Sha'ban
Enable an agent to identify Sha'ban, resolve its dates under an explicit calendar authority, and contextualise associated observances without treating community-specific practices as universal.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
recalled by Codex without web access - no source was read
Researched by: Codex
Purpose and description
Enable an agent to identify Sha'ban, resolve its dates under an explicit calendar authority, and contextualise associated observances without treating community-specific practices as universal.
Sha'ban is the eighth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, following Rajab and preceding Ramadan.
It can be Recognise Sha'ban references across documented name variants and disambiguate personal names.; Resolve a dated Sha'ban reference using its Hijri year, location and calendar authority.; Compare differing announced or calculated boundaries without erasing their provenance.; Schedule reminders for Sha'ban milestones with explicit date uncertainty and day-boundary conventions.; Explain associated practices using attributed sources and recorded disagreements.; Revise dependent reminders when the applicable authority updates the transition to Ramadan..
Distinguishing features
Denotes Hijri month eight, following Rajab and preceding Ramadan. [Islamic Relief UK](https://www.islamic-relief.org.uk/resources/islamic-calendar/shaban/)
Denotes the whole month rather than only the mid-month night associated with Shab-e-Barat. [Islamic Relief](https://islamic-relief.org/resources/islamic-calendar/shaban/)
A specific occurrence requires a Hijri year and calendar convention; the name alone does not identify a Gregorian interval.
References to Sha'ban fasting or observances describe activities associated with the month and do not define the month itself.
Calendar context distinguishes the month name from a person's name or an organisation using the same spelling.
Scope
+ Month identity, Arabic name and transliteration variants
+ Position between Rajab and Ramadan
+ Year-specific boundaries under identified calendar methods and authorities
+ Relationships to mid-Sha'ban observances and Ramadan preparation
+ Evidence, disagreement and revision status for dates and attributed practices
- The complete Islamic calendar and its general astronomical algorithms
- Ramadan as a separate month and its fasting obligations
- Mid-Sha'ban festivals as independently organised events
- Personal religious rulings, fasting eligibility and medical advice
- People whose personal name is Shaban or a similar spelling
Characteristics
- Calendar identity
- Islamic Hijri calendar; month ordinal 8 Anchors recognition independently of spelling or local observances.
- Name form
- Sha'ban; Shaʿbān; شعبان; additional language-tagged forms with evidence Supports multilingual matching while avoiding personal-name collisions.
- Hijri occurrence year
- Integer year AH Distinguishes a particular occurrence from the recurring month.
- Boundary determination method
- Reported sighting; calculated calendar; tabular calendar; other documented method; unknown Makes date assertions interpretable and comparable.
- Applicable calendar authority
- Named issuing authority or calendar provider, with community or jurisdiction Identifies whose month boundaries an agent is applying.
- Occurrence boundaries
- Start-inclusive and end-exclusive dates or instants, with timezone and day-boundary convention Supports scheduling and prevents ambiguity between civil dates and religious nights.
- Date determination status
- Projected; announced by named authority; disputed; superseded; unresolved Prevents a forecast from being presented as a settled local date.
- Observance attribution
- Practice linked to a named community, tradition or authority and its supporting source Keeps religious interpretation distinct from calendar identity.
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 6 bundles · 11 layers · 17 findings · 28 questions.
Month identity Recognise Sha'ban as a particular recurring Hijri month.
The registry lacks a definition, and the batch's field-of-knowledge framing does not fit this thing.
Calendar position
Anchor the month by its sequence and neighbours.
Eighth Hijri month
Sha'ban is month eight, between Rajab and Ramadan. [Islamic Relief UK](https://www.islamic-relief.org.uk/resources/islamic-calendar/shaban/)
- Does the reference denote the eighth Hijri month or another use of the name? definition
- Is the record about recurring Sha'ban or its occurrence in a specified Hijri year? boundary
Name resolution
Recognise spelling variants without merging unrelated entities.
Month-name context
Treat spelling as a recognition aid; require calendar context before linking an ambiguous name to vr.tr.sha-ban.
- Which language, script and transliteration convention produced this name form? provenance
- What surrounding date or calendar information distinguishes this reference from a personal name? boundary
Dated occurrence Locate a particular Sha'ban in time under an explicit convention.
An agent cannot schedule from a recurring month name without resolving its year and applicable boundaries.
Year and interval
Bind the month to a Hijri year and a stated Gregorian correspondence.
Qualified date conversion
Record each Gregorian correspondence together with the Hijri year and method that produced it.
- Which Hijri year and day of Sha'ban are being resolved? measurement
- Which calendar provider or conversion method supports the Gregorian correspondence? provenance
Night and day boundaries
Make civil-date and religious-night interpretations explicit.
Mid-month night interval
A reference to the night of mid-Sha'ban needs a local boundary interpretation before it becomes a timestamped event.
- Which local evening and following daylight period does the source associate with 15 Sha'ban? boundary
- What location, timezone and sunset or civil-midnight convention determine the interval? measurement
Calendar authority Establish whose determination governs each occurrence and whether it can change.
Competing date assertions require explicit authority and status before an agent can act on them.
Determination evidence
Connect Sha'ban boundaries to the evidence and method used by their issuer.
Boundary announcement
Keep an authority's declared start of Sha'ban separate from a calendar projection or an unattributed date.
- Who issued this start-of-Sha'ban date, and to which community or jurisdiction does it apply? provenance
- Does the issuer describe the determination as sighting-based, calculated, tabular or another method? definition
Disagreement and revision
Preserve differing determinations and track replacements.
Applicable date selection
Select dates using the intended community's authority while retaining alternative determinations and superseded announcements.
- Are differing Sha'ban dates attributable to different authorities, methods or revisions? provenance
- Which determination should govern this user's calendar, and what dependent entries need updating? action
Religious associations Represent practices and interpretations associated with Sha'ban through explicit attribution.
Recognising the month does not establish that every associated practice is shared or prescribed.
Fasting and preparation
Link descriptions of Sha'ban fasting and Ramadan preparation to their stated religious context.
Attributed fasting practice
Islamic Relief describes voluntary fasting and preparation for Ramadan as Sha'ban associations; individual prescriptions require separately identified guidance. [Islamic Relief](https://islamic-relief.org/resources/islamic-calendar/shaban/)
- Does the source describe voluntary fasting, making up missed fasts or another practice? definition
- Which authority supports the stated practice and any qualifications about its timing within Sha'ban? provenance
Mid-Sha'ban observance
Distinguish the mid-month occasion from the month and attribute claims about its significance.
Observance and disagreement
Islamic Relief associates Shab-e-Barat with mid-Sha'ban and acknowledges disagreement about special significance; record positions with their sources. [Islamic Relief](https://islamic-relief.org/resources/islamic-calendar/shaban/)
- Which community uses this observance name, and what occasion does it denote? definition
- Which source supports the claimed significance, and which identified authorities dispute it? provenance
- Does the request concern the month, the religious occasion or a separately organised event? boundary
Ramadan transition Support actions whose timing depends on Sha'ban ending.
Its adjacency to Ramadan gives Sha'ban a distinct planning role and creates dependencies on boundary announcements.
End-of-month handoff
Connect the close of Sha'ban to the applicable determination of Ramadan's start.
Linked month boundaries
Within the selected calendar convention, the end of Sha'ban and the start of Ramadan must describe the same transition.
- Do the recorded end of Sha'ban and start of Ramadan use the same authority and day-boundary convention? boundary
- Is the transition projected or supported by the applicable authority's announcement? provenance
Reminders and updates
Turn qualified Sha'ban dates into reviewable calendar actions.
Conditional reminder
Attach the selected occurrence, authority and date status to reminders for mid-Sha'ban or preparations before Ramadan.
- Which Sha'ban milestone does the user want a reminder for, under which calendar authority? action
- Should a revised boundary automatically move the reminder or trigger a review? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Check these first
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- This describes the calendar month, not a discipline or field of knowledge; the supplied domain classification should be checked.
- Exact Gregorian dates require a specified year and calendar authority or method.
- Claims about the religious status and prescribed practices of mid-Sha'ban require tradition-specific verification.
- Which of these check these first hold for the sense of Sha'ban this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Identifiers and schemes
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Islamic calendar month numbering - 8 - The month's ordinal position within the twelve-month year.
- Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of Sha'ban this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Dating religious, civil and historical events in the Islamic calendar.
- Preparation for Ramadan, including voluntary fasting among many Muslims.
- Mid-Sha'ban religious observances in some Muslim communities.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of Sha'ban this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Typical measurements
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Month length - 29-30 - days
- Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of Sha'ban this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Treating Sha'ban as having fixed Gregorian dates produces calendar errors.
- Assuming all communities begin the month on the same date overlooks differences in lunar observation and calendar calculation.
- Presenting mid-Sha'ban observances as universally accepted overlooks differences in religious interpretation.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of Sha'ban this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Communities and authorities differ in whether they determine month boundaries through local crescent sightings, sightings elsewhere or calculation.
- Mid-Sha'ban observances vary; the occasion is commonly called Shab-e-Barat in South Asia.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of Sha'ban this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Rajab - Rajab is the seventh Islamic month and immediately precedes Sha'ban.
- Ramadan - Ramadan is the ninth Islamic month and the month of obligatory fasting; fasting in Sha'ban is generally voluntary.
- Mid-Sha'ban - Mid-Sha'ban denotes an occasion around the fifteenth night of the month, rather than the entire month.
- Islamic calendar - The Islamic calendar is the complete dating system; Sha'ban is one of its twelve months.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of Sha'ban this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
What the second pass must settle
- Does an existing Vercy world model already own Sha'ban or provide authoritative month-level coverage that this registry entry should reference?
- Which regional name variants are sufficiently evidenced for automatic matching, and which require contextual disambiguation?
- Which calendar authorities and historical date sources must the model support for its intended users?
- Which primary texts and named interpretive authorities support or contest particular mid-Sha'ban practices and fasting restrictions?
- Should INF / INF.KNW be retained for the calendar concept while dated occurrences link to a temporal model, or does the registry's classification policy require correction?