Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

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One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

DEAR BROTHER,

There are 4 Islamic months called "SHAHAR UL HARAM" . What are the significance on these 4 months in Islamic hisotry.

Please show how important these 4 months during the period of PROPHET MOHAMED (PBUH)

 

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Answer:

 

The four haraam months

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

 

Your Question: There are 4 Islamic months called "SHAHAR UL HARAM" . What are the significance on these 4 months in Islamic hisotry.
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 9 Surah Taubah verse 36:

36      The number of months in the sight of Allah is twelve (in a year) so ordained by Him the day He created the heavens and the earth; of them four are sacred; that is the straight usage.

 

The Sacred House of Allah in Makkah was held in honor by the muslims and the pagans alike, in all of Arabia.  Such was the animosity and the internal warfare amongst the various tribes of Arabia in the Days of Ignorance before Islam that no person, or tribe, or caravan was considered safe from imminent aggression, plunder, capture, and even death, either at the hands of their enemies or at the hands of bandits and highway robbers.  But such was the honor and reverence of the Sacred House in Makkah, that all the Arab tribes unanimously accepted and regarded the three months of the Hajj, namely Dhul-Qaadah, Dhul-Hijjah, and Muharram and the month of Rajab dedicated for Umrah as absolutely sacred wherein any type of war or aggression was absolutely prohibited and treated as a sacrilege.

 

In all the turmoil that existed in the Arabian peninsula, it was only in these four sacred months that people could travel and move about in absolute safety and without fear and perform the pilgrimage of Hajj or Umrah at the Sacred House in Makkah.  The other huge benefit was it was during these months that the trade caravans moved about their business, crossing the vast Arabian desert towards Syria in the north and Yemen in the south.

 

Your Question: Please show how important these 4 months during the period of PROPHET MOHAMED (PBUH)
Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 217:

217    They ask thee concerning fighting in the Prohibited (or the Four Sacred) Months.  Say: "Fighting therein is a grave (offence); but graver is it in the Sight of Allah to prevent access to the path of Allah to deny Him to prevent access to the Sacred Mosque and drive out its members.  Tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter.  Nor will they cease fighting you until they turn you back from your faith if they can.  And if any of you turn back from their faith and die in unbelief their works will bear no fruit in this life and in the Hereafter; they will be Companions of the Fire and will abide therein.

 

The above objection which was raised in the form of a question about warfare in the Sacred Months refers to an incident which took place in the Sacred month of Rajab in the lifetime of the Prophet (saws) two years after migration.

 

The Messenger of Allah (saws) sent a small detachment of eight men to a place called ‘Nakhlah’, a valley midway between the twin cities of Makkah and Taif.  The Messenger of Allah (saws) had given clear instructions to the detachment to only watch the movement of the enemy Quraish and their allied camps and try to find out if they had any plans to attack the believers in Madinah.  Although this detachment had not been given permission to fight, a skirmish and ambush resulted and they erroneously assumed that the Sacred Month of Rajab was over, attacked a small caravan of the Quraish, killed one amongst them, and took the rest prisoners, and brought them to the Prophet (saws) in Madinah along with their merchandise.

 

The staunch enemies of the believers, the pagan Quraish, the Jews, and even the hypocrites of Madinah made a huge hue and cry and raised an extremely strong objection and amassed a propaganda over whole of Arabia against the Muslims and the Prophet (saws) for fighting and shedding blood in a Sacred Month. 

 

Allah Subhanah revealed the above Verse of the Glorious Quran addressing their objection stating that indeed the Sacred Months should be honored and slaughter and warfare therein are a grave offence in the Sight of Allah; but without an iota of a doubt, graver and extremely severe in the Sight of the Lord than the violation of the sanctity of the Sacred Months is for the pagans to prevent access to the Straight Path of Allah, disbelief, to prevent the believers access to the Sacred Sanctuary in Makkah, to drive out its residents without just right, and the tumult and oppression and the ‘fitnah’ caused is indeed graver in the Sight of Allah than slaughter.

 

Because the Messenger of Allah (saws) had not given permission to the detachment to fight or kill or violate the sanctity of the Sacred Month, it was indeed considered an unlawful and unauthorized act of the over-zealous detachment.  The Messenger of Allah (saws) set prisoners taken in the ambush at Nakhlah free, gave them back their goods, and even paid the blood-money to the heirs of the one who was slaughtered in the ambush; and thus reaffirmed the sanctity of the prohibition of fighting and war in the four Sacred Months.

 

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone.  Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

 

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

 

 

Burhan