دراسة نقدية وتحليلية للأحاديث الواردة في فضل ليلة النـصـف من شَـعبان

A Critical Study of the Narrations Concerning the Virtue of the Night of Mid-Shaʿbān

Abstract

This study presents a critical analysis of the narrations related to the virtue of the night of mid-Shaʿbān, examining the authenticity of their chains of transmission, scholarly disagreement regarding their acceptance, and the resulting practices observed in contemporary Muslim communities, where this night is often marked by specific acts of worship and celebration not established in authentic Sunnah.

The research investigates twenty-three narrations, either attributed to the Prophet ﷺ or reported by Companions and early successors. These narrations were transmitted by major compilers such as al-Tirmidhī, Ibn Mājah, Aḥmad, Ibn Abī Shaybah, Ibn Rāhwayh, al-Ṭabarānī, al-Dāraqutnī, al-Bayhaqī, Ibn Baṭṭah, al-Fākihī, Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim, al-Bazzār, al-Shajjarī, Ibn Bishrān, and al-Lālakāʾī.

This study includes: an introduction, two main sections, a conclusion and References.

Section One: An analysis of the narrations concerning the virtue of the night of mid-Sha‘bān.

Section Two: An overview of how the Muslim community has acted upon these narrations, and the stance of hadith critics and jurists regarding them.

The study concludes that none of the narrations regarding the virtue of mid-Shaʿbān are authentic enough to be used as evidence, and that the widespread practices associated with this night are innovations with no basis in the authentic Sunnah. The only sound narrations on divine descent pertain to every night, including mid-Shaʿbān, without assigning it any special merit.