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Shab

Shab is a word meaning night in Persian and related languages such as Urdu, Dari and Tajik, written as شب in the Persian script. It functions as a common noun for the period of darkness between sunset and dawn and is used widely in everyday speech, poetry and song. The term forms part of a family of Indo-Iranian cognates for “night” that appear across the region’s languages.

In cultural contexts, Shab appears in compound terms and festival names. Shab-e Barat, known as the Night

Beyond its use as a common noun, Shab is also encountered as a given name or nickname

of
Forgiveness,
is
observed
by
Muslims
in
South
Asia
and
the
Middle
East.
Shab-e
Qadr
(Laylat
al-Qadr)
denotes
the
Night
of
Power
in
Islamic
tradition.
Shab-e
Chelleh
or
Shabe
Yalda
refers
to
the
longest
night
of
the
year,
celebrated
in
Iran
and
among
Persian-speaking
communities
during
the
winter
solstice.
These
usages
reflect
the
social
and
religious
importance
attached
to
night
in
the
region’s
calendars.
in
some
communities,
and
it
appears
in
the
titles
of
literary,
musical
and
film
works
in
Persian-
and
Urdu-speaking
cultures.
In
transliteration
from
Persian
and
related
languages,
the
spelling
may
appear
as
Shab
or
with
diacritics
depending
on
the
system
used.