Date, History And Significance Of Shab-e-Barat; Delhi Police Sticks Poster Urging Muslims To Stay At Home

In the Islamic faith, Shab-e-Barat means the night of forgiveness or the Day of Atonement. It is considered to be the night when God forgives sinners.

New Delhi: Shab e Barat day is celebrated by the Muslims which is also known as Bara'at Night, The Night of Fortune and Forgiveness. Shab e-Barat is a holiday observed on the 14th night of Sha'aban, the eighth month in the Islamic calendar. Shab e-Barat which takes place on the full moon is dependent on the sighting of the previous new moon signifying the commencement of the month of Sha'aban. In the Islamic faith, Shab-e-Barat means the night of forgiveness or the Day of Atonement. It is considered to be the night when God forgives sinners. This year the festival will be observed on Wednesday, April 8 and 9. The Shab-e-Barat will begin on the evening of April 8 and end on the evening of April 9. The chronicle of this festival dates backs to the time when the twelfth Imam of the Shia Muslims named Muhammad al-Mahdi was born. The night of Shab e Barat is celebrated as his birthday. On the other hand, the Sunni Muslim community believes that on this day only, God saved the Ark of Noah from the flood. This is why the people across the globe celebrate Shab e Barat. This is one of the significant festivals for the Muslim community. Muslims believe that on the night of Shab e-Barat, God writes the destinies of all men for the coming year by taking into account the deeds committed by them in the past. Muslim devotees will offer special prayers, recite from the Holy Qur'an and perform other religious rituals throughout the night of Shab e-Barat, aspiring to receive divine blessings for the wellbeing of mankind. Shab-e-Barat observed on the night between the 14 and 15th day of the eighth month of the Islamic calendar, the occasion is marked by Muslims assembling in mosques and revisiting graves of their departed loved ones. However, the nation is under 21-day lockdown to prevent the spread of novel Coronavirus infection. The government has strictly outlawed any kind of social gathering. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Union Minister for Minority Affairs amidst this nationwide lockdown due to coronavirus terror said that the Central Waqf Council has asked state Waqf Boards to appeal to Muslims to observe the lockdown during Shab-e-Barat festival on April 8 and 9. Recently, Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic reformist group, had a large gathering of more than 3,000 people on 13 March in Nizamuddin with foreign nationals from Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Kyrgyzstan, and Malaysia, a hot spot for the deadly virus. According to the government reports the Jamaat gathering has been held responsible for having spread the virus to such a doubling rate. As the cases of COVID-19 cases in the country are presently 4.1 days and this would have been 7.4 days had the Tablighi jamaat cases not surfaced. Delhi police have also pasted posters in the city urging people to not venture out of their home or strict action will be taken against them. The tweet shared by the Delhi Police requested the people of the Muslim community to support the department in the battle against COVID-19 and added that “Lockdown is in force even on the sacred night of Shab-e-Barat on April 8 and 9, 2020.”