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

Question:
May Allah reward you. This questioner says: Is the prohibition of the sacred months abrogated or not? If it was not abrogated, does good deed have a special merit in them? And what is the ruling on one who singles out a person for fasting or 'Umrah? Please clarify this for us.

Answer:
The scholars have written about the sacred months. The sacred months mean those in which fighting was forbidden, so that people could perform Hajj and 'Umrah. They were in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah) engaged in fighting, taking, and looting, so the sacred months were established so that people could reach the House for Hajj and 'Umrah. The sacred months are the month of the Ka'bah, the month of the Hajj, and the month of Muharram; these are three, and the fourth is the month of Rajab. The month of Rajab, these are three months. Allah the Exalted said: These four months are three odd and one odd, as they say.
The scholars have differed on whether the prohibition of fighting in the sacred months was abrogated and fighting in the cause of Allah became prescribed at all times. This is the correct view, based on the saying of Allah the Exalted: "on a hateful day," up to His saying: "You have heard it, so live on, and you are the eyes." He did not say that this is forbidden except in the sacred months. And He, Glorified and Exalted, said: "So kill the polytheists wherever you find them, and take them, and besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent and establish prayer and give zakah, then let them go. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful." The "sacred months" referred to here are not the four sacred months. Rather, it refers to the respite granted to the people of treaties at the beginning of Surat al-Bayyinah: "So roam freely in the land for four months." Thus, Allah commanded that a respite of four months be given to those who had treaties, and after that, their abrogation would be announced. He, the Exalted, said: "then the verses of jihad abrogated the [protection of the] months and the [sacred] precinct, and prescribed jihad at all times, jihad in the cause of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic. Therefore, it is not prevented that this occurs in any place. This is the correct view. Although the scholars say, "No, its prohibition remains, and it is not permissible in his speech," the first view is the correct one and the stronger position.
As for the month of Rajab, it is not singled out for anything in worship, because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not single it out for anything in worship. It was a month that the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah) held in high esteem, and the followers now hold it in high esteem. They perform the Rajabiyyah in it, and the Isra and Mi'raj, they celebrate it at the end on the twenty-seventh, thinking that this is the Isra and Mi'raj, and they fast from it. All of this, I do not know it, because it is not established that the month of Rajab has a special feature except that it is among the sacred months, except that it is among the months of the condition. As for 'Umrah in it, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not perform 'Umrah in it, but rather he performed 'Umrah in the months of the condition. All 'Umrah was in the months of the condition, three of them in Beirut, and the fourth in Shawwal when he returned from a little. So all four 'Umrahs, all these are months of Hajj, and none of them was in the month of Rajab. And the month of Muharram has a virtue.
The month of Muharram has a virtue, and it is that it is fasted in its entirety. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: from the month of Muharram, and fasting a day before it or a day after it, Khalid Muslim has it. This is in the month of Egypt. Yes.