Narrations Regarding the 15th of Sha'baan
Sheikh Muhammad Naasir ad-Deen al-Albaani, one of the great scholars
of Hadith of this era, have authenticated some of the Hadeeths related
to the virtues of the 15th of Sha'baan. For
example, he recorded in his "Saheehah" under the title, "what is
authentic regarding the middle night [ i.e. Middle night of Sha'baan]
", the Hadith, "Allah will look at his creation the night of the
middle of Sha'baan then He forgives all his creation except a pagan or
a person with malice" [Hadeeth #1144]. He then said, "this hadeeth is
authentic and was narrated by a group of the Companions from different
ways which strengthen each other. Those Companions are Mu'aadh, Abu
Tha'labah, Abdullah bin Amr, Abu Musa, Abu Huraira, Abu Bakr, Awf bin
Malik, and Aa'ishah". Then, he discussed each of these narrations
until he got to the narrations of Aa'ishah where he mentioned the
Hadith about the tribe of Kalb, and he hinted to the long Hadith of
Aa'ishah when she missed the Prophet one night [both mentioned below].
He mentioned that the narration of Aa'ishah was narrated by Tirmidhi,
Ahmad, and ibn Maajah. He then made the following conclusion, "In
summary, the hadith, by looking at the sum of all its narrations, is
authentic without a doubt. In fact, authenticity is usually
established with less chains of narrations, as long as the chains are
not very weak, as it is the case in this hadith [ i.e. the chains of
this hadith are just weak, not too weak, so they strenghten each
other]".
I also asked sheikh Mahmood Sulaiman, here in Phoenix, and he made the following comments:
1. The hadith of Aa'ishah is from the strongest that was narrated about this topic. It was declared by al-Bayhaqee as Hassan
2. All these narrations have some weakness in them, and the best of them could be graded as either Hassan or Hassan li-ghayrihi.
3. What is agreed upon is that the so called Salaat ar-Raghaaib is fabricated. This is a special Salaat made in this night with a specific du'a. This was invented almost 600 years after the Prophet.
4. The fact that this night has a virtue does not mean that there is a special worship that we have to do this night. There is a hadith that ibn Maajah narrated from Ali, "Pray the night [of the middle of Shaa'baan] and fast its day". But this hadith is FABRICATED. All the chains of this Hadith revolve around a fabricator, so there is no way to authenticate this hadith. This is one reason for some reservations that some scholars raised about the book of ibn Maajah.
5. There is a narration to the effect that Sha'baan is a month in which the death times are written and that the Prophet likes that this happens while he is fasting. This hadith is narrated as either Mursal or Marfoo', but both are weak. He said the Mursal [narrated from the tabi'ee from the Prophet without the mention of the Companion] version is considered authentic to some scholars. Still, the hadith is not strong enough to legislate a form of worship, such as fasting or praying a certain prayer.
6. In conclusion, one can worship Allah in this night by him/herself. The sum of the narrations affirm that this night has a virtue, but do not legislate any specific form of worship. So the matter should be left open.
This is what I think I understood from the sheikh, and Allah knows the best
I also asked sheikh Mahmood Sulaiman, here in Phoenix, and he made the following comments:
1. The hadith of Aa'ishah is from the strongest that was narrated about this topic. It was declared by al-Bayhaqee as Hassan
2. All these narrations have some weakness in them, and the best of them could be graded as either Hassan or Hassan li-ghayrihi.
3. What is agreed upon is that the so called Salaat ar-Raghaaib is fabricated. This is a special Salaat made in this night with a specific du'a. This was invented almost 600 years after the Prophet.
4. The fact that this night has a virtue does not mean that there is a special worship that we have to do this night. There is a hadith that ibn Maajah narrated from Ali, "Pray the night [of the middle of Shaa'baan] and fast its day". But this hadith is FABRICATED. All the chains of this Hadith revolve around a fabricator, so there is no way to authenticate this hadith. This is one reason for some reservations that some scholars raised about the book of ibn Maajah.
5. There is a narration to the effect that Sha'baan is a month in which the death times are written and that the Prophet likes that this happens while he is fasting. This hadith is narrated as either Mursal or Marfoo', but both are weak. He said the Mursal [narrated from the tabi'ee from the Prophet without the mention of the Companion] version is considered authentic to some scholars. Still, the hadith is not strong enough to legislate a form of worship, such as fasting or praying a certain prayer.
6. In conclusion, one can worship Allah in this night by him/herself. The sum of the narrations affirm that this night has a virtue, but do not legislate any specific form of worship. So the matter should be left open.
This is what I think I understood from the sheikh, and Allah knows the best