The Month of Sha’ban and Fireworks, etc.:
It also seems appropriate to clarify some topics related to the month of Sha’ban: which actions are Sunnah in this month? And which actions are not only not Sunnah but are innovations? Similarly, what is the reality of the middle night of this month, i.e., the night of the 15th of Sha’ban? Fasting is observed on this day, and a specific prayer is performed on this night; what is its Shariah reality? The reality of the fireworks and illumination done on this night has already been mentioned in the context of the “Isra and Mi’raj celebration,” so there is no need to repeat it.
Fasts of the Month of Sha’ban:
Regarding other matters, the very first point is that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ used to observe many voluntary fasts in this month without specifying any particular day. It is narrated from Hazrat Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her):
كان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يصوم حتى نقول لا يفطر ويفطر حتى نقول لا يصوم وما رأيت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم استكمل صيام شهر قط إلا رمضان وما رأيته فى شهر أكثر منه صياما فى شعبان
The Prophet ﷺ used to fast so frequently that we would say he might not leave fasting even for a single day, and sometimes when he did not fast consecutively, we thought he would not fast voluntarily at all. I never saw him fast the entire month of any month except Ramadan, and I never saw him fast more in any month than in Sha’ban.
There are many hadiths on this subject in Sahih and Sunan collections, some of which even contain the words كُلِّه that you fasted the entire Sha’ban, but by “entire” is meant mostly, not the complete month, because in Sahih Muslim and Nasa’i it is narrated from Hazrat Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her):
ولا صام شهرا كاملا قط منذ قدم المدينة غير رمضان
Since the Prophet ﷺ came to Medina, except for Ramadan, he never fasted the entire month of any month.
Among Arabs, the word كُل is commonly used for “mostly.” It is well known. Imam Tirmidhi (may Allah have mercy on him) has narrated from Imam Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak (may Allah have mercy on him):
وهو جائز فى كلام العرب إذا صام أكثر الشهرأن يقول صام الشهر كله
In Arabic speech, it is permissible that if a person fasts most days of a month, it can be said that he fasted the whole month, and this is almost known in every language.
And in Sahih Bukhari, it is also narrated from Hazrat Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both):
وما صام النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم شهرا كاملا قط غير رمضان
The Prophet ﷺ never fasted the entire month of any month except Ramadan.
And in the same noble hadith, describing the nature of his voluntary fasts, it is said:
ويصوم حتى يقول القائل لا والله لا يفطر ويفطر حتى يقول القائل لا والله لا يصوم
He used to fast so continuously that the onlooker would say: By Allah! The Prophet ﷺ will not leave fasting at all. And when he would stop fasting, he would stop continuously until the onlooker would say: By Allah! The Prophet ﷺ will never fast voluntarily.
The overall implication of these and similar hadiths is that the Prophet ﷺ used to fast continuously according to opportunity and availability, and sometimes he would stop fasting continuously, while he also used to fast the white days of every month, i.e., the 13th, 14th, and 15th of the lunar month, and also the Mondays and Thursdays of every week.
The reason for fasting abundantly in the month of Sha’ban:
After the month of Ramadan, the most virtuous fasts are those of the month of Muharram, as mentioned in Sahih Muslim and other hadith books. However, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) fasted more in the month of Sha’ban than in Muharram. Explaining the reason for this, Imam Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) states that it is possible that the superiority of the fasts of Muharram over those of Sha’ban was informed to the Prophet later, and due to this knowledge in the latter part of his life, he could not fast as much. It is also possible that due to travel, illness, or other excuses in Muharram, he could not fast frequently in that month.
Allama Yamani Amir San’ani (may Allah have mercy on him) wrote in “Subul al-Salam”:
The answer to this can also be that the virtue of the fasts of Muharram is the greatest among the sacred months, meaning that compared to ordinary months, the fasts of Sha’ban are superior, but the four sacred months—Dhu al-Qi’dah, Dhu al-Hijjah, Muharram, and Rajab—are exceptions. Because the virtue of these four months is greater than other ordinary months except Ramadan, and among these more virtuous months, the fasts of Muharram are the most virtuous.
Several reasons have been given for the Prophet’s frequent fasting in Sha’ban. Hafiz Ibn Hajar Asqalani (may Allah have mercy on him) in “Fath al-Bari,” Allama Yamani (may Allah have mercy on him) in “Subul al-Salam,” and other commentators have narrated some traditions mentioning the reasons. However, since these are weak narrations, the most authentic hadith on this matter is the one found in Abu Dawood, An-Nasa’i, and Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah, in which Hazrat Usama bin Zaid (may Allah be pleased with him) says that he asked the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him):
لم أرك تصوم من شهر من الشهور ما تصوم من شعبان قال ذلك شهر يغفل الناس عنه بين رجب ورمضان وهو شهر ترفع فيه الأعمال إلى الله رب العالمين فأحب أن يرفع عملي وأنا صائم
I have not seen you fast in any month as much as you fast in Sha’ban. The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied: “It is a month that lies between Rajab and Ramadan, and people are heedless of it. It is the month in which the deeds of people are raised to the Lord of the Worlds, and I like that my deeds be raised while I am fasting.”
One wisdom behind the Prophet’s frequent fasting in Sha’ban is that he often fasted on the white days (13th, 14th, and 15th of the lunar month) and on Mondays and Thursdays. Sometimes, due to certain reasons, he could not fast these continuously, so to compensate, he fasted most days of Sha’ban. A hadith conveying this meaning is narrated from Hazrat Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) in Al-Tabarani’s Al-Awsat, but it is weak and not reliable for argument.
Another explanation for the frequent fasting in Sha’ban is that the Prophet’s pure wives (may Allah be pleased with them) would delay making up their missed fasts of Ramadan until the Prophet was present, and when Sha’ban arrived, they would fast their qada (missed fasts), and the Prophet (peace be upon him) would also fast voluntary fasts.
In any case, the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to fast frequently in Sha’ban, and every Sunnah of the Prophet is based on wisdom and removes some evil. Among the Arabs, robbery and banditry were common, but during the four sacred months, they refrained from such acts. Because Rajab is one of the sacred months, they would stop these acts during it, and as soon as Sha’ban began, they would disperse here and there. One reason for naming the month Sha’ban is this scattering.
As Hafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) wrote in Fath al-Bari, the commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari:
وسمي شعبان لتشعبهم فى طلب المياه أو فى الغارات بعد أن يخرج شهر رجب الحرام وهذا أولى من الذى قبله وقيل فيه غير ذلك
The name Sha’ban was given because of their scattering in search of water or for fighting and looting. They would start these activities immediately after Rajab passed. This is the most appropriate reason for the name, although several others have been mentioned.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) established the Sunnah of fasting to counter these reprehensible acts, which involves abandoning greed and desire, self-restraint, and the discipline of hunger, through which habits of plundering, looting, oppression, and aggression naturally cease.
Fasting on the 15th of Sha’ban :.
The fasts of the month of Sha’ban are general and not specifically the fast of the 15th of Sha’ban, because the narration found regarding the specific fast of the 15th of Sha’ban is weak, the details of which we will mention a little later, InshaAllah. Also, it should be kept in mind that some hadiths indicate that no voluntary fasts should be observed after the 15th of Sha’ban.
As the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:
إذا انتصف شعبان فلا تصوموا حتى يکون رمضان
“When the middle of Sha’ban comes, then do not fast after it until the month of Ramadan begins.”
According to Mulla Ali Qari in Al-Mirqat, the reason is actually that no matter how virtuous the fasts of Sha’ban are, they are still voluntary, whereas Ramadan is the month of obligatory fasts. Therefore, strength should be gathered in preparation for it so that a person does not suffer weakness or fatigue, and so that there is no need to make up missed obligatory fasts in that month.
Hafiz Ibn Hajar Asqalani (may Allah have mercy on him) writes:
There is no contradiction or conflict between the virtue of fasting frequently in Sha’ban or the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him) to fast frequently and the prohibition of fasting after the middle of Sha’ban. These two can be reconciled by understanding that this prohibition is for those who are not generally accustomed to fasting throughout the year and start fasting in the second half of Sha’ban for some reason. However, for a person who is accustomed to fasting the white days (13th, 14th, 15th of the lunar month), or fasting every Monday and Thursday, or fasting every other day (the Dawoodi fast), there is no prohibition on fasting on these days. Thus, the apparent contradiction between the two types of hadiths is resolved.
Fasting on the Last One or Two Days of Sha’ban
Similarly, it is also prohibited to fast one or two days before the month of Ramadan.
This prohibition of one or two fasts is for those people who consider it as a preparatory fast for Ramadan. Since habitual fasting throughout the year is not related to such matters or preparatory fasts, their case is different. Fasting on the last date of Sha’ban merely on the suspicion that the moon might have appeared but was not sighted for some reason, and therefore we fast that day, has also been strongly refuted by the Prophet ﷺ. He forbade fasting on the day of doubt, and according to some authentic hadiths, fasting on the day of doubt is not only prohibited but also forbidden. Some muhaddithin and fuqaha have mentioned this in the context of صوم يوم الشك كو الأيام التى يحرم صومها.
