Baraat

Baraat comes from the Arabic root bəra (to be pure, to be free of debt or guilt) and means being cleared of sin, being forgiven. The same root was also used in the Ottoman-Persian administrative tradition in the form bərat/barat, meaning an official document or charter, and is recorded in this form in Azerbaijani personal-name dictionaries with the meaning of purity and forgiveness.

The fifteenth night of the month of Sha'ban is called Baraat Night and, after the opening word of Surah At-Tawbah, is also known as al-Bara'ah (Tawbah, 9:1). Like other religious occasion names such as Ramadan and Bayram, Baraat is often a commemorative name given to a boy child born on this very holy night; although scholars differ about the virtue of some deeds on this night, the night's name is directly connected with the concept of forgiveness.