| THE BLESSED MONTH OF SHA'BAAN |
| Friday, 09 September 2005 00:00 | |
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FASTING IN GENERAL Abu Umamah (radhiAllahu 'anhu) reported, "I came to the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) and said, "Order me to do a deed that will allow me to enter Paradise." He then said, "Stick to fasting, as there is no equivalent to it." Then I came to him again and he said, "Stick to fasting." [Ahmad, Nasa'i, Hakim] Â Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (radhiAllahu 'anhu) reported that the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) said, "No servant fasts on a day in the path of Allah except that Allah removes the hellfire seventy years further away from his face." Â FASTING IN SHA'BAN A'ishah (radhiAllahu 'anha) said, "The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) used to fast until we thought he would never break his fast, and not fast until we thought he would never fast. I never saw the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu 'alaihi wasallam) fasting for an entire month except in Ramadan, and I never saw him fast more than he did in Sha'ban."[Bukhari, Muslim] Ibn Hajr said, "He observed more voluntary fasts in Sha'ban than in any other month, and he used to fast most of Sha'ban." Usamah ibn Zaid (radhiAllahu 'anhu) said, "I said, O Messenger of Allah, I do not see you fasting in any other month like you fast in Sha'ban." He said, "That is a month to which people do not pay attention, between Rajab and Ramadan, and it is a month in which deeds are lifted up to the Lord of the Worlds. I like for my deeds to be lifted up when I am fasting."[Nasa'i] "The most beloved of months for the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) to fast in was Sha'ban, and his fasting in Sha'ban was continuous with his fasting in Ramadan." [Abu Dawud] Sha'ban is like an introduction to Ramadan and it has some things in common with Ramadan, such as fasting, reciting the noble Quran and giving in charity. Salamah ibn Suhail used to say, "The month of Sha'ban is the month of those who recite (the Quran)." Habib ibn Abi Thabit used to say, when Sha'ban came, "This is the month of those who recite (the Quran)." When Sha'ban came, 'Amr ibn Qais al-Mala'i used to close his store and devote his time to reading the generous Quran. FASTING AT THE END OF SHA'BAN Fasting one or two days before the start of Ramadan is disliked and the person who does not do that is rewarded by Allah. The exception is for that person who habitually fasts those days and have done so for years in the past. Â By Muhammad Manar Ali
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