10:57 AM
Wednesday, January 1, 2025
Written by: Ali Shibl:
Dr. Attia Lashin, professor of Sharia and member of the Fatwa Committee at Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, revealed the ruling on fasting on the first day of the month of Rajab, the first blessed day of which falls today, Wednesday.
Lashin had received a question from a person who said in his letter: Some people are accustomed to welcoming the month of Rajab by fasting the first day of it. Is this permissible? He responded by clarifying that two conditions are required for the validity and acceptance of any act of worship:
1- Follow, meaning that it has legal evidence from the Qur’an, Sunnah, or consensus
2- Sincerity. God Almighty said: (And they were commanded only to worship God, sincere to Him in religion, upright).
Regarding the incident of the question, Lashin says: The month of Rajab is one of the sacred months, and it is four months of the Hijri year, according to the words of God Almighty (The number of months with God is twelve months in the Book of God on the day He created the heavens and the earth, of which four are sacred).
Lashin added: The Sunnah confirmed what was stated in the Book of God Almighty, and it called Rajab either the Rajab of Mudar or the Rajab of the individual, and the meaning of the month of Rajab being one of the sacred months is that it is a virtuous and honorable month, and it has its status and sanctity, and it is desirable to fast during it, as narrated by the books of the Sunnah on the authority of our master Muhammad, the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace. He said (Fast from the Haram and leave, then from the Sanctuary and leave)
A member of the Fatwa Committee at Al-Azhar Al-Sharif continued: Despite that, it is like all other months in that what was mentioned in the text is that fasting is on Monday, Thursday, and the three white days of each month, and the month of Rajab is added in a special way to fast a lot in it, without specifying one of its days to fast other than what we mentioned.
Accordingly, Lashin concludes his fatwa on his official Facebook page, saying: Designating the beginning of the month of Rajab for fasting is a specification without evidence unless it falls on a Monday or a Thursday, or if the fasting person fasts one day and breaks his fast one day, and his day of fasting for this day coincides with the first of the month of Rajab.
Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said in his collection of fatwas (as for fasting in Rajab specifically, all of its hadiths are weak and even fabricated)… And God knows best.
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