The Importance of Sha’ban | Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

The Importance of Sha'ban

Dear brothers and elders and youngsters, whenever we prepare for a joyous occasion, an occasion which we are hoping to seek some happiness from, the nature of that occasion is that we prep for it. There's a certain level of preparation that goes behind it in order for that event to become successful. It is the natural setup of an event.

No one goes into their wedding on the day of the wedding and says, "Hey, where's the food?" They've already ordered the food. No one goes into an exam saying, "Oh, I didn't know that there was going to be an exam today." Any event that is worth succeeding in, people prepare for it.

And that prep then extends within that event and it makes it a successful event. Anything that we do in life requires some form of preparation. Every single one of us consider this blessed month of Ramadan that is dawning upon us to be a month of joy, a month of peace, a month of comfort.

And we enter it every single year echoing the same statement: "Wow, it's already here. It's already here. How did it come so fast? I wasn't ready. I didn't realize it's already Ramadan. I didn't know it's already here."

It was so quick because there was no prep for it. We entered it flat-footed. And when a person starts a race flat-footed, there is no way they can catch up. Regardless of how fast they run, they started flat-footed. And hence, this is why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala blessed us with the month of Sha'ban.

Why Is It Called Sha'ban?

Because this month of Sha'ban — Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani says, why is it called Sha'ban? He says it's called Sha'ban because it's in between two great months. In the Islamic calendar, the month before Sha'ban is Rajab, a month in which no one can fight. And the month after is the month of Ramadan.

And in between comes this blessed month. This is why in the Arabic language, when you have two mountains on both sides, that valley which is in between is called sha'b. It's called Sha'ban because it's connecting two beautiful months.

The Prophet's ﷺ Practice in Sha'ban

One day, Usama ibn Zayd radiyaAllahu anhu — who was the son of Zayd ibn Harithah, who was the adopted son of the Prophet ﷺ, whom the Prophet loved very dearly — he comes to him and he says:

"Ya Rasulullah, why do I see that you fast in this month of Sha'ban —

— more than you fast in any other month of the year?"

That was his observation. He was watching and he noticed that every single year, the Prophet ﷺ would increase his ibadah in the month of Sha'ban. And the Prophet ﷺ responded by saying to Usama:

(Sunan al-Nasa'i, Hadith 2357; also reported in Musnad Ahmad)

"This is a month that most people are negligent of. They are heedless of it. And this is the month in which all of our a'mal go up to Allah. And I would prefer that my actions are raised to Allah and they are presented to Allah whilst I am fasting — whilst I am in the form of ibadah, whilst I am doing something good."

The Wisdom of Neglected Times

And in the commentary of this hadith, Ibn al-Qayyim says — and I find this statement to be fairly profound — he says that it is within the neglected and the ignored times in which the pious people earn nearness to Allah. I'll say it again: he says it is within those unknown, heedless, negligent times which most people don't recognize the value of, through which people gain nearness to Allah.

So an extension of that statement is: people don't just gain nearness to Allah through Ramadan, because no one is heedless in the month of Ramadan — or most people are not. People don't just gain nearness to Allah through the day of Jumu'ah, because everyone is there for the day of Jumu'ah. People don't just gain nearness through Eid. These are not times of neglect. These are not times that are ignored.

But rather the times that are ignored are the ones that can give us the most closeness to Allah. And then he explains what those times are. This is why we have what we call Tahajjud, the night prayer — because most people are sleeping at that time. Most people are negligent at that time. Most people are not observant in any form of ibadah during those times. So now if a person starts doing ibadah during those times, it allows him to gain nearness much faster to Allah. It's like a shortcut. You don't have to do everything. If you just do this, it allows you to take leaps over people.

Similarly is the month of Sha'ban, he says. People don't generally recognize the value of this month because the month of Ramadan clouds the beauty of this month — because Ramadan is so great.

The A'mal Are Raised in Sha'ban

The Prophet ﷺ continues and says:

"And this is the month in which all of our a'mal go up to Allah." So our a'mal that we perform throughout the year are presented to Allah in a very formal way — because of course Allah knows everything, but in a formal way in the month of Sha'ban. "And I would prefer that my actions are raised to Allah and they are presented to Allah whilst I am fasting."

Aisha radiyaAllahu anha says that we would look at the Prophet ﷺ —

"We will see the Prophet fasting to such an extent that we would say this man never eats. Then we would see him eating to a point we would say this man never fasts. Except in the month of Sha'ban, because he would fast the entire month."

In the narration of Bukhari it says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1969; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1156)

And in the narration of Muslim it says that he used to fast the majority of the month of Sha'ban.

The Night of the 15th of Sha'ban

And this becomes that month where Allah also decides, according to some narrations, the entire year's qadr for us. Allah says:

"That We revealed this Book in the blessed night. On that night everything is decided." According to many scholars — and Imam al-Qurtubi quotes this — that blessed night is the 15th of Sha'ban.

Hence the Prophet ﷺ reflected that in his statement where he said that my a'mal are raised in the month of Sha'ban, so I want my a'mal to be raised while I am fasting.

The Scholars and the Month of the Qur'an

The scholars like Mujahid and Ikrimah used to say: when Sha'ban would enter, we would call it the month of the Qurra' — the month of reciting the Qur'an. In this month we would not do anything but just recite the Qur'an. We would close our doors for questions. We would tell our families that we're not available. Because now it was the prep — it was the planting of the seeds for the month of Ramadan.

In order for the tree to bear fruits, one has to plant it in a way that it can actually grow. In order for Ramadan to bear fruits for us, we plant our seeds in the month of Sha'ban.

Three Things to Start in Sha'ban

Ibn al-Qayyim ends off his statement by saying that we should start three things in the month of Sha'ban in order for Ramadan to be beneficial for us.

1. Tilawah of the Qur'an

We need to start some tilawah of the Qur'an. At whatever level — it may be five minutes a day, it may be ten minutes a day — it just has to be an increase. And if we start with that in the month of Sha'ban, it will increase a little more in Ramadan. And then it will increase a little more. That's a natural progression of life. Wherever you are, you hope to increase. So we start a little bit more in Sha'ban and hopefully Ramadan will add some more juice to it.

2. Begin Fasting

The second thing he says is that we need to start fasting just a little bit. So if we're not used to fasting, the month of Sha'ban blesses us with the 15th of Sha'ban — and these three days are also known as Ayyam al-Beedh: the 13th, 14th, and 15th. We should try to fast on the 13th, 14th, and 15th of Sha'ban. If we cannot, then at least on Mondays and Thursdays when we are able to.

3. Nawafil and Tahajjud

And the third thing that we need to start to some degree is praying some nawafil — and specifically referring to Tahajjud. If we are able to do these three things, he says the month of Ramadan will be extremely beneficial for us.

Closing Reminder

No one starts a race flat-footed. No one goes into an exam without preparing for it. No one plans a joyous event without prepping for it. Every one of these significant things in life come with a certain level of preparation. And dear brothers, that certain level of preparation dictates the conclusion of that event. If that certain level of preparation is weak, then the conclusion of that event will also be lacking. If that certain level of preparation is extensive, then the conclusion will also follow that prep.

We all know that — we just need to extend that into the reality of the month of Sha'ban. And not ignore it. It falls in between the two great months of Rajab and Ramadan like the valley in between two mountains. In order for us to climb the mountain of Ramadan, we must spend the time of Sha'ban — which is the valley in between — planting our seeds, so that when it comes, we are ready and not caught flat-footed.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us amongst those that can take full advantage of this blessed month. Start opening up, start filling up the masajid like we do in the month of Ramadan. Start sending our kids to the masjid like we do in the month of Ramadan. Start fasting like we do in the month of Ramadan. Insha'Allah we bear the fruits of Ramadan when it enters upon us.