Tonight we will be observing remembrance of Laylatul Baraat, the 15th Shabaan.
Some Resources on the significance of this night:
The Night of the 15th of Sha`ban
“Laylatul-bara’ ah” (The night of freedom from Fire).
1) Imam Nawawi mentioned in his Majmu`, where he also quoted Imam al-Shafi`i from the latter’s al-Umm that it has reached him that there are 5 nights when dua is answered, one of them being the night of the 15th of Sha`ban.
**Note, of course, that the night of the 15th is the night before it.**
2) Imam Haskafi said in his Durr al-Mukhtar, one of the primary references in the Hanafi school:
“Among the recommended [prayers] are on. . . . the nights of the two Eids, the middle of Sha`ban, the last ten of Ramadan, and the first [ten] of Dhul-Hijjah. ”
3) It is reported from Sayyiduna `Ali (Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “Let all of you spend the night of mid-Sha`ban in worship (i.e. partly) and its day in fasting. Allah descends to the nearest heaven during this night, beginning with sunset, and says: ‘Is there no one asking forgiveness that I may forgive them? Is there no one asking sustenance that I may grant them sustenance? Is there no one under trial that I may relieve them? Is there not such-and-such, is there not such-and-such, and so forth until until dawn rises.’” [Narrated by Ibn Majah with a weak chain.]
There are many other narrations from the Companions and early Muslims confirming this matter, as mentioned by Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali in his Lata’if al-Ma`arif, and others.
There is general consensus that weak hadiths may be acted upon for virtuous acts, such as voluntary fasting and prayer, as long as the hadith is not excessively weak, returns to a general basis in the Shariah, and one is not convinced that the Prophet (Allah bless him & give him peace) specifically prescribed it.
Mother of the believers, Sayidatuna A’isha (May Allah be pleased with her) says, I missed the Prophet (Sallahu alayhi wa salaam) one night so I went out to al-Baqi’ graveyard, and found him). He said: “Were you afraid that Allah would wrong”? I said: “O Messenger of Allah, I thought that you might have gone to visit one of your [other] wives.” He said: “Allah Glorious and Exalted descends to the nearest heaven on the night of mid-Shabaan (15th night) and He forgives more people than the number of hair on the hides of the flocks and herds of sheep of the tribe of Kalb. {Tirmidhi}.
It is recorded in books that the tribe of Kalb used to have the most number of sheep in Arabia, but some unfortunate people are still not forgiven on this night when Allah showers His mercy on mankind. Amongst them are 1) those who are habitual drinkers [alcoholics] 2) those who are habitual adulterous 3) those who are disobedient to their parents 4) those who break family ties 5) those who are mischief-spreaders and, 6) those who are back-bitters. In another narration mischief-spreader is replaced with those who make pictures. {Mukashifatul Quloob}.
In a long Prophetic narration, narrated in Ghunya tut-Talibin, the Messenger of Allah said, that is the night of mid-Shabaan (15 night) when Allah (Exalted is He) arranges the affairs of the year. He transfers [some of] the living to the list of dead, and records those who will make pilgrimage [Hajj] to the House of Allah that year, neither adding one too many nor leaving a single one of them out.”
Spend the night, as much as possible, in worship and on the 15th of Shabaan. It is written in Anees-ul-Waezeen that whoever fasts on the fifteenth of Shabaan the fire of hell will not touch him.
Next to the “night of Qadr” the night of 15th Shaban is the most auspicious night ( also known as “night of Baraat”). According to the Imam Muhammad Ibn Ali Al Baqir (AS) and Jafar Ibn Muhammad Al Sadiq (AS) The Almighty Allah has promised to fulfill every legitimate desire put foward to him tonight.
In another Tradition she says, “Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, would sometimes begin to fast continuously until we thought he would not stop fasting, and sometimes he used to stop fasting until we thought he would never fast. I never saw the Messenger of Allah, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, fasting a complete month, except the month of Ramadan, and I have never seen him fasting in a month more frequently than he did in Shaban.”
SIGNIFICANCE OF SHAB’E BARAAT – 15th of Sha’baan
The night which falls on the even of the 15th of Sha’baan is called Shab’e Baraat.
THE AUSPICIOUSNESS OF THIS NIGHT
1. The names of those who are to die in the coming year are given to the Angels.
2. The names of those who are to be born in the coming year are given to the Angels.
3. Those who are to receive sustenance during the coming year, their names are given to the Angels.
4. After sunset Allah Ta’ala’s splendour descends on the first Heaven. This remains till dawn.
5. A proclamation is made by Allah Ta’ala for those seeking forgiveness so that they may be forgiven.
6. A proclamation is also made for those seeking livelihood so that they may be given livelihood.
7. A proclamation is made for those in trouble so that they may be released from their troubles.
8. Countless people are freed from Jahannum.
Ummul Mu’mineen ‘Aishah, Radi-Allahu anha, says, “Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, used to fast the whole of Shaban. I said to him, ‘Messenger of Allah, is Shaban your most favorite month for fasting?’ He said, ‘In this month Allah prescribes the list of the persons dying this year. Therefore, I like that my death comes when I am in a state of fasting.”
Recent attacks by France’s President Nikolas Sarkozy have brought new attention to traditional Muslim dress. Sarkozy is quoted as saying, to Parliament:
The burqa is not a religious sign, it’s a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement — I want to say it solemnly,” he said. “It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic.
This is after they have already banned the Hijab in the public sphere, such as schools and government offices:
“The protesters condemned last week’s announcement by the mayor of Nogent-sur-Marne, a Paris suburb, that he would refuse to marry any woman arriving for a civil wedding in a headscarf.”
As usual, the atheistic secular humanists are not satisfied with such statements, for on the face of it, they could be easily be taken as bigoted. So now they reach towards ‘science’ to justify oppressive words and practices. And haven’t we all have agreed that ‘science’ is impartial?
What all this means is if you’re a typical woman from the Middle East, one of the worst things to do, in terms of health, is to don a burka every time you step foot outside.
It is true Vitamin D deficiency is found in many countries around the globe, north and south.
The Middle East, however, has been noted in a number of scientific studies over the years as a particularly problematic area in this regard. Many of these same studies have singled out the garments worn by many women there, like the burka and niqab, as significant factors in reducing exposure to sunlight.
Schneidereit doesn’t hide his bias, stating that “That said, let me be clear that I agree with the thrust of what Sarkozy stated”.
At the same time he believes that since it’s scientifically “unhealthy”, there is no need to engage with the “political, cultural or religious aspects” of this debate. In other words, why actually talk about this? Why seek to understand the burka, what it represents and how complex of an issue this really is? It’s unhealthy!
The article is missing a whole lot of science and is instead filled with a whole lot of uncited opinions. One actual scientific study conducted on Arab women in Michigan came to interesting conclusions directly about the veil and the relationship to Vitamin D:
“RESULTS: Eighty-seven women participated. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were uniformly low“
In other words, unveiled Arab women are also deeply deficient in Vitamin D. While the currently advertised ‘optimum level’ is 35–55 ng/mL, the breakdown of the women with the highest levels was as follows:
Unveiled – Combination Supplemented and Unsupplemented:
8.5 ng/mL [5.75-13.5 ng/mL])
Veiled & Taking Vitamin Supplements:
7 ng/mL [4-11.5 ng/mL]
Veiled, Unsupplemented:
4 ng/mL [2-6.8 ng/mL]
Note the range, some veiled, unsupplemented women actually had higher levels of Vitamin D than the some completely unveiled women.
Unveiled Arab women seem to already have a natural ‘deficiency’ according to the standards outlined by the medical community today. The unveiled women were only getting 25% of the daily recommended value, the unveiled women with supplements 20%, and the unveiled women without supplements – 11%.
When there is a gap of 75% deviation from recommended values even in the unveiled women, this indicates other issues such as genetics, diet, and environment have a bigger influence on the ‘problem’ than simply blaming the veil.
In fact, the study states that its variable considerations (which primarily focused on the veil and supplements) were insufficient to explain the Vitamin D deficiency:
Our participants had exceedingly low concentrations of
25-hydroxyvitamin D (<10 ng/mL), with the concentrations
decreasing as the groups progressed from unveiled
to veiled with supplements and to veiled without supplements.
Clearly, our variables are insufficient to explain
the entire deficit in 25-hydroxyvitamin D.
Armed with actual facts, we now take a look at the motivations behind articles such as Schneidereit’s. To base an opinion about the extermination of cultural or religious expression based on narrow-minded and selective ‘science’ is reminiscent of eugenics. Eugenics is defined:
“”the study of, or belief in, the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics) or encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits (positive eugenics).”
-http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/eugenics
By considering the burka as proven ‘scientifically’ inferior, Schneidereit believes enough justification is present to ignore the deep context surrounding this mode of dress and simply close the book on the burka forever. This is not far from those who considered Jews worthy of extermination based on slipshod science which justified their opinions about the quality of their race. We’ve entered the era of mainstream cultural eugenics.
Not only has Schneidereit ignored actual studies which demonstrate the minimal aspect to the veil, but by ignoring social context he has left aside important facts.
Why is it not relevant that veiled women do not wear veils in their comfort and privacy of their own homes and gardens? When determining an overall position on the veil, why is it not scientific to consider that incidence of skin cancer is dramatically lower in the sun-blazing Middle East and its relationship to the veil?
Moreover, why is it socially acceptable to promote near nudity in tanning and sunbathing as a valid cultural expression when its only debatable benefit is cosmetic and results in dramatic rise in incidence of skin cancer?
Gai Eaton addresses this problem of non-specialists deriving social policy based on inaccurate scientific notions:
What matters, from this point of view, is not the pure form of a particular theory but the form in which it has been popularized, processed through the educational machine and assimilated by the masses. Religious (or metaphysical) ideas, when they penetrate whole populations within a traditional environment, may adopt simplified and what might be described as “picturesque” forms without thereby sacrificing either integrity or effectiveness, but secular and scientific notions soon become slipshod and inaccurate when they are popularized.
-Gai Eaton, “Knowledge and its Counterfeits”
http://www.livescience.com/health/090615-alcohol-brain.html
Only 6 minutes after consuming an amount of alcohol equivalent to three beers — leading to a blood alcohol level of 0.05 to 0.06 percent, which impairs driving ability — changes had already taken place in the brain cells.
For one thing, the brain begins to run on the sugar in alcohol instead of using glucose, the normal brain food.
“Our study provides evidence for alternative energy utilization upon alcohol ingestion,” said researcher Armin Biller at Heidelberg University Hospital “The brain uses an alcohol breakdown product instead of glucose for energy demands.”
The concentration of substances such as creatine (energy metabolism), which protect brain cells, decreases as the concentration of alcohol increases. Choline, a component of cell membranes, was also reduced.
“That probably indicates that alcohol triggers changes in the composition of cell membranes,” Biller said.
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