Hadiths on the virtues of fasting in Rajab: How authentic are they?
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Eid Abbasi : There are hadiths concerning the virtue of fasting in the month of Rajab; how authentic are they? For example: and so on. Then, if there are authentic hadiths, what are they?
The Shaykh : The hadiths transmitted regarding fasting in Rajab range between weak and fabricated. The hadith you asked about falls into the category of fabricated; therefore, there is no established hadith whatsoever encouraging fasting in Rajab. There is a phrase circulating among the later scholars where they say: "Al-Hafiz Ibn Rajab said: Nothing is authentic regarding Rajab."
Al-Hafiz Ibn Rajab was one of the great scholars of the Hanbali school in the eighth century, and he was engaged in the study of hadith. He had extensive experience and deep knowledge of the routes and chains of hadith. He mentioned this fact in his book on "The Functions of Days and Nights": that nothing is authentic regarding the virtue of Rajab or fasting in it. The only thing is that the month of Rajab is one of the sacred months. If a Muslim has a system or habit established according to the Sunnah, such as fasting—for example—Monday and Thursday of every week, or fasting one day and breaking the fast the next, the fasting of Dawud (peace be upon him), then when Rajab enters, he continues with this system and continues with this worship, because he did not specifically intend the month of Rajab. However, if a person continues to neglect these acts of obedience and these virtues, and then when the month of Rajab enters, he becomes active and devotes himself to fasting in it for a day or more, this falls under the category of innovated fasting that is not prescribed. Its doer is not rewarded for it; rather, his innovation is returned to him, as you know from the hadiths transmitted on this issue.
So, a person fasts his usual fasts in the month of Rajab, and he does not single it out for any specific fasting, obedience, or worship.
Other than that?
Whoever fasts the first day of Rajab, he has an expiation for his sins for three years
مَن صام اليوم الأول من رجب فله كفارة ذنوب عن ثلاث سنواتThe Shaykh : The hadiths transmitted regarding fasting in Rajab range between weak and fabricated. The hadith you asked about falls into the category of fabricated; therefore, there is no established hadith whatsoever encouraging fasting in Rajab. There is a phrase circulating among the later scholars where they say: "Al-Hafiz Ibn Rajab said: Nothing is authentic regarding Rajab."
Al-Hafiz Ibn Rajab was one of the great scholars of the Hanbali school in the eighth century, and he was engaged in the study of hadith. He had extensive experience and deep knowledge of the routes and chains of hadith. He mentioned this fact in his book on "The Functions of Days and Nights": that nothing is authentic regarding the virtue of Rajab or fasting in it. The only thing is that the month of Rajab is one of the sacred months. If a Muslim has a system or habit established according to the Sunnah, such as fasting—for example—Monday and Thursday of every week, or fasting one day and breaking the fast the next, the fasting of Dawud (peace be upon him), then when Rajab enters, he continues with this system and continues with this worship, because he did not specifically intend the month of Rajab. However, if a person continues to neglect these acts of obedience and these virtues, and then when the month of Rajab enters, he becomes active and devotes himself to fasting in it for a day or more, this falls under the category of innovated fasting that is not prescribed. Its doer is not rewarded for it; rather, his innovation is returned to him, as you know from the hadiths transmitted on this issue.
So, a person fasts his usual fasts in the month of Rajab, and he does not single it out for any specific fasting, obedience, or worship.
Other than that?
Source
www.al-albany.com
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