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Shab-e-Barat: The night of fortune and forgiveness

“The Messenger of Allah did not fast in any month of the year more than he did in Shaban. He used to fast all of Shaban.” (An-Nasai: 2180)

Shaban is the 8th month of the Islamic Calendar. It is a month of blessings and asking Allah for forgiveness.

Shab e Barat is an important night in the Islamic calendar and is celebrated in the middle of Shaban. This blessed night starts at sunset on the 14th of Shaban and ends at dawn on the 15th of Shaban. The day is also known as Shab-e-Raat, Bara’a Night, Mid-Sha’ban, Barat Night, Cheragh e Brat (light), Berat Kandili or Nisfu Syaaban (in Southeastern Asian Muslims) or Laylat al-Baraat.

Muslims believe that on this night, Allah decides people’s fortune for the year ahead and their rizq (sustenance). Shab e Barat is a night that many Muslims revere as the night of forgiveness, praying the whole night asking Allah to bestow them with His blessings.

It is reported by Tabrani and Al Bayhaqi, “The Prophet said: ‘On the middle night of Shaban, Allah most high descends to the lowest heaven and remits more sins than the hair of the goats of Banu Kalb.’”

Shab-e-Barat commemorates the day Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) entered the city of Makkah. Another belief has it that Prophet Muhammad’s wife, Hazrat Aisha Siddiqa, went out in search of him when she found him missing on this night. Later, she found him in Medina’s cemetery, lamenting and praying for the forgiveness of the deceased for a long time and this lent ultimate sanctity to this day.

Shab-e-Barat marks the closing of your books for the deeds past and the opening of the new book of deeds for the year ahead.

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