam Zuhri uotes from Uthman bin Muhammad (the hadeeth is quoted in Ibn Katheer's abridged version in Arabic)  that destinies are decided from one Sh'aban to next Sh'aban is an indirect tradition and such traditions cannot be cited as against the clear text of Qur'an" Qazdi Abu Bakr ibn alArabi says , "No hadith in respect of  15th of Sh'aban is reliable either in respect of its merit or about this that decisions with regard to destiny are taken in it: therefore they do not merit attention." (Ahkaam-ul-Qur'an).
 So Muslims who follow the guidance of the weak hadeeth and have developed a regular yearly celebration wish to stick to it making ONE Opinion.
 The SECOND Opinon is of those who consider that the real  blessed night is only the one in Ramadhan reject this 'celebration' as Bid'a. (I still have 'difficulty' in calling Shubrat celebration as Bid'a)
 I myself did not know the difference when I ate halwa during my stay in Pakistan/India, like so many others like me who do not know. So I made this study some years ago that I thought would be appropriate to write this down on this 15th day of Sh'aban of the year 1433 Hijra.
 So why am I fasting today (wheres I never did when I was participating in the celebration with my family and all other Muslims).
 My reason is as follows and I do not propose for others to follow this.
   Mishkat-el-Masabeeh (English Trans. by James Robson)  quotes a hadeeth reported by Muslim and  Bokhari, from Aisha RA, " God's messenger used to fast to such an extent that we thought he would never break his fast and he would go without fasting to such an extent that we thought he would never fast. I never saw God's messenger fast a complete month except in ramadhan and I never sw him fast more in any month than in Sh'aban." Books like "Asan Fiqh" by M Yusuf Islahi and Mishakt-elMasabeeh and  Fiqh Sunnah all give an account of "volutary fasting" that the prophet SAWS emphasized or advised us to fast on those days and THEREIS NO ADVICE OF THE PROPHET TO FAST OR PRAY ALL NIGHT ON 15th OF SH"ABAN. There is suggestion  in the above quoted hadeeth of Aisha RA that he fasted frequently in Sh'aban but emphasis like that for Aashoora or 6 days of Shawwal or fasting on each three Monday and Thursday or three days of each month (usually the 13th, 14th and 15th of each month) is not found in ahadeeth.
 Based on such knowledge and the fact that I  wish to 'sort of' prepare myself for the up coming Ramadhan I have taken this route for myself that I would fast during this month on Mondays and Thursdays as well as on the three days of the midmonth during Sha'aban but NOT singling out or celebrating Shab-e-Barat. Also I am not making it a MUST for myself. I keep it purely voluntary.
 If the Muslims celebrate this night with the knowledge that this is the ni9ght of Destinoies. then it would be wrong but if they have voluntary fasting and voluntary praying without such wrong belief it is OK (as Mufti sahib says see quote above)

Allah knows best


Please visit my Urdu blog at http://saugoree-bsc.blogspot.com/