Shab-e-Barat 2022: The festival is observed on the 14th or 15th day of Sha’ban, the eighth month of the Islamic calendar.
Shab-e-Barat a major celebration for Muslim community is also known as the night of fortune and forgiveness. The festival is observed on the 14th or 15th day of Sha’ban, the eighth month of the Islamic calendar, and the festivities begin in the evening where people observing the night stay awake, fast, and read from Holy Quran till the dawn of the next day.
Date
This year Shab-e-Barat or Mid-Sha’ban 2022 will begin in the evening of March 18 and end in the evening of March 19.
Significance
A night of atonement, on this day, it is believed that the Almighty forgives sins of those who pray and reward them with fortune for the whole year. Muslims believe that on the night of Shab-e-Barat, God writes the destinies of all men and women for the coming year by taking into account the deeds they committed in the past.
History
It is believed that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) entered the city of Makkah on this day. Another belief has it that Prophet Muhammad’s wife, Hazrat Aisha Siddiqa went out in search of him when she found him missing on this night. Later, she found him in Medina’s cemetery, praying for the forgiveness of the deceased for a long time.
Celebrations
Shab-e-barat is celebrated with great enthusiasm all over South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Turkey and Central Asia including Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. On this day, people go to mosques and offer prayers to Allah. They also pray on the behalf of their loved ones by visiting their graves. People also do charity by giving money and food to the poor.
According to a hadith or record of the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, “Doubtlessly, Allah surrounds everything on the fifteenth night of Sha’aban with his mercy. He forgives all of His creatures except mushriks (polytheists) and those whose hearts are full of hatred or enmity of others…” (Al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib, 2:118.)
