The Night of Bara' ah

Ever heard of the Night of Bara' ah? I didn't, not until today. I am currently attending an Islamic program, and the teacher read from some papers about this night. Thinking of this as a wonderful thing to post, I requested to borrow the papers, but she kindly let me keep them.
Laylatul-bara' ah means the Night of Freedom from Fire. It occurs between the 14th and 15th of Sha'ban, which is tonight, August 5th.

There is a hadith in which the Prophet(S) said that during the night of the half of Sha'ban Allah (SWT) looks upon us(humans: slaves of Allah(SWT)) and forgives those who seek forgiveness as well as mercy, yet does not forgive them until they relieve any malice they may have against another Muslim. (I'm paraphrasing the hadith here).
There are other hadiths mentioning the rewards of this night, and though this article mentions the chain of narrators of some of these suffer some minor technical defects, all clarify this night to be one beneficial to observe.

In this night, one should stay awake as much as possible. If you cannot spend the entire night in prayer and worship, select a portion of the night, preferably the second half of it, and it would be advisable to:
-Perform Salah, preferably no less than 8 Rak'at. Each part of the Salah(like ruku) should be longer than normal. The longest surahs you have memorized should be recited in the Salah. If you cannot remember any long surahs, you can recite several short ones in one rakah.
-Recite as much of the Holy Quran as you can.
-Dhikr(recitation of the name of Allah). In particular, on the Prophet(S), one should recite "Sal-Allahu alayhi wa sallam" as many times as possible.
-Dua. Inshallah it will be accepted, and it alone is ibadah, which will be rewarded. And these prayers and supplications also strengthen our connection with Allah(SWT); a main reason we perform all these acts of worship.
_____
On the day immediately following the Night of Bara' ah, the 15th of Sha'aban, it is advisable to keep fast. It is mentioned that the Prophet(S) used to fast most of days in Sha'ban, and that the fasts of the first half of Sha'ban have special merits.
_____
Inshallah I hope this post has enlightened everyone to this blessed night, and encouraged everyone to pay special attention and worship more tonight, and fast tomorrow.
Salamualikum.
______
P.S.
I thought it would be neat to know how many people actually fasted tomorrow. So I have replaced the Candy Voting Poll with one that will show me how many actually fasted. Inshallah we'll get good numbers. Salamualikum!!