Significance of the month of Rajab

Rajab is the seventh month in the Islamic lunar calendar.
Hasan al-Basri reported that the Prophet of Allah(peace be upon him) said:Rajab is the month of Allah. Sha`ban is my month. Ramadan is the month of my Ummah (community).►{Imam as-Suyuti has also mentioned in his Jami` as-Saghir}


There is no doubt that the month of Rajab is the key to the opening of the months of goodness and blessing. The fact that it is the month of Allah means that it is worthy of veneration, and the Messenger of Allah(peace be upon him) himself would venerate it. When the month entered he would seek its blessings. Rajab was the month in which the Prophet(peace be upon him)’s blessed parents were married, and the month in which Sayyidah Aminah became pregnant with the Best of Creation(peace be upon him). Most of the scholars say that the Isra’ (Night Journey) and the Mi`raj (Ascension) took place on the 27th night of Rajab. This was the night on which the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) received the greatest ennoblement that a created being ever received from Allah.


Anas Ibn Malik said, that the Prophet of Allah(peace be upon him) used to make the following du`a, when the month of Rajab came in:Allahuma Barik lana fi Rajaba wa Sha`bana wa ballighna Ramadan - O Allah bless us in Rajab and Sha`ban and let us reach Ramadan.And on the night of Jum`ah he used to say, "This is the night of beauty and day of brightness."►{Related by Ibn Asakir, al-Bazaar and at-Tabarani in al-Awsat}


Rajab is the key to the months of goodness which follow it. For that reason Imam Abu Bakr al-Warraq said: “In the month of Rajab you sow the seeds, in Sha`ban you irrigate them and in Ramadan you reap the harvest.” He also said: “Rajab is like a wind, Sha`ban is like a cloud and Ramadan is like rain.”


Ibn `Umar that the Prophet(peace be upon him) said:Whoever fasts the first day of Rajab it will be equivalent to the fast of one year; and whoever fasts seven days in it, the seven gates of Hell will be closed for him; and whoever fasts ten days from Rajab, a caller will call out from the sky, “Ask and you will be given!” ►{Abu Na`eem and Ibn Asakir.}


Abu Bakr Warraq said:Rajab is a month of cultivation, Shaban is month of irrigating the fields, and the month of Ramadan is a month of reaping and harvesting.


Muhammad ibn Hātim informed us that Hibbān said that we were informed by Abdallāh from Shu`bah from Anas ibn Sirreen who said, I heard Abd al-Mālik ibn Abi al-Minhāl convey from his father that the Prophet ordered them to fast the three "white" days. He said, "It is [equivalent] to fasting the entire month." ►{An-Nisa'ee. The "white" days are the three days in the middle of the month: 13th, 14th, 15th, so-named for the brightness due to the full moon in their nights.}


Ibn `Abd al-Razzāq narrates that Ibn `Umar(Radiyallahu Anhu) said:There are five nights in which invocation (du`a) is not rejected: the first night of Rajab, the night of mid-Sha`ban, the night of Jum`a, and the night of [the `Eid of] Fitr and the night of [the `Eid of] Sacrifice. ►{Al-Musannaf 4:317.}