What We Can and Cannot Say about the Night of Mid-Shaban

Introduction: The Night of Mid-Sha’ban Revisited

Almost 10 years ago in 2014 (we are now in Feb 2024), I wrote an article called ‘Muadh ibn Jabal and the Night of Mid-Sha’ban’. In this article I gave a new insight into why the hadiths on the virtue of that night might be authentic despite not being known to the scholars of the major cities of knowledge and hadith transmission at the time, and why originally only the scholars of Sham (Syria) during the time of the Followers seemed to give it any significance. Because of this new insight or new way to present this information, the article became very popular and is shared every year by those wishing to establish the virtues of this night against those who deny them. The problem with that article is that I wrote it when I had very superficial knowledge of hadith science, the type of knowledge you get from ‘mustalah al-hadith‘ (hadith terminology) courses. It was only later that very year that I started studying hadith sciences in-depth and in a practical sense, and learning the science of hadith criticism, which I have been studying for the past ten years. And so, that old article quoted many inauthentic hadiths. In this article I wish to re-visit the issue of the Night of Mid-Sha’ban, and discuss it from the point of view of the authenticity of the hadiths about it, the attitude of the early imams toward it, and the foreign influences on some of the many false virtues attributed to it. While my conclusion in the end does not dramatically differ from my stance ten years ago, in that I still find it more likely than not that the Night of Mid-Sha’ban does hold special significance and virtue, I am far less certain of this conclusion than I was back then when I did not know my hadith science, and wish to make it clear that its virtue cannot be established with any certainty. I also wish to make it clear that not a single hadith about the Night of Mid-Sha’ban is authentic on its own. However, I will show why I think it is likely true that this is a night in which God forgives most of His believing servants, while rejecting any other virtue ascribed to this night, or any particular practice associated with it. And with the Name of Allah I begin.

The Syrian Provenance of the Hadiths About This Night

There is no doubt that the hadiths about the Night of Mid-Sha’ban first appeared in Syria, and that its virtue was popularised by some of Syria’s greatest scholars from the generation of the Followers (Tabi’in). Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali said,

As for the Night of Mid-Sha’ban, the Followers in Shām like Khalid ibn Ma’dan, Makhul, Luqman ibn ‘Amir, and others, used to honor this night and strive hard in their worship in it. It is from them that the people learned the virtue of this night and learned to honor it.

Ibn Rajab, Lata’if al-Ma’arif, p. 261.

In fact, it was the great imam Makhul in particular, the second one mentioned in Ibn Rajab’s quote above, who is credited the most with popularising this night and narrating the hadith on its virtue, so much so that people from other cities knew it as ‘The Hadith of Makhul.’

The great Medinan scholar of Tafsir, Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam (a contemporary of Imam Malik, from the Followers of the Followers), said,

I have not seen any of our shaykhs or scholars give any attention to the Night of Mid-Sha’ban, nor have I seen any of them mention the Hadith of Makhul, or attribute to it any virtue over any other night.

Narrated with an authentic chain by the early Andalusian hadith scholar Ibn Waddah in his book on Innovations (Ma Ja’a fi l-Bida’).

Imam Makhul was from the generation of young Followers, not older Followers, meaning that while he did meet and learn from some Companions, most of his knowledge and learning came from other Followers who were older than him, and who had themselves the honour of taking their knowledge primarily from the Companions. Makhul was counted by many as the greatest scholar of Syria in his generation, and some even counted him as one of the four greatest scholars in his generation of young Followers.

The Hadith of Makhul

If there is one hadith that might be authentic about the Night of Mid-Sha’ban, it is this ‘Hadith of Makhul.’ This is what it says:

God’s Messenger (ﷺ) said,

‘God looks at His creation during the Night of Mid-Sha‘ban and forgives all of them, except one who associates partners with Him and one who harbours rancour (against another).‘

Sahih Ibn Hibban, #5665 (on the authority of Mu’adh ibn Jabal), but also attributed to different Companions in other collections as will be shown below.

This hadith is narrated by Ibn Hibban in his Sahih with a chain to Makhul -> Malik ibn Yukhamir -> Mu’adh ibn Jabal (may God be pleased with him).

In my previous article I assumed that this hadith was authentic because it was authenticated by Ibn Hibban and by al-Albani, who said about it, ‘This hadith, with its collective chains of transmission, is authentic (sahih) without doubt.’ (1) It was the main hadith that I had effectively built my argument around. However, I now know that it is certainly not undoubtedly authentic as al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: there is actually quite a bit of doubt about it. The great master hadith critics of old, Abu Hatim al-Razi and al-Daraqutni, both rejected it. (2)

There are at least seven versions of Makhul’s narration which differ from this one on who Makhul took this hadith from (if at all, because one stops at Makhul himself, making it his own saying).

Perhaps the strongest (and also earliest recorded) version, which plays a key role in my argument, is the following:

Makhul -> Kathir ibn Murra -> God’s Messenger (ﷺ). This is how it is narrated from Makhul by two different people: one of them is one of his closest students, Muhammad ibn Rashid, who became known as al-Makhuli (the Makhulite) after his teacher; the second is called al-Hajjaj ibn Arta’a (to whom we will return later). (3)

Kathir ibn Murra was also a Follower, but a senior one, making this chain also disconnected, but Imam al-Bayhaqi who narrated it, called it a ‘mursal jayyid‘ (strong mursal), especially since he is a very senior Follower who converted during the lifetime of God’s Messenger (ﷺ) but never got the chance to meet him, and who was close to many Companions and died at roughly the same time as some of the Companions.

A similar one has a fully connected chain back to Mu’adh ibn Jabal again, but inserts people between each of the links above:

Makhul -> Khalid ibn Ma’dan -> Kathir ibn Murra -> Mu’adh ibn Jabal -> God’s Messenger (ﷺ). (4) However, al-Daraqutni criticises it like he criticised the other chain to Mu’adh. He also notes that in other versions Makhul’s hadith goes back to the Companions Aisha and Abu Tha’laba instead of Mu’adh, and in others he only attributes it to other more senior Followers.(5)

The Hadith of Aisha

Imam Tirmidhi narrated in his Sunan that one night Aisha (may God be pleased with her) woke up in the night and found that God’s Messenger (ﷺ) had left the house. She went out to look for him and found him praying in the Baqi’ Cemetery. He (ﷺ) then said to her, ‘God descends on the Night of Mid-Sha’ban to the Lower Heaven, and forgives more people than all the wool strands on the sheep of the tribe of Kalb.’ Imam Tirmidhi then points out that this hadith is disconnected in two places, and that his teacher Imam Bukhari considered it weak.

This hadith goes as follows:

Al-Hajjaj ibn Arta’a -> Yahya ibn Kathir -> Urwa -> Aisha -> God’s Messenger (ﷺ)

Let us start with the first problem: Yahya ibn Kathir never narrated from Urwa directly, so it is disconnected between them. And, as the hadith scholar al-Hakim pointed out, the correct version stops only at Yahya ibn Kathir. Therefore it is:

Al-Hajjaj ibn Arta’a -> Yahya ibn Kathir -> that God’s Messenger (ﷺ) said to Aisha (i.e. it is disconnected). (6) And as Tirmidhi pointed out, this is also disconnected between al-Hajjaj and Yahya ibn Kathir himself.

However, al-Daraqutni, al-Bayhaqi, Ibn al-Jawzi and the contemporary hadith expert Shaykh Hatim al-Awni believe this is all a mistake (most likely from al-Hajjaj ibn Arta’a who was well known for his many mistakes) and that this hadith ultimately goes back to Makhul’s hadith as well. It also appears that al-Hajjaj blended it with the authentic hadith of Aisha finding God’s Messenger (ﷺ) in the Baqi Cemetery at night praying for the deceased Companions buried there, but which does not mention the Night of Mid-Sha’ban. As Daraqutni pointed out, this hadith has also been narrated from al-Hajjaj thus:

Al-Hajjaj ibn Arta’a -> Makhul -> Kathir ibn Murra -> God’s Messenger (ﷺ). This is in fact the same chain we saw above, which al-Bayhaqi called a ‘strong mursal’ chain. It was al-Hajjaj ibn Arta’a who narrated it from Makhul from the senior follower Kathir ibn Murra, and it is possible that another time he mistakingly said ‘Yahya ibn Kathir’ instead of ‘Kathir ibn Murra’. So the hadith of Aishah goes back to the same chain as above:

Makhul -> Kathir ibn Murra -> God’s Messenger (ﷺ). (7)

The Hadith of Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As / Abu Musa al-Ash’ari

Another hadith on this Night comes via the great Egyptian judge Ibn Lahi’a (from the Followers of the Followers), who is also notorious for the amount of mistakes in his hadith narrations. He narrates a hadith similart to the ‘Hadith of Makhul’, but gave it three different chains going back to three different Companions. He once gave it a chain back to Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As (narrated in Ahmad ibn Hanbal’s Musnad), another time to Abu Musa al-Ash’ari (narrated by Ibn Majah in his Sunan), and a third time back to the Companion Awf ibn Malik (narrated by al-Bazzar in his Musnad).

All of these narrations were rejected by the great hadith critic Ibn Adi in his book on weak narrators. (8) However, what’s interseting is that the last of these chains (the one in Musnad al-Bazzar) goes back to the Companion Awf ibn Malik via his student Kathir in Murra, the very same one who appears in Makhul’s narrations! This leads Shaykh Hatim al-Awni to say, ‘Does this then lead us to say that Ibn Lahi’a’s hadith also goes back to Makhul ?!’ (9) This chain in fact does not mention Makhul himself, but because of the weakness of its narrators, Shaykh Hatim al-Awni appears to be implying that one of the weak narrators may have dropped out Makhul’s name and gone straight to his teacher Kathir in Murra.

A Hadith of Kathir ibn Murra?

Just because al-Bazzar’s narration mentions Kathir ibn Murra does not mean we should assume it comes from Makhul. What if Makhul’s narration actually comes from Kathir ibn Murra, as we have seen in the narration Bayhaqi considered strong (which is disconnected between Kathir and God’s Messenger (ﷺ), and the other one narrated by al-Daraqutni and Tabarani via Makhul -> Khalid ibn Ma’dan -> Kathir ibn Murra -> Mu’adh ibn Jabal -> God’s Messenger (ﷺ). Let us go back to Ibn Rajab’s quote above:

He said, “As for the Night of Mid-Sha’ban, the Followers in Shām like Khalid ibn Ma’dan, Makhul, Luqman ibn ‘Amir, and others, used to honor this night and strive hard in their worship in it. It is from them that the people learned the virtue of this night and learned to honor it.” The three Followers mentioned here were of the same generation, and all were students of Kathir ibn Murra. As you can see in the chain above, Khalid ibn Ma’dan appears in some chains as the one to narrate it from Kathir ibn Murra. Even though the scholars of Madina called the hadith about the Night of Mid-Sha’ban ‘The Hadith of Makhul,’ because it became famous because of him, the fact that two of Makhul’s colleagues and contemporaries also acted upon this hadith indicates to us that it more likely came from a shared teacher in the generation above, this teacher being the senior follower Kathir ibn Murra.

Kathir ibn Murra may have taken this hadith from Mu’adh ibn Jabal (as two chains indicate) or from Awf ibn Malik (as another chain indicates). He was, as Imam Dhahabi calls him, ‘al-imam, al-hujja‘, meaning he is an authoritative scholar and exemplar. At least two of the Companions of God’s Messenger (ﷺ) told him that they believed him to be one of God’s righteous and pious servants. The problem is that at this very early stage of Islam’s spread to Syria, many Syrian scholars were great in knowledge and piety, but were not very good at narrating hadiths accurately. Such is the case with other famous students of Mu’adh ibn Jabal, some of whom were also, like Kathir, from Yemen and may have come to Syria to be with Mu’adh who had taught them when he was in Yemen earlier. These were scholars of great knowledge and piety, but they just did not meet the criterea of careful narration and memorisation of hadith to be accepted by the likes of Bukhari and Muslim. They also often quoted God’s Messenger (ﷺ) without mentioning the name of the Companion who taught them the hadith they are narrating, and so their hadiths only now reach us in a disconnected fashion. Such disconnected hadiths cannot generally be relied upon, and cannot be used for legal rulings, but the mursal (disconnected) narrations of the senior followers like Kathir ibn Murra and other students of Muadh are considered nearer in strength to a fully connected hadith. In the case of the Night of Mid-Sha’ban, it neither has any legal bearing, nor does it institute or create or advocate any new type of worship, nor does it specify a specific worship to do at this night. All it says is that this is a special night in which God forgives His servants if they do not associate partners with Him and do not have rancour or grudges in their hearts toward others. I believe that, while none of the hadiths on their own are authentic, and indeed even putting them all together does not lead to establishing the authenticity of the content, they do point toward the strong possibility of this content being authentic, having been narrated by the senior follower Kathir ibn Murra, or at the very least his student the young follower Makhul. As I wrote in my previous article,

The Companions of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) spread to different parts of the world, and took with them the teachings that they heard from the Messenger of Allah. Because of this, in the first century of Islam, different regions within the Muslim world had different practices and fiqh, based on the different Companions that they learned from.

(Source)

It is therefore possible that this was a teaching that a Companion like Mu’adh ibn Jabal took with him to Syria and it spread from him there. Mu’adh (may God be pleased with him) died very early in Islam, during the Caliphate of Umar, because of which not many hadiths go back to him, and not many Followers from other parts of the Muslim world got to learn from him. Yet one has to admit that this is still very suspicious. If this night was so special, could it really be that only one or two Companions who moved to Syria taught about it to others, while the Companions in every other city had no knowledge of it? But if the tradition does not really go back to God’s Messenger (ﷺ), then where could it have come from? What is the alternative?

A Jewish Tradition?

According to Ibn Rajab, those who rejected the traditions related to the Night of Mid-Sha’ban believe that they originated with Jewish traditions that the scholars of Syria in the generation of young Followers took from them, and later these traditions spread to other places like Basra, where people devoted to worship and asceticism but lacking in rigorous scholarship took this from them and helped spread it. On the other hand, the scholars in Medina and elsewhere rejected these and did not recognise them. Ibn Rajab also supports this position with a long quote about the virtues of this night attributed to the early Jewish convert to Islam, Ka’b al-Ahbar (although Ibn Rajab does not provide any reference or chain back to Ka’b). (10)

This is supported by one of the narrations of Makhul. Al-Daraqutni narrates with his chain back to a narrator called Jarir who said: ‘I think from Burd ibn Sinan al-Shami, I think from Makhul, I think from Ka’b, that he said: God looks at His creation on the Night of Mid-Sha’ban and forgives all of them except those who associate partners with Him or one who harbours rancour.’ (11) According to Daraqutni, it was Makhul’s most reliable student Burd ibn Sinan who believed that Makhul took this narration from Ka’b, but was not entirely sure. To me, that’s strange, because the uncertainty with regard to the chain begins much earlier, with Jarir or with the person before him, and it is more likely that it is the same person who was trying to remember the names in the rest of the chain. It is not likely that everyone in the chain had doubts about the person above them. Therefore this is not very strong evidence of the Jewish origin of these traditions. If the chain said “From Burd from Makhul, I think from Ka’b’, then it would have made the case of the Jewish origin much stronger.

Some contemporary Jewish scholars have found a number of correlations between the Night of Mid-Sha’ban (on the 15th of the lunar month of Sha’ban) and the Jewish night of Passover (on the 15th of the Jewish month of Nisan), indicating the possibility that the Night of Mid-Shaban originated with early Jewish converts still celebrating the night of Passover. (12)

Whether or not the hadith of Makhul goes back to God’s Messenger (ﷺ) or to Jewish traditions brought into Islam by early converts, there is no doubt that many of the beliefs about the Night of Mid-Sha’ban that have been narrated about it, and which are often quoted by Muslims today, go back to Jewish holidays that got mixed up with it.

For example, many traditions falsely attributed to some Followers, Companions, or even to God’s Messenger (ﷺ) himself say that on the Night of Mid-Sha’ban, 1) the names of those who will die in the coming year are written down, 2) our provisions and major life events like our pilgrimage in the coming year are also written down for us. These are clearly taken from Jewish beliefs about the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. On the Night of Rosh Hashanah, Jews pray for a long life and more sustenance and ask God for forgiveness and turn to Him in repentance. According to Jewish tradition, on Rosh Hashanah God inscribes each person’s fate for the coming year into the Book of Life and waits until Yom Kippur to ‘seal’ the verdict. Compare this with the narration falsely attributed to the Companion Ibn Abbas as found in some Tafsir books: ‘God decrees what is to be on the Night of Mid-Sha’ban and then hands over these decrees to those (angels) in charge of them on Laylat al-Qadr.’

If the Night of Mid-Sha’ban is truly special in Islam, the only authentic thing about it would be that it’s a night in which God forgives His believing servants and nothing else. Everything else associated with it does indeed come from Jewish traditions and some mix-up with Laylat al-Qadr.

Similar to Laylat al-Qadr?

Some of the significant aspects attributed to this night, like certain things being written down for the year ahead, are also often attributed to Laylat al-Qadr, leading to a type of clash between the two. As we have seen above, Jewish tradition has a way of linking the decrees being written down on Rosh Hashanah and then being fully confirmed soon after in Yom Kippur, and this belief was transferred to Islamic civilisation with Mid-Sha’ban and Laylat al-Qadr as well as a way of reconciling these beliefs.

The Qur’an says about the Laylat al-Qadr: {We have sent it (the Quran) down on the Night of Glory/Honour (Laylat al-Qadr)} (Q. 97:1) It also says, {We sent it (the Quran) down on a blessed Night… On that night every wise command is made distinct} (Q. 44:2-4)

Many Muslims attribute to the follower Ikrimah, student of Ibn Abbas, the claim that the second verse above is about the Night of Mid-Sha’ban, again creating a kind of link or parallel between the two nights. Although this attribution is found in most works of Quran commentary, they are based on a mistake as shown by a recent study of Ikrimah’s commentaries on the Quran. The earliest and most authoritative source for Ikrimah’s commentary on Q. 44:3-4 (the Tafsir of Abd al-Razzaq) says,

“On the Night of Glory (Laylat al-Qadr), those who will be permitted to visit God’s House in Pilgrimage that year will be written down by name. No more and no less people will go on Pilgrimage that year.” Then Ikrimah recited, “{On that night every wise command is made distinct}.”

This quote was later corrupted and expanded and appears in most later Tafsirs thus:

“On the Night of Mid-Sha’ban, all the affairs of the upcoming year are set in place. The names of those who will die will be set apart from those who will live. Those who will go on Pilgrimage will be written down, so that no one person more or less will be able to go.” (13)

This error has led to more associations and mix-ups between the two nights. Therefore there is no authentic narration from any early learned scholar associating verses Q. 44:3-4 with the Night of Mid-Sha’ban when they are clearly about Laylat al-Qadr.

In fact, another student of Ibn Abbas was Ibn Abi Mulayka, one of the great scholars of Mecca among the Followers. It reached him that one of the most famous preachers of Basra, believed to be a man of great piety, said that the reward for worship on the Night of Mid-Sha’ban was equal to the reward for worship on Laylat al-Qadr. Ibn Abi Mulayka said, “If I heard him say that myself and I had a staff in my hand I would have beat him with it.” (As quoted in the Musannaf of Abd al-Razzaq)

The Early Imams of Islam on the Night of Mid-Sha’ban

I feel that the case for accepting the special status of the Night of Mid-Sha’ban is strengthened by the reports from many early Imams and scholars and hadith experts.

Imam Awzai and Thawban’s Commentary on the Hadith

According to the narration of Tabarani, Makhul narrated the hadith of Mid-Sha’ban to his student Thawban, who narrated it to his son Ibn Thawban. Even though this chain is not authentic on its own, there are reports going back to Ibn Thawban commenting on this hadith and explaining it.

Ibn Thawban was asked about the meaning of mushāhin (one who harbours rancour).  He said,

‘[This applies to] he who has left the Sunna of his Prophet (ﷺ), who speaks ill of his Ummah, and spills their blood.’ (14)

According to the narration in Sahih Ibn Hibban, Makhul’s student Thawban narrated the hadith not just to his son Ibn Thawban but also the great Imam Awza’i, the imam of Greater Syria in jurisprudence. Awza’i also explained that the word mushāhin applies to sectarian innovators who split from the Ummah and reject its unity, and those who harbour rancour in their hearts against the Companions of God’s Messenger (ﷺ). One of these explanations from Awza’i is narrated by the great imam Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, another great imam of Islam.(15) However, it should also be noted here that when someone asked Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak if God descends to the lower heaven on this night as found in some of the narrations of this hadith, Ibn al-Mubarak scolded him for accepting such a weak narration and told him that God descends (i.e. sends down His mercy) in the last third of every night. (16)

These are not proper explanations of the word mushāhin, which is understood to refer to any Muslim with hatred in his heart for others. It is rather a commentary meant to warn the followers of certain sects that if they hate some of the Companions of God’s Messenger (ﷺ) or go against Muslim unity then this hadith will apply to them and they will not be forgiven on the Night of Mid-Sha’ban.

The narration of these commentaries from these scholars lends more credence to the chains that include them (both of which go back to Muadh ibn Jabal), and show that this narration was being taught and explained by early scholars, including the great imam Awza’i. It should also be noted that Imam Awza’i (from the Followers of the Followers) disagreed with those young Followers before him like Makhul who encouraged people to gather in the mosque to pray on the Night of Mid-Sha’ban, and considered it an innovation in the religion. He said that people should observe the night individually and privately in their homes. Ibn Rajab said that this is the more correct position. (17)

Imam Ishaq ibn Rahawayh

Imam Ishaq ibn Rahaway was the great imam of jurisprudence and hadith in Khorasan. He was the colleague and peer of imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and both were leaders of the Ahl al-Hadith movement, and both were very similar to each other in jurisprudence, and shared many students. One of the students they had in common was Harb al-Kirmani, who recorded in his books the questions he asked both of these imams and their answers to his questions. Harb asked imam Ishaq what he thought about the Syrians congregating in the mosque on the Night of Mid-Sha’ban to pray together, and whether this was an innovation in the religion. Ishaq ibn Rahawayh replied that he did not see this as a harmful innovation and he approved of this practice. (18) Ishaq also narrated a disconnected hadith about this night in his Musnad which he followed with Awza’i’s commentary on the word mushāhin. (19)

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal and his Successor al-Marrudhi

Abu Bakr al-Marrudhi was the greatest among the close students of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and his preferred student and his successor as leader of the Hanbalis. Al-Dhahabi described him as ‘the Shaykh al-Islam….an imam in the Sunna, very strict in following the Sunna.’ Al-Marrudhi recorded in one of his books that before the Night of Mid-Sha’ban, he was worried that he would not receive God’s forgiveness because there were some Muslims he stopped talking to on account of their sins. One was a man who had accused another of something he was innocent of. Imam Ahmad told him that this man had regretted his false accusation, and so Marrudhi should go and speak to him and repair his relations with him. (20) This shows us that this great imam of the Hanbalis Abu Bakr al-Marrudhi believed in the hadith that God forgave everyone except those with rancour in their hearts toward others, and so he went to seek Ibn Hanbal’s advice on whether or not he needed to go repair his relations with that man before the night comes. Ibn Hanbal advised him to do so, and did not criticise him for believing in the night’s special virtue. Yet early Hanbalis from the following generation were, like imam Awza’i, strongly opposed to congregational worship on this night, and would go to every mosque in Baghdad on the Night of Mid-Sha’ban to break up any congregational prayers taking place, and tell the worshippers to go pray at home.

Imam Shafii

Imam Shafi’i wrote in his book Kitab al-Umm, ‘It has reached me that the people before us used to say: Supplications are accepted on five nights: the night of Friday, the night of the two Eids, the first night of Rajab, and the night of Mid-Sha’ban.’ Imam Shafi’i then concluded his discusison by saying that he recommended making supplications on these nights based on what has been narrated about them, even if it cannot be established as authentic. (21) (Note: remember that in the Islamic lunar calendar, the night of these days is the night before the day of these days).

The Disagreement of Later Hadith Scholars

As we have seen, not a single hadith about the Night of Mid-Sha’ban can be classified as authentic (Sahih) or even the lower grade of Hasan. They are all very weak. However, I believe there is enough evidence to support the idea that the very senior Follower Kathir ibn Murra in Damascus narrated a hadith about it, which he may have taken from Muadh ibn Jabal or Awf ibn Malik. The number of narrations narrated via his student Makhul led some hadith scholars to believe that there must be an authentic core behind all these narrations and to authenticate in general the content of this hadith about the virtue of this night. Among these scholars are: Ibn Hibban, al-Bayhaqi, al-Mundhiri, Ibn Taymiyya, and al-Albani. As for those who rejected all these traditions, they include: al-Daraqutni, al-Uqayli, Ibn al-Jawzi, and Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi.

What to Do on This Night

There is nothing authentic regarding what to do on this night, or regarding fasting the following day. If the hadith about this night is authentic, then this would make the Night of Mid-Sha’ban the nightly equivalent of the days of Monday and Thursday, about which God’s Messenger (ﷺ) said,

The Gates of Heaven are opened on Monday and Thursday, and God forgives all of His Muslim servants who do not associate partners with Him, except a person who has rancour in his heart toward his brother. It will be said, ‘Wait until these two make up, wait until these two make up.’

(Malik’s Muwatta and Muslim’s Sahih).

These hadiths are mainly encouraging Muslims to make up and repair relations with their brothers and sisters in Islam, and to remove from their hearts any grudges/rancour/bitterness or hatred toward others. This is what Imam Abu Bakr al-Marrudhi understood from this hadith. (Note: the wording ‘God looks at His servants’ indicates a stronger mercy on this night than ‘the gates of Heaven are opened’ in the hadith about Mondays and Thursdays, and God knows best).

However, because of this virtue of Mondays and Thursdays, God’s Messenger (ﷺ), who used to ensure he fasted at least three days of every month, would choose for these fasts the days of Mondays and Thursdays (I believe it is a mistaken understanding that God’s Messenger fasted every Monday and Thursday). Similarly, the Companion Usama ibn Zayd used to fast a number of consecutive fasts every week, so someone suggested that he should fast every Monday and Thursday because of the virtue of these days. (See my article: The Sunna Fasts). This shows that even though God’s Messenger (ﷺ) did not specify a certain action to do on those days to gain God’s forgiveness, beside repairing our relations with others, he liked to also fast on these days for their virtue (and fasting is a worship related to the day). Therefore we can understand from this that it would be virtuous on the Night of Mid-Sha’ban to do more of the types of worship related to the night, such as night prayers, supplications, asking for forgiveness and the like.

We have seen that early scholars and imams have differed on whether or not to worship on this night privately or in public congregations. If you are convinced that this night is indeed special, then the best way to worship that night is by lots of istighfar (asking Allah for forgiveness) and supplications. And Allah knows best.

Related topic: It is not true that our actions are raised during the month of Sha’ban. See my article: Are Actions Presented to God on Mondays and Thursdays?

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1. Al-Albani, Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah, Riyadh: Maktabah al-Ma‘arif, 1979, vol. 3, p. 138.
2. See al-Daraqutni, al-Ilal, #970 (vol. 6 pp. 50-51) and #1169 (vol. 6 pp. 323-324); Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Ilal, #2012 (vol. 5 p. 323)
3. See al-Bayhaqi, Shu’ab al-Iman, #3831; Musannaf Abd al-Razzaq, #8171 (vol. 5, p. 55).
4. See al-Tabarani, Musnad al-Shamiyyin, #205; al-Daraquti, al-Ilal, #970; Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Ilal, #2012 (vol. 5 p. 323), footnote #2.
5. Al-Daraquti, al-Ilal, #970
6. See al-Bayhaqi, Shu’ab al-Iman, #3824, #3825.
7. See Shaykh Hatim al-Awni’s (arabic language) article ‘The Virtues of the Night of Mid-Sha’ban and the Ruling on Singling it Out for Special Devotions’.
8. Ibn Adi, al-Kamil fi Du’afa’ al-Rijal, vol. 2, p. 450.
9. Hatim al-Awni, ‘The Virtues of the Night of Mid-Sha’ban and the Ruling on Singling it Out for Special Devotions’.
10. Ibn Rajab, Lata’if al-Ma’arif, p. 261.
11. Al-Daraqutni, Kitab al-Nuzul, p. 161.
12. Ben Abrahamson, ‘Reconstructing the Islamic Jewish Calendar,’ p. 22.
13. See Dr. Ahmad al-Umrani, Mawsu’at Madrasat Makkah fi l-Tafsir, vol. 7, p. 284, including footnote 2.
14. Ibn Rajab, Lata’if al-Ma’arif, p. 266.
15. See the Musnad of Imam Ishaq ibn Rahawayh #1702 (vol. 3, p. 981), where he quotes Awza’i’s explanation; al-Daraqutni, Kitab al-Nuzul, p. 166; Ibn Rajab, Lata’if al-Ma’arif, p. 266.
16. Hatim al-Awni, ‘The Virtues of the Night of Mid-Sha’ban and the Ruling on Singling it Out for Special Devotions’.
17. Ibn Rajab, Lata’if al-Ma’arif, p. 263.
18. Ibn Rajab, Lata’if al-Ma’arif, p. 263.
19. See the Musnad of Imam Ishaq ibn Rahawayh #1702 (vol. 3, p. 981), where he quotes Awza’i’s explanation.
20. Abu Bakr al-Marrudhi, Kitab al-Wara’, #545.
21. Al-Shafii, Kitab al-Umm, vol. 2, pp. 485-486.