Fasting in Month of Rajab

 Salaams All

Traditional reports in which great emphasis is placed on the special merit of fasting on the first Thursday in Rajab, and of performing the prayer [salat] during the first Friday night [Jumu'ah] of that month.

The following report has been conveyed to us by Shaikh Imam Abu-l-Barakat Hibatu'llah ibn al-Mubarak as-Saqati (Rahmatullah ‘alayh), who cites good traditional authority in support of its authenticity: Allah's Messenger (Sall Allahu alaihi wa Aalihi wa Sallim) once said:

"Rajab is Allah's month, Sha'ban is my month, and Ramadan is the month of my Ummah."

Someone then asked him: “O Messenger of Allah, what do you mean exactly, when you say that Rajab is Allah’s month?” So the Prophet (Sall Allahu alaihi wa Aalihi wa Sallim) explained:

[I call it Allah's month] because it is specifically associated with forgiveness, because in it the shedding of blood is brought to a halt, because in it Allah (Exalted is He) relents toward His Ambiya, because in it He rescues His Awliya from the hands of their enemies, and because anyone who fasts during this month becomes entitled to receive three things from Allah (Exalted is He). The first and second of these are forgiveness for all the sins he has previously committed, and impregnable virtue ['isma] for the remainder of his life. As for the third, he will be safe from thirst on the Day of the Greatest Review [Yawm al-'Ard al-Akbar]."

At this point a weak old man stood up and said: "Ya Rasulullah, I am physically incapable of fasting through the whole of the month," so Rasulullah (Sall Allahu alaihi wa Aalihi wa Sallim) went on to say:

"Fast during the first day of the month and during the day that comes in the middle of it, and also during the very last day of the month, for then you will be given the same reward as someone who has fasted through the whole of the month, since one good deed is equal in value to ten of the same kind."
It is most important, however, that none of you should neglect the first Friday in Rajab, for it is the night that the Angels (Malaa-ika) call the Night of Wishes [Lailat ar-Ragha'ib]. This is because, by the time the first third of the night has elapsed, there will not be a single angel still at large in the heavens, nor in any region of the earth bar one. They will all be gathered together in the Ka'bah and the area immediately surrounding it. Allah (Exalted is He) will condescend to notice that they have assembled there, and He will say: "My angels, ask Me for whatever you wish!" Their response to this will be: "Our Rabb, the request we wish to make is that You grant forgiveness to those who faithfully keep the fast in Rajab," whereupon Allah (Exalted is He) will tell them: "That I have already done!"

Salaams


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