The Month of Shaʿbān

The First Khutba: All praise is for Allah, the Possessor of Majesty and Honor. He has made Shaʿbān a month of pardon and forgiveness. We bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, and we bear witness that our master and our Prophet Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allah. O Allah, send Your blessings, peace, and abundant grace upon him, upon his family, his Companions, and all who follow his guidance. To proceed: O servants of Allah, I advise you and I advise myself to have taqwā of Allah. Allah Most High says: يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اعْبُدُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ وَالَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ “O mankind, worship your Lord who created you and those before you, that you may become mindful (of Him).” O believers: This is a month of immense rank and exalted remembrance. Its days are among the most virtuous of days. It is a month that people often neglect between Rajab and Ramaḍān. As the Prophet ﷺ said: يَغْفُلُ النَّاسُ عَنْهُ بَيْنَ رَجَبٍ وَرَمَضَانَ “It is a month that people are heedless of, between Rajab and Ramaḍān.” Indeed, it is the month of Shaʿbān: the month of preparing provisions for Ramaḍān, the field of racing toward the Most Merciful. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ would invest this month in acts of obedience and fill its hours with closeness to Allah. Until ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: كَانَ أَحَبَّ الشُّهُورِ إِلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ أَنْ يَصُومَهُ شَعْبَانُ “The most beloved month for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to fast was Shaʿbān.” And she also said: مَا رَأَيْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ اسْتَكْمَلَ صِيَامَ شَهْرٍ قَطُّ إِلاَّ رَمَضَانَ، وَمَا رَأَيْتُهُ فِي شَهْرٍ أَكْثَرَ مِنْهُ صِيَامًا فِي شَعْبَانَ “I never saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ complete the fasting of any month except Ramaḍān, and I never saw him fast more in any month than he fasted in Shaʿbān.”   When he ﷺ was asked about this, he said: هُوَ شَهْرٌ تُرْفَعُ فِيهِ الْأَعْمَالُ إِلَى رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ، فَأُحِبُّ أَنْ يُرْفَعَ عَمَلِي وَأَنَا صَائِمٌ “That is a month in which deeds are raised to the Lord of the worlds, and I love that my deeds be raised while I am fasting.” Yes, in this month the deeds of the entire year are raised. So magnify its worth, honor its time, and make excellent use of it. Increase in voluntary fasting, following the example of the Prophet ﷺ, for whoever fasts a day seeking the Face of Allah: بَاعَدَ اللَّهُ وَجْهَهُ عَنِ النَّارِ سَبْعِينَ خَرِيفًا “Allah will distance his face from the Fire by seventy years.” And turn eagerly in this month to the recitation of the Book of your Lord, following the path of the righteous before you. For they, when Shaʿbān would arrive, would devote themselves to the Qurʾān: reciting, reflecting, studying, and contemplating—reviving hearts through it and purifying souls. They would say: “Shaʿbān is the month of the Qurʾān reciters.” They sought reward from the Lord of the heavens and the earth. In accordance with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ who said: ‌مَنْ ‌قَرَأَ ‌حَرْفًا ‌مِنْ ‌كِتَابِ اللَّهِ فَلَهُ بِهِ حَسَنَةٌ، وَالْحَسَنَةُ بِعَشْرِ أَمْثَالِهَا، لَا أَقُولُ الم حَرْفٌ، وَلَكِنْ أَلِفٌ حَرْفٌ، وَلَامٌ حَرْفٌ، وَمِيمٌ حَرْفٌ “Whoever recites one letter from the Book of Allah will have one good deed, and one good deed is multiplied tenfold. I do not say ‘Alif Lām Mīm’ is a letter, but Alif is a letter, Lām is a letter, and Mīm is a letter.” So, the reciter of the Qurʾān increases in good deeds upon good deeds, rises in ranks upon ranks with Allah, his status is elevated, and his station is ennobled. The Prophet ﷺ said: يُقَالُ لِصَاحِبِ الْقُرْآنِ: اقْرَأْ ‌وَارْتَقِ وَرَتِّلْ كَمَا كُنْتَ تُرَتِّلُ فِي الدُّنْيَا، فَإِنَّ مَنْزِلَكَ عِنْدَ آخِرِ آيَةٍ تَقْرَؤُهَا “It will be said to the companion of the Qurʾān: Recite and rise, and recite as you used to recite in the world, for your rank will be at the last verse you recite.” And when you close your Qurʾān, then fill your records with seeking forgiveness (istighfār). Occupy your times with it, longing for the forgiveness of your Lord, and trusting in the promise of your Prophet ﷺ, who said: طُوبَى لِمَنْ وَجَدَ فِي صَحِيفَتِهِ ‌اسْتِغْفَارًا ‌كَثِيرًا “Glad tidings to the one who finds abundant seeking of forgiveness in his record.”  Allah Most High says: “O you who believe, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you.” I say these words of mine, and I seek forgiveness from Allah for myself and for you, so seek His forgiveness; indeed, He is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful.   The Second Khutba: All praise is for Allah alone, and blessings and peace be upon the one after whom there is no prophet. To proceed: O worshippers:   «تَعَرَّضُوا لِنَفَحَاتِ رَحْمَةِ اللَّهِ، فَإِنَّ لِلَّهِ نَفَحَاتٍ مِنْ رَحْمَتِهِ “Expose yourselves to the breezes of the mercy of Allah, for indeed Allah has breezes from His mercy.” And among the greatest of the breezes of the Most Merciful in the month of Shaʿbān is His forgiveness, exalted is He, for the people of faith and excellence. For He looks upon them on the night of the middle of it, a gaze of pardon and mercy, and He spreads for them His forgiveness. The Prophet ﷺ said: إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَيَطَّلِعُ فِي لَيْلَةِ النِّصْفِ مِنْ ‌شَعْبَانَ، ‌فَيَغْفِرُ ‌لِجَمِيعِ ‌خَلْقِهِ إِلَّا لِمُشْرِكٍ أَوْ مُشَاحِنٍ “Indeed Allah looks at His creation on the night of the middle of Shaʿbān, and He forgives all of His creation except a polytheist or one who harbors hatred.” So reflect: how forgiveness is withheld from the one who carries rancor in his heart, or harbors hatred in his breast. And consider how one loses the reward of his good deeds when he unleashes his tongue with harm, thereby being deprived of his reward, and his righteous actions do not benefit him. It was said to the Prophet ﷺ: “O Messenger of Allah! Such-and-such woman prays at night, fasts by day, gives charity, and does good deeds, but she harms her neighbors with her tongue.” He ﷺ said: ‌لَا ‌خَيْرَ ‌فِيهَا، هِيَ مِنْ أَهْلِ النَّارِ “There is no good in her. She is among the people of the Fire.” (Reported by Aḥmad and others) That is due to the gravity of her crime. Her prayer did not benefit her, her fasting did not avail her, and her charity was not accepted from her, because she was among those who transgress by harming others. And this includes everyone who harms people with his tongue, or with messages he writes by his fingers, or with abuses he spreads through his means of communication. So fear Allah concerning yourselves. Preserve the reward of your deeds, protect your good works, and seek the forgiveness of your Lord by forgiving others. For Allah’s pardon is not sought by anything like pardoning His servants. As the truthful and trusted one ﷺ said: اغْفِرُوا ‌يَغْفِرُ ‌اللَّهُ ‌لَكُمْ “Forgive, and Allah will forgive you.” And send blessings, O Allah, and peace and barakah upon our master and our Prophet Muḥammad, and upon his family, his Companions, and those who follow them. And be pleased, O Allah, with Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī, and with all the noble Companions. O Allah, we ask You to raise our rank, to make our affairs easy, to expand our provision, to bless our spouses and our children, and to bless our homeland and our lands. O Allah, cure our sick, and have mercy upon our deceased. O Allah, make us believers through You, worshippers for You, ones who make full use of Shaʿbān, those who pardon others, those who attain victory through Your pardon, those who are dutiful to our parents. And have mercy upon them as they raised us when we were small, O Most Merciful of the merciful. O Allah, preserve the UAE with Your protection, take it under Your care, envelop it with Your concern, perpetuate its unity and mutual compassion, its stability and prosperity, and protect it from the envy of the envious, the schemes of the schemers, the aggression of the aggressors, and the evil of enemies and the spiteful, O Lord of all worlds. O Allah, preserve with Your protection the one endowed with wisdom, courage, and generosity, Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Zāyed, the President of the State. Clothe him perpetually in sound judgment and divine support. Grant success to him, to his deputies, to his brothers the rulers of the Emirates, and to his trustworthy Crown Prince, in what You love and are pleased with. O Allah, have mercy upon Shaykh Zāyed, Shaykh Rāshid, and all the shaykhs of the Emirates who have passed to Your mercy. Admit them, by Your grace, into the vastness of Your gardens, and encompass the martyrs of the nation with Your mercy and forgiveness. O Allah, have mercy upon the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women, among the living and the dead. O Allah, send down upon us rain, and do not make us among those who despair. O Allah, send us rain. O Allah, send us rain. O Allah, send us rain. Servants of Allah: remember Allah, the Magnificent, the Majestic, and He will remember you. Give thanks to Him for His blessings and He will increase you. And establish the prayer.