Devoting Oneself on the Night of Mid-Shaʿban
Daʿaʾim al-Islam, vol. 1, p. 185: We have narrated from Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad (a), from his father, from his forefathers, from ʿAli—Allah's blessings be upon him and upon the Imams from among his descendants—that he used to say: It pleases me that a man should devote himself on four nights in the year: the night of al-Fitr, the night of al-Adha, the night of mid-Shaʿban and the first of Rajab—he (a) means: for prayer and the remembrance of Allah, Majestic is His remembrance.
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The Forgiveness of Sins
Man La Yahduruhu al-Faqih, vol. 2, p. 94: Hariz narrated from Zurara, who said: I said to Abu Jaʿfar (a): What do you say about the night of mid-Shaʿban? He said: On it Allah, Almighty, forgives, from among His creation, more than the number of the hairs of the goats of Kalb, and Allah, Almighty, sends down His angels to the lowest heaven and to the earth at Mecca.
On Keeping It Alive
Al-Amali (of al-Saduq), the text, p. 27: The venerable Shaykh Abu Jaʿfar Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn al-Husayn ibn Musa ibn Babawayh, the jurist (r), narrated to us; he said: Muhammad ibn Ishaq (rh) narrated to us; he said: Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Hamdani narrated to us, from ʿAli ibn al-Hasan ibn Faddal, from his father, who said: I asked ʿAli ibn Musa al-Rida (a) about the night of mid-Shaʿban. He said: It is a night in which Allah frees necks from the Fire and forgives major sins. I said: Is there in it a prayer in addition to the other nights? He said: There is nothing prescribed in it, but if you would like to do something voluntary in it, then keep to the prayer of Jaʿfar ibn Abi Talib (a), and increase in it the remembrance of Allah, Almighty, seeking forgiveness and supplication, for my father (a) used to say: Supplication on it is answered. I said to him: People say that it is the Night of the Writs (al-ṣikāk). He (a) said: That is the Night of Qadr in the month of Ramadan.
The Ziyarah of Imam al-Husayn (a), Karbala and the Night of Mid-Shaʿban
Kamil al-Ziyarat, the text, p. 182
1- Salim ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman, from Abu ʿAbd Allah (a), who said: Whoever spends the night of mid-Shaʿban in the land of Karbala, and recites a thousand times “Say, ‘He is Allah, the One’” (Qurʾan 112:1), and seeks Allah's forgiveness a thousand times, and praises Allah a thousand times, then stands and prays four rakʿas, reciting in each rakʿa Ayat al-Kursi a thousand times, Allah, the Exalted, assigns to him two angels who guard him from every evil and from the evil of every devil and ruler, and who write down his good deeds for him, and no bad deed is written against him, and they seek forgiveness for him as long as they are with him [as long as Allah wills].
2- Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Jaʿfar al-Himyari narrated to me, from his father, from Yaʿqub ibn Yazid, from Muhammad ibn Abi ʿUmayr, from Zayd al-Shahham, from Abu ʿAbd Allah (a), who said: Whoever visits the grave of al-Husayn (a) on mid-Shaʿban, Allah forgives him his earlier and his later sins.
3- Abu ʿAbd Allah Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Yaʿqub ibn Ishaq ibn ʿAmmar narrated to me, from ʿAli ibn al-Hasan ibn ʿAli ibn Faddal, from Muhammad ibn al-Walid, from Yunus ibn Yaʿqub, who said: Abu ʿAbd Allah (a) said: O Yunus, on the night of mid-Shaʿban Allah forgives everyone among the believers who has visited al-Husayn (a) their earlier and their later sins, and it is said to them: Begin your deeds anew. He said: I said: All this is for whoever visits al-Husayn (a) on mid-Shaʿban? He said: O Yunus, were I to tell people what there is in it for whoever visits al-Husayn (a), the males of men would stand upon the wood.
4- Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Musa narrated to me, from ʿUbayd Allah ibn Nahik, from Ibn Abi ʿUmayr, from Zayd al-Shahham, from Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad (a), who said: Whoever visits [the grave of] al-Husayn (a) on the night of mid-Shaʿban—Allah forgives him his earlier and his later sins; and whoever visits him on the day of ʿArafa, Allah writes for him the reward of a thousand accepted hajjs and a thousand approved ʿumras; and whoever visits him on the day of ʿAshura, it is as though he visited Allah [in] above His Throne.
The Birth of Imam al-Hujjah on Mid-Shaʿban
From Kamal al-Din wa Tamam al-Niʿma, vol. 2, p. 426:
Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Walid (r) narrated to us; he said: Muhammad ibn Yahya al-ʿAttar narrated to us; he said: Abu ʿAbd Allah al-Husayn ibn Rizq Allah (1) narrated to us; he said: Musa ibn Muhammad ibn al-Qasim ibn Hamza ibn Musa ibn Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn al-Husayn ibn ʿAli ibn Abi Talib (a) narrated to me; he said: Hakima, daughter of Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn Musa ibn Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAli ibn al-Husayn ibn ʿAli ibn Abi Talib (a), narrated to me; she said: Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn ʿAli (a) sent for me and said: O aunt, break your fast this night with us, for it is the night of mid-Shaʿban, and Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, will make manifest on this night the Proof, and he is His Proof on His earth. She said: So I said to him: And who is his mother? He said to me: Narjis. I said to him: May Allah make me your ransom, there is no sign on her. He said: It is as I tell you. She said: So I came, and when I had greeted and sat down, she came to take off my shoes and said to me: O my lady and lady of my family, how have you spent the evening? So I said: Rather, you are my lady and the lady of my family. She said: She disapproved of my words and said: What is this, O aunt? She said: So I said to her: O my little daughter, Allah, the Exalted, will grant you on this night of yours a boy who will be a master in this world and the Hereafter. She said: So she became shy and abashed. When I had finished the last evening prayer, I broke my fast, took to my bed and slept. When it was the depth of the night, I rose for the prayer and finished my prayer while she was asleep, with nothing happening to her. Then I sat for the post-prayer devotions, then I lay down, then I woke up alarmed while she was sleeping; then she rose, prayed and slept. Hakima said: And I went out to look for the dawn, and there was the first dawn, like the tail of a wolf, while she was asleep; and doubts entered me. Then Abu Muhammad (a) called out to me from the sitting room and said: Do not hasten, O aunt, for here, the matter has drawn near. She said: So I sat and recited Alif Lam Mim al-Sajda and Ya Sin. While I was thus, she suddenly awoke alarmed, so I leapt to her and said: The name of Allah be upon you. Then I said to her: Do you feel anything? She said: Yes, O aunt. So I said to her: Compose yourself and collect your heart, for it is what I told you. She said: Then a languor overtook me and a languor overtook her, and I awoke at the sense of my master; so I uncovered the garment from him, and there he was (a), prostrating, meeting the ground with the places of his prostration. So I drew him to me, and he was clean and cleansed. Then Abu Muhammad (a) called out to me: Bring my son to me, O aunt. So I brought him to him, and he placed his hands under his buttocks and his back, and placed his feet on his chest; then he put his tongue into his mouth, and passed his hand over his eyes, his hearing and his joints; then he said: Speak, my son. So he said: I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, without any partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah (s). Then he invoked blessings upon the Commander of the Faithful and upon the Imams (a) until he stopped at his father; then he held back.
Then Abu Muhammad (a) said: O aunt, take him to his mother so that he may greet her, and bring him to me. So I took him, and he greeted her, and I brought him back and placed him in the sitting room. Then he said: O aunt, when it is the seventh day, come to us. Hakima said: When morning came, I came to greet Abu Muhammad (a), and I drew back the curtain to look for my master (a), but I did not see him. So I said: May I be made your ransom, what has become of my master? He said: O aunt, we have entrusted him to the One whom the mother of Musa (a) entrusted. Hakima said: When it was the seventh day, I came, greeted and sat down. He said: Bring my son to me. So I brought my master (a), and he was in a swaddling cloth; and he did with him as he had done the first time; then he put his tongue into his mouth as though he were feeding him milk or honey; then he said: Speak, my son. So he said: I bear witness that there is no god but Allah; and he followed it with invoking blessings upon Muhammad, upon the Commander of the Faithful and upon the pure Imams—Allah's blessings be upon them all—until he stopped at his father (a). Then he recited this verse: In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful. “And We desired to show favour to those who were abased in the land, and to make them imams, and to make them the heirs, and to establish them in the land, and to show Pharaoh and Haman and their hosts from them that of which they were apprehensive.” (Qurʾan 28:5–6) (1) Musa said: So I asked ʿUqba the servant about this, and she said: Hakima has spoken the truth.
