The Ruling on the Sacred Months and the Distinctive Features of Rajab and Muharram

Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: Have the sacred months been abrogated or not? If they have not been abrogated, is there a special merit for righteous deeds performed in them? What is the ruling on one who singles out Rajab for fasting or 'Umrah? Please clarify this for us.

Answer:
The scholars have differed regarding the sacred months. The sacred months are those in which fighting was prohibited so that people could perform Hajj and 'Umrah, because in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah), they were engaged in fighting, taking, looting, and plundering. So the sacred months were established so that people could reach the House for Hajj and 'Umrah. The sacred months are the month of Dhul-Qa'dah, the month of Dhul-Hijjah, and the month of Muharram; these are three, and the fourth is the month of Rajab. These are the sacred months. Allah the Exalted said: These four are three consecutive and one separate, as they say.
The scholars have differed on whether this was abrogated and fighting became prescribed, meaning jihad in the path of Allah at all times? This is the opinion, and it is the correct one, due to the saying of Allah the Exalted: up to His saying: And this was not restricted to other than the sacred months. And He the Exalted and Majestic said.
, and the sacred months referred to here are not the four; rather, the sacred months referred to are the respite granted to the people of treaties at the beginning of Surat al-Bara'ah. , so Allah commanded that a respite of four months be given to those who have treaties, and after that, fighting is to be declared against them. Allah the Exalted said: meaning this respite. Thus, the verses of jihad abrogated the sanctity of the sacred months and legislated jihad at all times. Jihad in the cause of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is not prevented at any time. This is the correct view. Some scholars say that the prohibition remains and that fighting is not permissible in them, but the first view is the correct and stronger one.

The presenter:
May Allah reward you

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, this questioner says:

Answer:
As for the month of Rajab, it is not singled out for any specific acts of worship, because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not single it out for any acts of worship. It was a month that the people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah) held in high esteem, and the innovators (mubtadi') hold it in high esteem today as well. They perform the Rajabiyah rituals in it, and they celebrate the Isra and Mi'raj at its end on the night of the twenty-seventh, believing that this is the night of the Isra and Mi'raj. They also fast in it. All of this has no basis, for it is not established that the month of Rajab has any special virtue except that it is one of the sacred months.
It is one of the sacred months. As for 'Umrah in it, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not perform 'Umrah in it. Rather, he performed 'Umrah in the months of Hajj. All his 'Umrahs were in the months of Hajj: three of them in Dhul-Qa'dah, and the fourth in Shawwal when he returned from Hunayn. So all four of his 'Umrahs (peace and blessings be upon him) were in the months of Hajj, and none of them were in the month of Rajab. The month of Muharram has a virtue.
The month of Muharram has a virtue, and that is that it is fasted in its entirety. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Fasting the day of 'Ashura in the month of Muharram is emphasized, and fasting the day before it or the day after it is to differ from the Jews. This is regarding the month of Muharram.