[Belindanan]

. Some people spend this night in holding religious meetings and delivering long speeches. Such activities are also not advisable, because these acts can easily be performed in other nights. This night requires one to devote himself for the pure acts of worship only.

.....

On the contrary, this night is meant for worshipping Allah in solitude. It is the time to enjoy the direct contact with the Lord of the Universe, and to devote one's attention to Him and Him alone. These are the precious hours of the night in which nobody should intervene between one and his Lord, and one should turn to Allah with total concentration, not disturbed or intermitted by any one else.

the above quotes are from mufti taq usmani's piece on shaban, the points in bold echo my own thoughts with regards how the night should be spent.

lailatul qadr and the 15th shaban are two nights in which we know we ae urged to immerse ourselves in ibadah, unfortunately in alot of masjids the imamas end up delivering long speeches and khutbas.

i know they din't do it out of choice they see it as an ample opportuntity to address the whole communtiy fo muslims and chances like this are few and far between.

however i would prefer if imamas would do a series of lectures in the build up to these nights and then on the night of shaban/lailatul qadr they leave the muslims to their own ibadah, with maybe some small gathering of zikr halfway through the night.