The months of Sha’ban and Rajab are there to help one to enter the hall of Ramadan with open eyes, without being heedless of the feast or passing it by without gaining anything from it; they are there to encourage him/her to look around and use this opportunity. To make you and me ready for this opportunity, the months of Sha’ban and Rajab are there. Each of them helps in their own way: Rajab is more recommended for performing prayers; Sha’ban is the time of fasting and reciting prayers.
October 4, 2004
The moth of Sha’ban is the believers’ corridor to the divine feast, that is, the month of Ramadan.
The months of Rajab and Sha’ban are there to help us prepare our hearts for the month of Ramada. Not many days are left from the month of Sha’ban. My dear ones! My sons and daughters! Dear youth! Benefit from the remaining days. Plead to God; make your pure hearts attentive to God and talk to Him. Talking to God does not require a certain language; however, our infallible Imams—the ones who passed the stages of getting closer to God one after another—have talked to God using a beautiful language. They have taught us the ways to talk to God. The Sha’baniyah invocation, the supplications of the months of Rajab and Sha’ban, all consisting of lofty notions, delicate and illuminating teachings in beautiful and miraculous words are among the means for us to supplicate to God. I invite all of you dear ones to pay attention to making supplications on these days, to be attentive to prayers and to embrace fasting, as well as benefiting from the days and nights of the month of Ramadan.
November 11, 2001
Outstanding religious personalities and mystics have regarded the month of Rajab as an introduction to the month of Ramadan. The month of Rajab and the month of Sha'ban are opportunities to prepare ourselves for the month of Ramadan which is the month of divine celebration. How should we prepare ourselves? Primarily, we should prepare ourselves by paying attention and engaging our hearts. We should know that we are present before God, who is the Omniscient One. "He is pure, whose knowledge includes everything" [ Mesbah al-Mutahajid, volume 1, page 305]. We should be aware of the fact that God knows about our feelings, our moves, our intentions and what happens in our hearts. Primarily this is important.
If this is done, then we will pay more attention to our actions, our words, our silence, and our social relationships. We will pay attention to what we say, where we go, what we do and whom we support and whom we speak against. When we know that we are present before God, we will pay more attention to our actions and behavior. Many of our problems are because of our negligence in taking care of our behavior and actions. When we make up for our negligence, when we pay attention to the fact that we are being watched and judged, we will be careful because God sees all of our moves and actions. "Surely We wrote what you did" [The Holy Quran, 45: 29]. We should enter the month of Ramadan with purity and piety and by paying attention to these points. We should enter the month of Ramadan while we have cleansed ourselves. In such a condition, we make the most of our presence in divine celebration. We should adopt such an outlook towards the month of Rajab.
Sha’ban is the month of pouring divine mercy and full of ‘Eids all throughout the month
This month is the month of Sha'ban. It is the month of showering divine mercy. If we take a look at the chapters of Dua Sha'baniyah and those prayers which are particular to the Fifteenth of Sha'ban Night and other duas and prayers, we feel that the month of Sha'ban is a very valuable period of time for benefitting from God's mercy. With pure hearts and with prepared souls, you dear youth can benefit a great deal from it and I hope that God willing, you will benefit from the blessings of this month and from divine mercy in the month of Sha'ban.
One of the most prominent characteristics of the month of Sha'ban is the issue of the auspicious birthday anniversary of the pole of the universe – the Imam of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for his sake). The prominence of this day and this night has increased considerably because of this great birthday anniversary. Of course, the night of the fifteenth of Sha'ban is an auspicious night in itself as it is a night of praying and supplicating. It has been said that the night of the fifteenth of Sha'ban is one of the Nights of Qadr. However, its greatness has increased because of this birthday anniversary.
Let us pay attention to the holy existence of the Imam of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for his sake) by raising a few points about that great personality. Of course, primarily, we should congratulate all you on this birthday anniversary, on these days and on the sweetness of the auspicious birthday anniversary of that great personality. From start to finish, the month of Sha'ban is the month of divine blessings, of sweet occasions and of glad tidings.
The month of Sha'ban should not be ignored. This month is an Eid, from start to finish, just like the month of Ramadan. The month of Ramadan is an Eid too, from start to finish. It is the Eid of friends of God. Every day which gives people the opportunity to attend to the purity of themselves and the enlightenment of their hearts is a valuable day which can be celebrated. The month of Sha'ban is the month of these opportunities, from the beginning to the end.
Asking for God's forgiveness, praying, reciting supplications [duas], supplicating before God, reading the Quran and saying daily prayers in this month are all opportunities. We should do our best to build a better world: there is no doubt about this; but, we should also endeavor to build our own hearts up. We should build up our own hearts. By tending to our hearts we can build a great world. If our hearts are impure, dull, dark or sinful, we might be able to improve technology to a level which is even greater than today, but the world will not be a kind world. The world will be a bitter and unjust world. A sweet world will be built only when the decision-makers, activists, forerunners, and possibly the masses of the people will build upon and enlighten their own hearts. Therefore, you should not show negligence towards the month of Sha'ban.
To have a better world, we need to retrieve our hearts
In this holy month, I ask Allah the Exalted to bestow on us the opportunity to appreciate the value of this month. This has been reflected on in this salawat: “This is a month of Sha’ban that you have imbued with Your mercy and satisfaction” – by Allah’s favor, this month will be a month of mercy and divine satisfaction – and “The Messenger of God (God’s greetings be upon him and his household) used to fast and keep a vigil in this month in order to respect it and show his humility before You.” The way to appreciate the value of this month is to get ourselves and our hearts and souls close to the lofty goals of the Islamic Republic, to benefit from this month so that we can show humility, say dhikr and attract our hearts towards God, to ask Allah the Exalted to help us, and to rely on Him so that He will help us in all circumstances, God willing.
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