Shaʽban ( ') is the eighth month of the

Islamic calendar The Hijri calendar (), also known in English as the Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to determine the proper days of Islamic holidays and rituals, such as the Ramad ...

. It is called the month of 'separation', as the word means 'to disperse' or 'to separate' because the pagan Arabs used to disperse in search of water. The fifteenth night of this month is

Mid-Sha'ban Mid-Sha'ban ( or ''laylat niṣf min šaʿbān'' "night on the half of Sha'ban") is a Muslim holiday observed by Shia and Sunni Muslim communities on the eve of 15th of Sha'ban (i.e., the night following the sunset on the 14th day) — the s ...

, which coincides with the celebration of Shab-e-Barat in Muslim communities all over Asia. Sha'ban is the last

lunar month In lunar calendars, a lunar month is the time between two successive syzygies of the same type: new moons or full moons. The precise definition varies, especially for the beginning of the month. Variations In Shona, Middle Eastern, and Euro ...

before

Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...

, and so Muslims determine in it when the first day of Ramadan fasting will be. In the second

Hijri year The Hijri year () or era () is the era used in the Islamic lunar calendar. It begins its count from the Islamic New Year in which Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Yathrib (now Medina) in 622 CE. This event, known as the Hij ...

(624CE),

fasting during Ramadan During the entire month of Ramadan, Muslims are obligated to fast (, ''sawm;'' Persian language, Persian: روزہ, ''rozeh''), every day from dawn to sunset. Fasting requires the abstinence from sex, food, drinking, and smoking. Fasting the ...

was made obligatory during this month. In the post-

Tanzimat The (, , lit. 'Reorganization') was a period of liberal reforms in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Edict of Gülhane of 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. Driven by reformist statesmen such as Mustafa Reşid Pash ...

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

context, the word was, in French, the main language of diplomacy and a common language among educated and among non-Muslim subjects,
info page on book
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Martin Luther University Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

) Cited: p. 26 (PDF p. 28 - Quote: " ..he French translations were in the eyes of some Ottoman statesmen the most important ones ..) (, 9781317118442),

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

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spelled Chaban. The current Turkish spelling today is Şâban.

Virtues

The virtues of Sha'ban is mentioned in various

traditions A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common exa ...

of the

Islamic prophet Prophets in Islam () are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets are categorized as messengers (; sing. , ), those who transmit divine revelation, mos ...

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

Aisha Aisha bint Abi Bakr () was a seventh century Arab commander, politician, Muhaddith, muhadditha and the third and youngest wife of the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. Aisha had an important role in early Islamic h ...

, the wife of Muhammad, narrated that "(she) did not see him fasting in any month more than in the month of Sha'ban," except

. In another narration Muhammad said, "Do those deeds which you can do easily, as Allah will not get tired (of giving rewards) till you get bored and tired (of performing religious deeds)."

Timing

The

is a

lunar calendar A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases ( synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based on the solar year, and lunisolar calendars, whose lunar months are br ...

, and months begin when the first crescent of a

new moon In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye, except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse. ...

is sighted. Since the Islamic lunar calendar year is 11 to 12 days shorter than the

solar year A tropical year or solar year (or tropical period) is the time that the Sun takes to return to the same position in the sky – as viewed from the Earth or another celestial body of the Solar System – thus completing a full cycle of astronom ...

, Sha'ban migrates throughout the seasons. The estimated start and end dates for Sha'ban, based on the Umm al-Qura calendar of Saudi Arabia, are:Umm al-Qura calendar of Saudi Arabia
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Islamic events

* 01 Sha'ban, birth of

Zaynab bint Ali Zaynab bint Ali (, ), was the eldest daughter of Fatima and Ali, Ali ibn Abi Talib. The former was a daughter of the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the latter was his cousin. Ali is also recognized as the fourth ...

* 02 Sha'ban, death of (Imam Azam)

Abu Hanifa Abu Hanifa (; September 699 CE – 767 CE) was a Muslim scholar, jurist, theologian, ascetic,Pakatchi, Ahmad and Umar, Suheyl, "Abū Ḥanīfa", in: ''Encyclopaedia Islamica'', Editors-in-Chief: Wilferd Madelung and, Farhad Daftary. and epony ...

* 03 Sha'ban, birth of

Husayn ibn Ali Husayn ibn Ali (; 11 January 626 – 10 October 680 Common Era, CE) was a social, political and religious leader in early medieval Arabia. The grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and an Alids, Alid (the son of Ali ibn Abu Talib ibn Abd a ...

* 04 Sha'ban, birth of

Abbas ibn Ali Al-Abbas ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib (, 15 May 647 10 October 680 CE), also known by the kunya Abu al-Fadl (), was a son of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Rashid caliph in Sunni Islam and the first Imam in Shia Islam. His mother was Fatima bint ...

* 05 Sha'ban, birth of Ali ibn Husayn * 05 Sha'ban, death of Fizza, the hand-maiden (Qaneez) of

Fatimah Fatima bint Muhammad (; 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fatima al-Zahra' (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija bint Khuwaylid, Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, the fourth of the Rashidun caliphs and ...

* 07 Sha'ban, birth of Qasim ibn Hasan * 11 Sha'ban, birth of

Ali al-Akbar ibn Husayn Ali al-Akbar ibn al-Husayn (), commonly known as simply Ali al-Akbar, was the son of Layla bint Abi Murra and Husayn ibn Ali, the third Shia imam and the grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Aged between eighteen and twenty-five, Ali wa ...

* 15 Sha'ban, holiday known as Laylat al-Bara'at or Nisfu Sha'ban; birth of

Muhammad al-Mahdi Muhammad al-Mahdi () is believed by the Twelver Shia to be the last of the Twelve Imams and the eschatological Mahdi, who will emerge in the end of time to establish peace and justice and redeem Islam. Hasan al-Askari, the eleventh Imam ...

* 21 Sha'ban, passing away of

Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Sayyid Shah Hussain Jafari al-Marwandi , (1177 - 19 February 1274) popularly known as Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (), was a Sufi saint and poet who is revered in South Asia. In Taqaiyah, his maternal grandfather changed his name to Usman al-Marwandi o ...

* 22 Sha'ban, death of Muhammad Usman Damani * 27 Sha'ban, Death of Sayyad Laal Shah Hamdani * 27 Sha'ban, birth of Eissa Hussain Allaqband

References

External links

Islamic-Western Calendar Converter (Based on the Arithmetical or Tabular Calendar)
{{Authority control 8 Islamic terminology

Virtues

Timing

Islamic events

See also

References

External links