The Night of Salvation: Bara'a

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Bara’a connotes the lack of relation between two things; a person becoming freed from an obligation or not having an obligation. It is understood that Allah clears his servants [slate] who face him on this night and ask for forgiveness.

The Night of Bara’a (Salvation or record) holds an important place among nights which are considered sacred. The hadith belonging to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), in which he says, "Fast during the day and perform prayers at night in the middle of the month of Shaban. On that night, Allah manifests in the sky of the world following the setting of the sun and asks, "Is there none asking for forgiveness from me? Let me forgive them. Is there none asking me for sustenance? Let me sustain them. Is there none who has experienced a calamity? Let me Grant them welfare. Is there none and is there none?" until the break of dawn." This hadith has caused for this night to be received and experienced differently, becoming an important measure by which believers began to take part in extra worship on that night.

The fact that some scholars believe that it was on the night of Bara’a in the second year of Hijra that the kiblah was changed from the Dome of the Rock (Masjid al-Aqsa) in Jerusalem to Mecca, adds a different dimension of significance to this night.

Some scholars of Islam hold the opinion that verse number 3 of Surah Ad-Dukhan, which says that the Holy Qur'an was revealed on a "holy night" is a reference to the night of Bara’a. Interpreters of the Qur'an who hold this opinion, interpret the verse to support that the entire Qur'an was brought from the Lawh-i Mahfuz to the skies of the earth, and that the verses began to be gradually revealed on the night of Laila-tul Qadr.  

The same scholars have interpreted the words which say "the separation of every act of wisdom" in Surah Ad-Dukhan as meaning that the sustenance, fate and other states of the believers for an entire year are recorded on that night and determined down in detail, noting that "The recording from Lawh-i Mahfuz begins on that day and is ended on the Night of Lailat-ul-Qadr.".

This night is noted as a night of "mercy." The Messenger of Allah said: "Allah Almighty provides so much mercy for the believers on that night that it equals the number of strands of wool on the lambs of the tribe of Kelb."

Among the narrations on one of the other features of this night, it is noted that the Messenger of Allah's intercessorship was given to him on the night of Bara’a.

Some scholars, who place importance on the month of Shaban as the Messenger of  Allah spent this month and spent particularly its 15th night in a special state of observance, say that spend the night praying, reading the Qur'an, supplicating will lead to the recording of good deeds, but finding specific forms of worship and celebration peculiar to this night and turning them into traditions has no place in religion.