Amal Al-Sibai

Saudi Gazette

 

TIME is continuously rushing by and we keep chasing after it; work, meetings, the kids’ schools, exams, projects, end-of-year school ceremonies, preparation for graduating, sports, staying up-to-date on the latest viruses, finalizing travel plans. Halt. Stop. Think. Take a deep breath.



Do not get so busy that you forget to tend to your spirit and neglect giving it the nourishment, energy, and light that it will need to find peace, acceptance, and pure happiness once Ramadan comes around and offers its blessings, mercy, and forgiveness to those whose hearts and spirits are alive and well-prepared. Today is the third day of Rajab.



Rajab is the seventh month in the Islamic lunar calendar. It is one of the months, which are regarded as the sacred months in which battles were prohibited in the days of the Prophet (peace be upon him). In fact, during this month we should train our hearts to not harbor enmity or hatred towards any person.



Rajab is a prelude to the holy month of Ramadan, because only one more month, Sha’ban, intervenes between the two months — now and the blessed-awaited month of Ramadan.



On the night before Rajab and during the first few days of this month, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to say, “Oh Allah, make the months of Rajab and Sha’ban blessed for us, and let us reach the month of Ramadan.”



To bear the fruits of joy, atonement for sins, tranquility, and pleasure in performing acts of worship, to reach a feeling of closeness to our Lord in the special month of Ramadan, now is the time to start nurturing the seed. Now is the time to draw back just a bit from our daily busy lives and fast for a few days, wake up before dawn to pray, read pages from the Holy Qur’an, which is a message from our Lord to us but we may have neglected it in previous months.



Do not wait until Ramadan is already upon us, and then expect a spiritual transformation or miracle; start your spiritual growth from today. One scholar, Imam Abu Bakr Warraq, said, “Rajab is a month of cultivation, Sha’ban is a month of irrigating the fields, and the month of Ramadan is a month of reaping and harvesting.”



Imam Abdul-Ghani Al-Nabulsi wrote in his book ‘Virtues of Months and Days’, “There is no doubt that the month of Rajab is the key to the opening of the months of goodness and blessing. It is appropriate to celebrate it and give attention to it but only in the form of performing good acts such as fasting, and also refraining oneself from sins and offensive things.”



Fasting during Rajab is recommended but not in its entirety in order to avoid creating confusion, because the only month that it is obligatory to fast all month-long is Ramadan.



Saeed ibn Rushd reported that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “Rajab is a tremendous month in which Allah multiplies the good deeds. So whoever fasts a day from Rajab it is as if he fasted a year; and whoever fasts seven days of it the seven gates of Hell are closed to him; and whoever fasts eight days from it the eight gates of Paradise are opened to him; and whoever fasts ten days from it will not ask Allah except that Allah will grant it. And whoever fasts from it 15 days a caller will call out from heavens ‘Verily you have been forgiven whatever you have done in the past, so renew your good actions.’ And whoever does more, Allah gives to him even more. And in Rajab, Allah carried Nuh (Noah) in the ark for six months.”  Related by At-Tabarani