Question:
Is there
anything affirmed in the Revealed Law that indicates that it is recommended to
supplicate (duʿāʾ) and fast the middle day of Shaʿbān, or fast the day
following the night of the Isrāʾ wa Al-Miʿrāj on the 27th of Rajab?
Answer
(from Sheikh Wahbah Az-Zuḥaylī):
There is
nothing affirmed in the Revealed Law that indicates that one should spend the
night of the middle day of Shaʿbān in group supplication, nor is there any
specified prayer (ṣalāh) therein. Likewise, there is nothing affirmed
regarding it being recommended to fast the middle day of Shaʿbān, or the day of
the Isrāʾ wa al-Miʿrāj due to the difference of opinion amongst the ʿulamāʾ regarding its exact date. Amongst
the things that are rejected is the supplication that is frequently used on the
middle day of Shaʿbān, for it contains that which
transgresses the bounds of the Revealed Law when, in the supplication, it is
said, “Allah erases whatever He wills or endorses it. The Master Copy of the
Book is with Him” [Sūrat Ar-Raʿd
13:39], because the foundations of things are never erased or reaffirmed and
thus differ with what is written on the Preserved Tablet (al-Lawḥ al-Maḥfūẓ).[1]
The ḥadīth that has been related by Ibn Mājah on the
authority of ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with
him, in which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “If
it is the night of the middle day of Shaʿbān, then stand during its night and fast during its day,
for indeed Allah, Blessed and Exalted, descends therein upon the setting of the
sun to the lowest sky, and says, “Is there anyone seeking forgiveness that I
can forgive? Is there anyone seeking provision that I can provide for? Is there
anyone suffering that I can relieve? Is there anyone such-and-such? Is there
anyone such-and-such?” until the crack of dawn” is not authentic (ṣaḥīḥ).
The only
thing that has been authentically narrated from the Prophet, may Allah bless
him and grant him peace, is regarding the virtue of the entire month of Shaʿbān, without distinguishing one night over another,
and this is why he would fast a lot during this month. Also, it is unlawful to
fast in the second half of Shaʿbān
unless one has fasts to make up or those days coincide with one’s normal fasts.[2]
[Translated
from Fatāwā Muʿāṣirah (Damascus: Dār Al-Fikr,
1427/2006), p.36-37]
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