Shab-e-Barat is celebrated by which religious group?

Correct — B. Shab-e-Barat is observed by Muslims, which is option (b).

It falls on the night of the 15th of Sha'ban, the eighth month of the Islamic lunar calendar — about a fortnight before Ramzan begins.

The name is Persian and Arabic for the night of records or of deliverance. It is kept with night prayer, recitation of the Quran, and visits to family graves.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Buddhist — Buddhist observance runs on its own lunar calendar — Buddha Purnima and the Vassa rains retreat, for instance. Sha'ban is not one of its months.
• (c)
  Jain — The Jain calendar's central observance is Paryushana, a period of fasting and confession that ends in Samvatsari. It has no connection with Shab-e-Barat.
• (d)
  Parsi — The Parsi religious year turns on Navroz and the Zoroastrian month-and-day names. The Persian words in the name Shab-e-Barat are what make this option tempting, and they prove nothing.

The Islamic calendar is lunar, of twelve months and about 354 days, so its dates move roughly eleven days earlier against the Gregorian calendar each year.

Sha'ban is the eighth month and comes immediately before Ramzan, the month of fasting. The night of the 15th of Sha'ban is Shab-e-Barat, treated as a night of forgiveness and of remembering the dead.

The safe way to prepare festival-to-community items is by calendar rather than by name — learn which religious year a festival belongs to, and the community follows.

Key facts

• Shab-e-Barat falls on the night of the 15th of Sha'ban, the eighth month of the Islamic calendar.
• Sha'ban is the month immediately before Ramzan.
• The night is marked by prayer, recitation and visits to family graves.
• Shia Muslims observe the same night as the birth anniversary of the twelfth Imam.

Common traps

• Choosing Parsi because Shab is a Persian word.
• Placing Shab-e-Barat inside Ramzan rather than in the month before it.

No directly related past PYQ was found.