Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
Regarding the hadith you have mentioned, it is one of the numerous fabricated hadiths on Shaban.
In his response to the question, Sheikh Muhammad Saleh Al-Munajjid, the prominent Saudi Islamic lecturer and author, states:
This Hadith has no basis in the books of the Sunnah (prophetic Hadiths). It is one of the fabricated Hadiths on the virtues of praying in Shaban.
A number of Hadiths were fabricated and falsely attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about the virtues of Shaban, praying during it and the night of the fifteenth of the month.
Imam Ibn Hajar al-Haythami (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
“All the Hadiths on the virtues of this night, meaning the night of the first Friday of Rajab and the night of the fifteenth of Shaban, are false and have no basis, even though they appear in some books by major scholars such as al-Ghazali’s Ihya Ulum ad-Deen and so on.” (Al-Fatawa al-Fiqhiyyah al-Kubra, 1/184)
Similarly, Hadiths were fabricated about the virtue of praying on certain days of the week. Imam Ash-Shawkani (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
“With regard to what is said about praying on Sunday, Monday or other days of the week, there is no dispute among the scholars of Hadith that these are fabricated Hadiths and that this prayer is not regarded as recommended (mustahabb) by any of the leading scholars.” (Al-Fawaid al-Mawduiyyah, 1/74)
So, it is not permissible to act upon this false and fabricated Hadith. The authentic hadiths are sufficient for a Muslim who wants to truly follow the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.