By Dr. Omar Suleiman
Shaban is a month that is often neglected as people look forward to the excitement of Ramadhan and its long nights of worship. But the month of Shaban is a month of incredible virtue, expressly highlighted by our beloved Prophet (Peace be upon him). It has great historical significance as it is the month in which fasting Ramadhan was legislated through revelation and it is the month in which the qibla changed from Jerusalem to Mecca. Beyond its historical significance, Shaban is a month of fasting and increased focus on the Qur’an, giving it great spiritual significance.
What is Shaban? A Month of Fasting
The first virtue of Shaban is that it is a month of fasting. Typically, many of us forget about fasting in this month because we’re looking forward to Ramadhan. ʿĀisha (May Allah be pleased with her) said as part of a larger hadith, “I never saw Allah’s Messenger (Peace be upon him) fast for an entire month except for Ramadhan, and did not see him fasting in any month more than in Shaban.” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, no. 1969; Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, no. 1156)
ʿĀisha (May Allah be pleased with her) also said in an authentic narration, “The most beloved of months or the month in which Allah’s Messenger (Peace be upon him) loved to fast more than anything else was Shaban. Indeed, he used to join it to Ramadhan”; (Sunan Abū Dāwūd, no. 2431 and Sunan al-Nasā’ī, no. 235) i.e., he would not take a break from fasting between Shaban and Ramadhan.
From these two hadiths, we can see that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) never fasted an entire month outside of Ramadhan, but the month that he fasted most after Ramadhan was Shaban, to the point that it was as if he had connected the fasting of Shaban to the month of Ramadhan.
When is Shaban?
Shaban is the eighth month of the Islamic lunar calendar; it immediately precedes the month of Ramadhan. Jurist and spiritual author, Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751/1350), beautifully mentions that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) fasted almost all of Shaban as a means of glorifying Ramadhan, the same way that the most beloved of sunnahs is the sunnah before Fajr because it glorifies the most beloved of prayers, Fajr. And just like you use the sunnah as preparation for the obligatory prayer, so too is Shaban a preparation for and glorification of Ramadhan.
Ibn Al-Qayyim also mentions that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) was known to voluntarily fast three days of every month, but sometimes he was not able to do so. When that happened, he would fast in Shaban to make up those days before the obligatory fast of Ramadhan. This was the Prophet’s habit across a range of optional acts of worship that he used to do regularly but sometimes missed, including the night prayer and optional fasting.
A Neglected Month
Usāma b. Zayd (May Allah be pleased with him) narrated “I asked the Prophet (Peace be upon him), ‘Why is it that you fast more in Shaban than any other month?’ The Prophet (Peace be upon him) replied, ‘That is a month neglected by the people between Rajab and Ramadhan, and it is a month in which one’s deeds are raised to the Lord of the Worlds, so I love for my deeds to be raised while I am fasting.’” (Sunan al-Nasā’ī, no. 2357)
This powerful hadith gives us two layers to really unpack the gems of this month of Shaban. First and foremost, Shaban is a month most people neglect. The spiritual significance here is that the scholars suggest that the best time to compete for Allah’s pleasure are those times in which Allah is most likely to be forgotten. A person striving for excellence (muḥsin) will take advantage of these neglected times, and when everyone else is heedless, they will compete for Allah’s pleasure. This is one of the reasons the night prayer is so special, because worship in these times particularly shows that you truly want the pleasure of Allah. The great polymath Ibn al-Jawzī (d. 597/1201) says that “This is the evidence of your insistence upon doing good.”
Further evidence for this notion comes from the Companions’ love for the time between the Sunset (Maghrib) and Evening (ʿIshāʾ) prayers (or as they were commonly referred to, the ‘two ʿIshāʾs). The Companions of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) used to love to give life to the time between the two ʿIshāʾs by remembering Allah, citing it as an hour that most people are heedless of.
Similarly, the reward for the one who remembers Allah upon entering the marketplace is so grand—the granting of a million good deeds, the removal of a million bad deeds, and an elevation of a million levels in Jannah and a palace therein.
—because this is the time that we are least likely to remember Allah and worship of Him is often neglected.
On this notion, Ibn Rajab points out that worship done when people are generally heedless should be done as secretly as possible because these are deeds of iḥsān (excellence) and should therefore be done in the best manner possible.
A Month of Qur’an
Just as fasting in Shaban is neglected by many, so too is reading the Qur’an in this month. Whereas we all intend to increase the amount of Qur’an we read in Ramadhan, Shaban is the time that the reciters prepare themselves for the recitation of Ramadhan. Shaban was known by some of the pious predecessors as the month of the reciters because of how much of the Qur’an people would read during it.
Salama b. Kuhayl al-Kūfī (d. 121/739), one of the early generation of believers, known as ‘the Followers’ (tābiʿīn), narrates that when the month of Shaban approached, his people freed their time to recite the Qur’an. He said, “The month of Shaban [is] the month of reciters.” Another narration states that “When Shaban would begin, Amr ibn Qais would close his store, and devote himself to the recitation of the Qur’an.”
Shaban is a month of preparation for Ramadhan, a time to review the Qur’an.
15th of Shaban: A Night of Forgiveness
In an authentic narration, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said “Allah looks on the night of the half of Shaban (i.e., the 15th), so He forgives the entirety of His creation except for a polytheist or a person with enmity.” (Narrated by Ibn Ḥibbān, Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān, no. 5665)
A narration from ʿIkrima al-Barbarī (d. 105/723), the bondsman (mawlā) of ʿAbd Allāh Ibn ʿAbbās (d. 68/687), is frequently quoted in which he calls the 15th of Shaban the ‘Night of Exemption’ (laylat al-barāʾa), the day that we are freed from the Hellfire.
The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said that Shaban is the month in which deeds are presented to Allah and the 15th is the particular night that Allah looks at those deeds and forgives all of them. Taking advantage of this night will allow us to enter Ramadhan with amnesty, free from the burden of our sins with only the longing for our Creator remaining.
Many great scholars have written about observing the 15th of Shaban and whilst we should fill the night with worship, there are no specific acts that have been mentioned by the Prophet (Peace be upon him) to be singled out on this night.
In a beautiful statement, Ibn Rajab said that fasting in Shaban “takes away the hardship of fasting and leaves only the sweetness of it for the time of Ramadhan.” For most of us, the first few days of Ramadhan are sluggish as we get used to kicking our old habits and changing our schedule. However, by practicing our acts of worship in Shaban we can enter Ramadhan with such energy and strength that we only taste the sweetness of our worship. By optimizing our time in Shaban we can begin Ramadhan reaping the fruits of our preparation.
