#SgSohbah: Short Advice on Sha’aban

Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm

In Loving Memory of Sheikh Muhammad Abdul Sattar Khan

Here is a transcription of some advice given by Almarhum Sheikh Abdul Sattar Khan on the month of Sha’aban:

Assalamualaikum wr wb..

Dear brothers and sisters.

A short advice concerning the month of Sha’ban, the month of Rasulullah ﷺ. This month is sandwiched between the month of Rajab Shahrullah, and the month of Ramadan, the month of the Ummah of Rasulullah ﷺ.

And symbolically, it is a sign where Allah ﷻ is showing us that between Allah ﷻ and the creation, there is His wasilah, His beloved Sayyidina Muhammad ﷺ.
Hence, no one can reach to Allah ﷻ except through Rasulullah ﷺ.

Every prayer, every dua that is done must be beginning and ending with Sallu ala Nabi. And so this is something which is a clear sign to refute the claims of the Wahabis that one doesn’t need Him anymore.

Allah ﷻ has put the month of the Prophet ﷺ in between Him, His month and the month of the Ummah of Rasulullah ﷺ. This is the month in which it is said most people are very neglectful of this month.

They do less worshipping in this month than in the month of Rajab and in the month of Ramadan.

So in this month, we are encouraged to make all the preparations for the coming month of Ramadan by doing firstly, a lot of fasting, the fasting on the days of first Thursday, last Thursday, last Monday on the Nisfu Sha’aban and for those who are fasting throughout the month of Rajab, continue till the month of Ramadan, in this month you can fast a whole month if you wish to.

And those who are doing the Monday, Thursdays, please continue. We should try to do at least the Monday, Thursday fastings for this month of Sha’ban. And also in this month, the Sahaba of the Holy Prophet ﷺ used to be counting their zakatul harta, zakatul mal, zakat mal, they will be calculating their amount of money that they must give in zakat and they used to distribute their zakat in this month, towards the end of this month, so that the poor people will have some money for them to have their fasting done properly and for them to celebrate Eid next month.

So usually, the Sahaba used to do their giving out of their zakat money in this month. So they were making preparation because they didn’t want to be disturbed in Ramadan by the duniawi matters.

So they would even start to wind down their business and then to settle all their outstanding debts and clear all the debts. So that once they enter Ramadan, they would dive into the reading of the Quran.

Many of them tried to do khatam every day, every two days, every three days once.

They did intense reading of the Quran because the month of Ramadan is also, besides fasting, it’s also the month of Quran.

The Quran was revealed, the Holy Quran was revealed in that month, so lots and lots of them would try to do many, many khatam Quran in that particular month.

So for us in this month of Sha’ban, it is said it is a month people are neglectful, so we should try to increase our devotions.

This is a very happy month. Month that we can do a lot of Sallu ala Nabi, a lot of salawat we can do, lots and lots of Qasidah Burda, we can do Qasidahs, we can do reading of Maulid even in our homes. We can do all these celebrations that we are usually doing also in the month of Rabi’ al-Awwal. So this is the month of the Prophet ﷺ.

Abundance remembrance of the Holy Prophet ﷺ should be done in this month. And you can even do the Maulid in your own home.

You cannot read the whole Maulid, you can do one stanza a day also. Starting from the first stanza, read one stanza every single day, so that there’s a barakah of Maulid happening in your homes every single day.

So in this entire month, this is the main activities. The highlight of the whole month, of course, is the night of Nisfu Sha’ban. After Maghrib, we have entered 15th day of Sha’ban, where fasting is extremely important. And so, the night before that, the night of Nisfu Sha’ban, in the middle of the Prophet ﷺ’s month, then there comes the decree from from Allah ﷻ to the creation.

On that month, your books descend on that month, and whoever is written to die in the coming year, if it’s written in that book that has descended on that night, then you will pass away, no matter how much you look after your health, you go jogging, you take supplements, you make dua, you will pass away in that year as written by Allah Almighty when your books descend from the Lauh Mahfuz.

So, on that night, we do the three recitation of the Yassin, asking for long life, protection from calamities, ease in rizqi, without having to depend on the creation. So that is the importance of that particular night.

We stay up the whole night doing Salat-ul Khair. Salat-ul Khair, perhaps, is the hardest prayer to be done for the murid’s for the entire year, a hundred rak’ats in which we are asked to read 10 Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad after Fatiha in each rak’at, making a total of 1,000 Suratul Ikhlas.

But because of the time constraints and because some of us are weak and old and tired and sickly and do not have the capacity to do so much, we do the same 100 rak’ats, but we recite two Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad instead of 10 in the first rak’at, and one instead of 10 in the second rak’at, completing the 100 rak’ats reciting a total of 150 Suratul Ikhlas.

The balance 850 is done when the Tasbih sitting on a chair, or sitting down throughout the rest of the night, and can continue even in the daytime of Nisfu Sha’ban itself.

So, that Salat-ul Khair is really important. It is the deeds that were done from the time of the Prophet ﷺ, all the way through the Sahaba, Tabi’in, and even till today, the people of Tariqa are still keeping this Sunnah.

It is said that those who do this, Allah ﷻ’s will gaze at that person 70 times during that night, and even one, the first gaze that Allah ﷻ gave already will will settle all his worldly matters. All the problems that he will have, Allah ﷻ will look after them. So, it is a very important prayer to be done, and there’s also Salat-ul khusama on that night, and that is the highlight of the entire month right in the center, our Nisfu Sha’ban.

So, insha’Allah, do not be neglectful in this month. Do as much as you can in terms of salawat and, and the qasida, and doing Maulid, and doing fasting wherever you can, and remember to be aware of the middle of the month where you may want to even take leave on the next day, which is the day you are fasting for Nisfu Sha’ban.

So, that’s a very quick summary of this year’s Nisfu Sha’ban. Don’t forget we will be collecting all the donations for the contributions for the month of Sha’ban and also for the Nisfu Sha’ban qurban.

Make intention to give these gifts always, not just this month, but every month as a hadiya. As a gift.

Try to avoid the word sadaqah, try to avoid the word charity, because the Holy Prophet ﷺ never accepted charity, only accepted gifts. And the Ahlul Bayt-ul-Kiram cannot accept charity, can only accept gifts. So whenever you give charity, don’t say sadaqah. The Prophet ﷺ said sadaqah is the, um, in Malay they call it “daki”. Daki means when you rub your skin very vigorously, there is this black dirt that comes out. So the Holy Prophet ﷺ said sadaqah is this black, grimy dirt from your body.

And charity is the beautiful fragrance, like when you cook biryani, you walk into the room, you can smell the fragrance. A gift is that sort of fragrance. So there’s a vast difference in the reward when it comes to be giving gifts and giving sadaqah. So, make an intention every time, although we call it charity collection, or I try to use the word contribution, so as not to use the word charity so often, because if there’s a derogatory term, it means charity is most like giving dirt to people. That means something that you don’t want.

You have a broken down bicycle and you give it to charity because you don’t want to use it, compared to like giving a brand new bicycle out of love to people because you are happy to share from the gifts of Allah ﷻ. So charity is like giving away something which is dirty, and, sadaqah is like giving something which is fragrance and beautiful. So make the intention it is your giving a gift, giving a hadiya and not giving sadaqah or charity, for especially for people of Sham Sharif. There are many ahlul bayt there.

If you make the niyyat for charity, they cannot take from the food that you are giving, from the money that they are using, from your gifts, to buy, they cannot eat, because you are making niyyat for sadaqah. So, make niyyat to cover all the Ahlul Bayt who are taking all the Awliya Allah, they will, they can only take hadiya from you. So, make the intention from now on, all of you who are contributing, always say, I’m giving this as a gift, as a hadiya, from the bounties of Allah ﷻ to these people.

Once Salman al-Farsiق, our third Grand Sheikh, when he was brought as a slave from, Persia, all the way to Madinah, and he was reading from the olden books, about the signs of the last Prophet ﷺ, he knew one of the signs that this Prophet ﷺ had besides having the the seal of the Prophet ﷺ on his back, he is also one who would not accept charity.

And so, to test this study that he had from the Bible, he brought a tray of food to the Prophet ﷺ when he was sitting with the companions and say, “Ya Muhammad ﷺ, this is a charity for you, I’m giving.” And Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, “Please distribute to the other believers. I cannot take from charity.”

So the next day, he brought another dulang, another big tray of food, and he say, “Ya Muhammad ﷺ, this is a gift for you.” And the Prophet ﷺ accepted it, and saying, “We can accept hadiya, we cannot accept sadaqah.” So, this is a very clear story, coming also from our own Grand Sheikh line, that you must be giving all these gifts that you are giving and make the intention of all the past gifts, and all the future gifts as, as a hadiya.

And also make it, “Ya Allah ﷻ, you say, Ya Allah ﷻ, make this also be as if it is given by my father and mother and my ancestors.” It is said in the hadith, whoever makes charity or makes sadaqah or hadiya, and he gives it with the intention that it’s also as if it is from his parents giving, as if you are saying, “Ya Allah ﷻ, write this charity that I’m giving as if it is given by my father, oh Allah ﷻ, and given by my mother, oh Allah ﷻ.” Write for them as this is they giving this charity, and Allah ﷻ will give you and them the equal reward.

Nothing is reduced from the reward, just like when you give food for someone to break fast, it is mentioned in the hadith, Allah ﷻ will reward him as if he fasted the whole day, without reducing your reward, even by one atom.

You also are rewarded for your fast, and the person who breaks the fast with your food is also given, you are given the reward, and he is also given the reward, every party is given the reward. And that’s why when you let somebody who is fasting, break their fast with your food, then basically you get the reward of that person’s fasting as well, but the person who is fasting loses not even one atom of his own reward. So this is the beauty of Allah ﷻ’s generosity. Allah ﷻ is Ya Karim, Ya Akram al-Akramin, the most generous of those who show generosity.

So make the intention for all your gifts from now on, and not just to Syria, anywhere you give, you make the intention in your heart, Ya Allah ﷻ, this is a hadiya, a gift, Ya Allah ﷻ, to these people. So, always you are giving something of fragrance and not of the grime of your body, insha’Allah. So, do all these amal in Ramadan, in this month of Sha’ban, give abundant charity, put your little box there everyday, pray for each other.

Insha’Allah, and make the intention to have all your worldly matters settled before the coming of Ramadan. If you are the sort of person who can actually finish off certain business and not do it in Ramadan, then do it.

Of course, those who are working, they don’t have a choice, but some people who are self-employed, or some people who want to do their zakat mal, they can settle all this before the 1st of Ramadan, so when Ramadan starts, you can dive into the readings of the Quran, and try to do maybe three khatams this year, instead of the usual one, for the first 10 days, one time and so second 10 days, second time and the last 10 days a third time insha’Allah.

Have a blessed Sha’ban. Sha’ban Mubarak to all of you. Keep myself and my family in your prayers as we do the same for you.

As-salamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

•⁠ Almarhum Sheikh Muhammad Abdul Sattar Khan

To learn more about the month of Shaʿban Muʿazzam, please click here.

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Our beloved Sheikh Muhammad Abdul Sattar Khan reunited with his true love, Allah Almighty, on 11 November 2023. 

May Allah forgive his shortcomings, bestow upon him endless blessings, mercy, and light, and elevate his rank for the sincerity of his efforts and contribution during his lifetime. 

May he be placed among those closest and dearest to Allah Almighty.

Al-Fatiha for Sheikh Muhammad Abdul Sattar Khan.

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