Virtues of Shaban: How to Prepare for Ramadan Spiritually

Shaban is a month that is often neglected as people look forward to the excitement of Ramadan and its long nights of worship. But the month of Shaban is a month of incredible virtue, expressly highlighted by our beloved Prophet ﷺ. It has great historical significance as it is the month in which fasting Ramadan was legislated through revelation and it is the month in which the qibla changed from Jerusalem to Mecca. Beyond its historical significance, Shaban is a month of fasting and increased focus on the Qur’an, giving it great spiritual significance.

What is Shaban? A Month of Fasting

The first virtue of Shaban is that it is a month of fasting. Typically, many of us forget about fasting in this month because we’re looking forward to Ramadan. ʿĀisha (rA) said as part of a larger hadith, “I never saw Allah’s Messenger ﷺ fast for an entire month except for Ramadan, and did not see him fasting in any month more than in Shaban.”

ʿĀisha (rA) also said in an authentic narration, “The most beloved of months or the month in which Allah’s Messenger ﷺ loved to fast more than anything else was Shaban. Indeed, he used to join it to Ramadan”; i.e., he would not take a break from fasting between Shaban and Ramadan.

From these two hadiths, we can see that the Prophet ﷺ never fasted an entire month outside of Ramadan, but the month that he fasted most after Ramadan was Shaban, to the point that it was as if he had connected the fasting of Shaban to the month of Ramadan.

When is Shaban?

Shaban is the eighth month of the Islamic lunar calendar; it immediately precedes the month of Ramadan. Jurist and spiritual author, Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya (d. 751/1350), beautifully mentions that the Prophet ﷺ fasted almost all of Shaban as a means of glorifying Ramadan, the same way that the most beloved of sunnahs is the sunnah before Fajr because it glorifies the most beloved of prayers, Fajr. And just like you use the sunnah as preparation for the obligatory prayer, so too is Shaban a preparation for and glorification of Ramadan.

Ibn Al-Qayyim also mentions that the Prophet ﷺ was known to voluntarily fast three days of every month, but sometimes he was not able to do so. When that happened, he would fast in Shaban to make up those days before the obligatory fast of Ramadan. This was the Prophet’s habit across a range of optional acts of worship that he used to do regularly but sometimes missed, including the night prayer and optional fasting.

A Month of Qur’an

Just as fasting in Shaban is neglected by many, so too is reading the Qur’an in this month. Whereas we all intend to increase the amount of Qur’an we read in Ramadan, Shaban is the time that the reciters prepare themselves for the recitation of Ramadan. Shaban was known by some of the pious predecessors as the month of the reciters because of how much of the Qur’an people would read during it.

Salama b. Kuhayl al-Kūfī (d. 121/739), one of the early generation of believers, known as ‘the Followers’ (tābiʿīn), narrates that when the month of Shaban approached, his people freed their time to recite the Qur’an. He said, “The month of Shaban [is] the month of reciters.” Another narration states that “When Shaban would begin, Amr ibn Qais would close his store, and devote himself to the recitation of the Qur’an.”

15th of Shaban: A Night of Forgiveness

In an authentic narration, the Prophet ﷺ said “Allah looks on the night of the half of Shaban (i.e., the 15th), so He forgives the entirety of His creation except for a polytheist or a person with enmity.” A narration from ʿIkrima al-Barbarī (d. 105/723), the bondsman (mawlā) of ʿAbd Allāh Ibn ʿAbbās (d. 68/687), is frequently quoted in which he calls the 15th of Shaban the ‘Night of Exemption’ (laylat al-barāʾa), the day that we are freed from the Hellfire.

The Prophet ﷺ said that Shaban is the month in which deeds are presented to Allah and the 15th is the particular night that Allah looks at those deeds and forgives all of them. Taking advantage of this night will allow us to enter Ramadan with amnesty, free from the burden of our sins with only the longing for our Creator remaining.

Many great scholars have written about observing the 15th of Shaban and whilst we should fill the night with worship, there are no specific acts that have been mentioned by the Prophet ﷺ to be singled out on this night.