Fussing Over the 15th of Sha‘ban Question: Is marking out the 15th night of Sha‘ban (laylat al-nisf min sha‘ban) with extra prayers and devotion sanctioned by Islam, or is doing so judged to be a reprehensible innovation (bid‘ah)? Answer: Each year, a fair amount of fussing and fighting takes place over this issue. Yet the truth of the matter is that scholars have long held this issue to be one over which there is a valid difference of opinion. The first group considered the night to have no specific virtues over and above any other night of the year, and believed that singling the night out for extra acts of worship is unsanctioned. Another group begged to differ and held that the middle night of Sha‘ban does possess special merits and should be earmarked for extra prayers and devotion. What follows is a discussion about why such a difference has arisen and how each of the two stances has its legitimacy in the canons of classical Islamic jurisprudence. The discussion will also make a distinction between prayer in mid-Sha‘ban and the prayer of mid-Sha‘ban: the first, as will be shown, is textually grounded; the second, actually unfounded.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Jun 2013 17:23:13 +0000
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