Rajab ki fazeelat and fasting in rajab

SYEDA SABAHAT · #1 Saturday, June 04, 2011

Rajab Ki Fazeelat

Praise be to Allaah, the One, the Subduer, and blessings and peace be upon the Chosen Prophet and upon his good and pure family and companions.

Praise be to Allaah Who says (interpretation of the meaning):

?And your Lord creates whatsoever He wills and chooses? [al-Qasas 28:68]. The attribute of choosing or selecting is indicative of His Lordship and Oneness, and of the perfection of His Wisdom, Knowledge and Power.

One aspect of His choosing and preferring is the fact that He has chosen some days and months and given them preference over others. Among the months, Allaah has chosen four which He has made sacred, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):

?Verily, the number of months with Allaah is twelve months (in a year), so it was ordained by Allaah on the Day when He created the heavens and the earth; of them four are Sacred. That is the right religion, so wrong not yourselves therein?? [al-Tawbah 9:36]

These months are calculated according to the movements of the moon, not the movements of the sun, as the kuffaar do.

The Sacred Months are mentioned by implication in the Qur?aan, but their names are not given. Their names are mentioned in the Sunnah:

It was reported from Abu Bakrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) gave his Farewell Sermon and said: ?Time has completed its cycle and is as it was on the Day when Allaah created the heavens and the earth. The year is twelve months, of which four are sacred, three consecutive months ? Dhoo?l-Qa?dah, Dhoo?l-Hijjah and Muharram ? and the Rajab of Mudar which comes between Jumaada and Sha?baan.? (Reported by al-Bukhaari, no. 1741, in [Kitaab] al-Hajj, al-Khutbah Ayaam Mina; and by Muslim, no. 1679, in [Kitaab] al-Qisaamah, Baab Tahreem al-Dimaa?).

It was called Rajab of Mudar because [the tribe of] Mudar did not tamper with its timing, unlike the rest of the Arabs, who used to tamper with the months and change their order depending on whether they were in a state of war or not. This was the postponing referred to in the aayah (interpretation of the meaning):

?The postponing (of a Sacred Month) is indeed an addition to disbelief: thereby the disbelievers are led astray, for they make it lawful one year and forbid it another year in order to adjust the number of months forbidden by Allaah, and make such forbidden ones lawful.? [al-Tawbah 9:37]

It was also said that the reason why it was attributed to Mudar was because they venerated it and respected it so much, so it was attributed to them.

The reason why it is so called.

Ibn Faaris said in Mu?jam Maqaayees al-Lughah (p. 445):

The letters Ra?, jeem and ba? form a root which indicates supporting and strengthening something with another thing. ? Hence the phrase ?Rajabtu?l-shay?? means I venerated it? It was called Rajab because they used to venerate it, and it is also venerated in Sharee?ah.

The people of the Jaahiliyyah used to call Rajab Munassil al-Asinnah [the one that causes the sharp heads of weapons to be taken off], as it was reported that Abu Rajaa? al-?Ataaridi said:

We would a rock, then if we found a better rock we would throw the first one aside and adopt the other. If we could not find a rock, we would make a pile of dirt, then we would bring a ewe and milk it over the pile of dirt, then we would do tawaaf around it. When the month of Rajab came, we would say Munassil al-Asinnah [the one that causes the sharp heads of weapons to be taken off], and we would not leave any spear or arrow that had an iron piece in it but we would take the metal head off and put it aside during the month of Rajab. (Narrated by al-Bukhaari).

Al-Bayhaqi said: the people of the jaahiliyyah used to venerate these sacred months, especially the month of Rajab, and they would not fight during this month.

Rajab is a sacred month

The Sacred months have a special status, which applies also to Rajab beca

FASTING IN RAJAB
Imam al-Nawawi said:

"Neither prohibition nor praiseworthiness has been established for the month of Rajab in itself, HOWEVER,
(1) the principle concerning fasting is that it is praiseworthy in itself, and
(2) in the Sunan of Abu Dawud the Prophet has made the fasting of the sacred months praiseworthy, and Rajab is one of them."

A Hadith On Fasting in Rajab
1. `Uthman ibn Hakim al-Ansari said: "I asked Sa`eed ibn Jubayr about fasting in Rajab, and we were then passing through the month of Rajab, whereupon he said: "I heard Ibn `Abbas saying: "The Messenger of Allah used to observe fast so continuously that we thought he would not break it, and did not observe it so continuously that we thought he would not observe fast." Muslim and Abu Dawud relate it in Kitab al-sawm, respectively in the chapter on fasting at times other than Ramadan, and in the chapter of fasting during Rajab.

Imam Nawawi says: "It would appear that the meaning inferred by Sa`eed ibn Jubayr from Ibn `Abbas's report is that fasting in Rajab is is neither forbidden nor considered praiseworthy in itself, rather, the ruling concerning it is the same as the rest of the months. Neither prohibition not praiseworthiness has been established for the month of Rajab in itself, however, the principle concerning fasting is that it is praiseworthy in itself, and in the Sunan of Abu Dawud(*) the Prophet has made the fasting of the sacred months praiseworthy, and Rajab is one of them. And Allah knows best." Sharh Sahih Muslim Kitab 13 Bab 34 #179.

(*) Kitab al-siyam, Chapter: "Fasting During the Sacred Months". Also in Ibn Majah and Ahmad, hadith of the man who repeats: "I can bear more," and to whom the Prophet finally says: "Fast during the sacred months."

It is established that Ibn `Umar fasted during the sacred months: Musannaf `Abd al-Razzaq 4:293, Musannaf Ibn Abi Shayba 1:125.

2. Abdullah, the freed slave of Asma' the daughter of Abu Bakr, the maternal uncle of the son of `Ata', reported: "Asma' sent me to Abdullah ibn `Umar saying: "The news has reached me that you prohibit the use of three things: the striped robe, saddle cloth made of red silk, and fasting the whole month of Rajab." Abdullah said to me: "So far as what you say about fasting in the month of Rajab, how about one who observes continuous fasting? And so far as what you say about the striped garment, I heard `Umar ibn al-Khattab say that he had heard from Allah's Messenger : "He who wears a silk garment, has no share for him (in the Hereafter)." And I am afraid that stripes were part of it. And so far as the red saddle cloth is concerned, here is Abdullah's saddle cloth [=his] and it is red. I went back to Asma' and informed her, so she said: "Here is the cloak (jubba) of Allah's Messenger ," and she brought out to me that cloak made of Persian cloth with a hem of (silk) brocade, and its sleeves bordered with (silk) brocade, and said: "This was Allah's Messenger's cloak with `A'isha until she died, then I got possession of it. The Apostle of Allah used to wear that, and we washed it for the sick so that they could seek cure thereby."" Muslim relates in the first chapter of Kitab al-libas.

Nawawi says: "`Umar's reply concerning fasting in Rajab is a denial on his part of what Asma' had heard with regard to his forbidding it, and it is an affirmation that he fasted Rajab in its entirety as well as fasting permanently, i.e. except the days of `Id and tashreeq. This is his madhhab and the madhhab of his father `Umar ibn al-Khattab, `A'isha, Abu Talha, and others of the Salaf as well as Shafi`i and other scholars. Their position is that perpetual fasting is not disliked (makruh)."

[Another opinion is reported from Ibn `Umar through a hadith from Ahmad reported in "al-Mughni" 3:167 whereby he disliked that people fast the whole of Rajab but said: "Fast some of it and break fast in some of it."]

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