Concerning the Special Merit of Fasting on the First Day of Rajab, and

of Keeping Vigil Throughout the First Night of that Month

Whenever the month of Rajab came around, as Shaikh Imam Hibatu'llah ibn al-
Mubarak as-Saqati (may Allah bestow His mercy upon him) has informed us on good
traditional authority, Allah's Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) used to
say:

O Allah, bestow Your grace upon us in Rajab and Sha'ban, and allow us to live on
into Ramadan!

As Shaikh Imam Hibatu'llah (may Allah bestow His mercy upon him) has also
informed us, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) is reported as having
said:

If someone has fasted on the first day of Rajab, his fast will be counted as the
equivalent of a month-long fast.

If someone has fasted for seven days in Rajab, the seven gates of Hell [Jahannam]
will all be locked to keep him shut out.

If someone has fasted for eight days in Rajab, the eight gates of the Garden of
Paradise will all be held open for him.

If someone has fasted for ten days in Rajab, Allah will replace his bad deeds with
good deeds.

If someone has fasted for eighteen days in Rajab, a crier will call out from heaven
above: "Allah has already forgiven you, so make a fresh start and do good work!"

Shaikh Imam Hibatu'llah (may Allah bestow His mercy upon him) informs us that the
following saying has been attributed to the Prophet himself (Allah bless him and give
him peace):

If someone has fasted for one day in Rajab, Allah will pardon him for the sins of sixty
years.

If someone has fasted for five days in Rajab, Allah will put him through as easy
reckoning when He calls him to account [at the Resurrection].

If someone has fasted for thirty days in Rajab, Allah (Exalted is He) will register His
approval [ridwan] of him, and He will not punish him.

- Shaikh 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, Sufficient Provision for the Seekers of the Path of Truth (Al-Ghunya li-Talibi Tariq al-Haqq)
1
According to a traditional report, [the pious Umayyad Caliph] 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz
(may Allah bestow His mercy upon him) wrote to al-Hajjaj ibn Artah, who was then
in charge of the city of Basra: "You must pay special attention to four nights in the
year, for on those nights Allah (Exalted is He) pours forth Mercy [Rahma] in great
abundance. They are: The first night of Rajab; the night of the middle of Sha'ban; the
night of the twenty-seventh of Ramadan; and the night of the Fastbreaking [lailat al-
Fitr]

Khalid ibn Ma'dan (may Allah bestow His mercy upon him) is reported as having
said:

There are five nights in the year during which it is most important to maintain an
extraordinary degree of vigilant awareness, for if someone observes them properly,
hoping to receive their spiritual reward and believing in their promise, Allah (Exalted
is He) will admit him to the Garden of Paradise. These nights, and the rules for their
observance, are as follows:

(1) The first night of Rajab; one must keep vigil throughout that night, and then fast
during the following daytime.

(2 and 3) The two nights of the two Festivals [lailatai 'l-'Idain]; one must keep vigil
throughout each of those two nights, and break fast during the following daylight
hours.

(4) The night of the middle of Sha'ban; one must keep vigil throughout that night, and
then fast during the following daytime.

(5) The night of 'Ashura'; one must keep vigil throughout that night, and then fast
during the following daytime.

Traditional Prayers of Supplication [ad'iya ma'thura] that are

Particularly Appropriate on the First Night of Rajab
When the worshipper has duly performed his ritual prayer [salat] on the first night of
Rajab, he is recommended to offer the following prayer of supplication [du'a]:

"O Allah, to You the applicants apply this night, to You the aspirants aspire, and for
Your gracious bounty and beneficence the seekers look in hope. You have special
favors [nafahat] to bestow this night, and prizes and gifts and presents. You will
bestow them upon whomever You choose from among Your servants, and You will
withhold them from those who are not ready to receive Your providential care
['inaya]. Well, here am I, Your servant who is sorely in need of You, hoping for Your
gracious bounty and beneficence! If it pleases You, O my Master [ya Mawlaya], to
bestow Your grace this night upon one of Your creatures, and if You will be so
generous as to grant him a favor out of Your kindness, then bless Muhammad and his
family, and let me enjoy Your superabundance and beneficence, O Lord of All the
Worlds [ya Rabba'l-'Alamin]!"
- Shaikh 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, Sufficient Provision for the Seekers of the Path of Truth (Al-Ghunya li-Talibi Tariq al-Haqq)
2
'Ali ibn Abli Talib (may Allah be well pleased with him) would devote himself
entirely to worship during four nights of the year, namely: The first night of Rajab;
the night of the [Festival of] Fastbreaking [lailat al-Fitr]; the night of the [Festival of]
Sacrifices [lailat al-Adha]; and the night of the middle of Sha'ban. Here is the prayer
of supplication [du'a] he used to offer on those nights:

"O Allah, bless Muhammad and his family, those lanterns of wisdom [masabih al-
hikma], masters of grace [mawali 'n-ni'ma] and mines of virtue [ma'adin al-'isma]!
Let them be my protection against all evil. Do not take me by surprise or unawares.
Do not cause the outcome of my life's work to be nothing but disappointment and
regret. May it please You to view me with favor, for Your forgiveness is granted to the
wrongdoers and I am one of the wrongdoers. O Allah, forgive me that which cannot
do You any harm, and grant me that which cannot bring You any benefit. [that is to
say: "because You are Immune to all injury, and because You are the Self-Sufficient
Benefactor."]

"You are the One whose Mercy [Rahma] is all-embracing, the One whose Wisdom
[Hikma] is incomparable, so grant me the blessings of comfort and composure,
security and good health, thankfulness, well-being, and devotion to duty [taqwa].
Instill patience and honesty in me and in your saintly friends [awliya']. Let ease
[yusr] be Your gift to me, and do not let it come with difficulty ['usr] attached. Extend
these same blessings to my wife and children, to my brothers in You, and to all those
Muslim men [Muslimin] and Muslim women [Muslimat], those believing men
[mu'minin] and believing women [mu'minat], who have helped me to become the man
I am today."

Some Traditional Reports Concerning the Special Blessings

Bestowed by Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) upon those who
Perform the Ritual Prayer [salat] during the month of Rajab
It was just after the new moon had appeared to mark the beginning of Rajab, as
Shaikh Imam Hibatu’llah ibn al-Mubarak as-Saqati (may Allah bestow His mercy
upon him) has informed us on good traditional authority that the Prophet (Allah bless
him and give him peace) turned to Salman al-Farisi (may Allah be well pleased with
him) and said:

“O Salman, Allah will surely erase all the sins from the record of any believing man
[mu’min], and of any believing woman [mu’mina] who performs thirty cycles of ritual
prayer [yusalli thalathina rak’a] in the course of this month, reciting in each cycle the
Opening Sura of the Book [Fatihat al-Kitab] and the Sura that begins with “Say: ‘He
is Allah, One…’” [Qul HuwAllahu ahad…] three times, and the Sura that begins with
“Say’O unbelievers…’” [Qul yaa ayyuha l-kaafirun…] three times. That man or
woman will be granted the same reward as a person who has fasted throughout the
entire month. He or she will be treated as one of those who continue to perform the
ritual prayer [al-musallin] right through to the following year, and will be credited
every day with a deed as noble as that of one of the martyrs of the battle of Badr
[shahid min shuhada’I Badr].
- Shaikh 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, Sufficient Provision for the Seekers of the Path of Truth (Al-Ghunya li-Talibi Tariq al-Haqq)
3
For every day of fasting [in Rajab], the worship of an entire year will be recorded in
favor of the believer concerned, whose credit will be enhanced by a thousand degrees.
If the believer keeps the fast throughout the whole of this month, as well as
performing this particular prayer [salat] (i.e., the aforementioned thirty cycles of
ritual prayer), Allah will deliver that man or woman from the Fire of Hell and declare
that he or she is entitled to enter the Garden of Paradise, therein to dwell in the
vicinity of Allah (Glory be to Him).

Gabriel (peace be upon him) informed me of this, and then he went on to say: “O
Muhammad, this is a clear sign to mark the distinction between you true believers, on
the one hand, and the polytheists [mushrikin] and hypocrites [munafirin] on the
other, because the hypocrites do not perform that ritual prayer [la yusalluna
dhalik].”\

Having heard these words addressed to him by the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant
him peace), Salman (may Allah be well pleased with him) responded by saying: “O
Messenger, tell me exactly how I must perform that particular prayer [salat], and
exactly when I must perform it.”

“O Salman,” said Allah’s Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace): “on the
first day of the month you must perform ten cycles of the prayer [salat]. In each cycle
[rak’a] you must recite the Opening Sura of the Book [Fatihat al-Kitab] one time
only, then the Sura that begins with “Say: ‘He is Allah, One…’” [Qul HuwAllahu
ahad…] three times, and the Sura that begins with “Say’O unbelievers…’” [Qul yaa
ayyuha l-kaafirun…] three times. When you have pronounced the final salutation
[sallamta], you must raise your hands and say:

There is no god except Allah, Alone. No        ,  

  

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of the possessor of such fortune profit him, if
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from You [in the hereafter].

“Then you must rub your face with your hands, for at this point you will have
completed the first set of ten cycles.
- Shaikh 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, Sufficient Provision for the Seekers of the Path of Truth (Al-Ghunya li-Talibi Tariq al-Haqq)
4
“In the middle of the month, you must perform another ten cycles of the prayer
[salat]. In each cycle [rak’a] you must again recite the Opening Sura of the Book
[Fatihat al-Kitab] one time only, then the Sura that begins with “Say: ‘He is Allah,
One…’” [Qul HuwAllahu ahad…] three times, and the Sura that begins with “Say’O
unbelievers…’” [Qul yaa ayyuha l-kaafirun…] three times. When you have
pronounced the final salutation [sallamta], you must raise your hands as you did
before, but this time you must say:

There is no god except Allah, Alone. No        ,  

  

partner has He.To him belongs the kingdom
 ,    ,      ,
and to Him belongs the praise. He brings life
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and causes to death, while He is Ever-living    #     
and never dies. All goodness is in His hand,
and He is Powerful over all things.
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“Then you must rub your face with your hands, for at this point you will have
completed the second set of ten cycles.

“At the end of the month, you must perform the third and final set of ten cycles of the
prayer [salat]. In each cycle [rak’a] you must again recite the Opening Sura of the
Book [Fatihat al-Kitab] one time only, then the Sura that begins with “Say: ‘He is
Allah, One…’” [Qul HuwAllahu ahad…] three times, and the Sura that begins with
“Say’O unbelievers…’” [Qul yaa ayyuha l-kaafirun…] three times. When you have
pronounced the final salutation [sallamta], you must raise your hands as you did
before, but this time you must say:

       ,  
  

There is no god except Allah, Alone. No
 ,    ,      ,
partner has He.To him belongs the kingdom
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and to Him belongs the praise. He brings life    #     
and causes to death, while He is Ever-living
and never dies. All goodness is in His hand,
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and He is Powerful over all things.

- Shaikh 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, Sufficient Provision for the Seekers of the Path of Truth (Al-Ghunya li-Talibi Tariq al-Haqq)
5
 May Allah bless our Master Muhammad L , 
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with Allah, the Most High, the Almighty.
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“You should then ask for whatever you need, whereupon He will surely give a positive
response to your prayer of supplication [du’a]. Allah will interpose seventy ditches
between you and Hell [Jahannam], and each of those ditches will be as wide as the
distance that separates this earth from heaven above. For every cycle of prayer[salat]
you have performed, He will credit you with a million cycles [alf alf rak’a]. He will
also inscribe on your record an exemption from the Fire of Hell and a permit to cross
the Narrow Bridge [Sirat].”

Salman (may Allah be well pleased with him) is reported as having said: “As soon as
the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) had finished speaking, I sank to the
ground in humble prostration, weeping as I sought to express my gratitude to Allah
(Exalted is He) for what I had just been privileged to hear.”

Traditional Reports in which Great Emphasis is placed on the

Special Merit of Fasting on the First Thursday in Rajab, and of
performing the Ritual Prayer [salat] during the First Friday Night of
that Month.
The following report has been conveyed to us by Shaikh Imam Abu’l-Barakat
[‘Father of Blessings’] Hibatu’llah ibn al-Mubarak as-Saqati (may Allah bestow His
mercy upon him), who cited good traditional authority in support of its authenticity:

Allah’s Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) once said:

Rajab is Allah’s month, Sha’ban is my month, and Ramadan is the month of my

Community [Ummati].

Someone then asked him: “O Messenger of Allah, what do you mean exactly, when
you say that Rajab is Allah’s month?” So he explained (Allah bless him and give him
peace):

[I call it Allah’s month] because it is specifically associated with forgiveness, because

in it the shedding of blood is brought to a halt, because in it Allah (Exalted is He)
relents toward His Prophets [anbiya’], because in it He rescues His saints [awliya’]
from the hands of their enemies, and because anyone who fasts during this month
becomes entitled to receive three things from Allah (Exalted is He). The first and
second of these are forgiveness for all the sins he has previously committed, and
impregnable virtue [‘isma] for the remainder of his life. As for the third, he will be
safe from thirst on the Day of the Greatest Review [Yawm al-‘Ard a;-Akbar].
- Shaikh 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, Sufficient Provision for the Seekers of the Path of Truth (Al-Ghunya li-Talibi Tariq al-Haqq)
6
At this point a feeble old man stood up and said: “O Messenger of Allah, I am
physically incapable of fasting through the whole of the month,” so Allah’s
Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) went on to say:

Fast during the first day of the month and during the day that comes in the middle of
it, and also during the very last day of the month, for then you will be given the same
reward as someone who has fasted through the whole of the month, since no good
deed is equal in value to ten of the same kind.

It is most important, however, that none of you should neglect the first Friday night in
Rajab, for it is the night that the angles call the Nigh of [the Granting of] Wishes
[Lailat ar-Ragha’ib]. This is because, by the time the first third of the night has
elapsed, there will not be a single angel still at large in the heavens, nor in any region
of the earth bar one. They will all be gathered together in the Ka’ba and the area
immediately surrounding it. Allah (Exalted is He) will condescend to notice that they
have assembled there, and He will say: “My angels, ask Me for whatever you wish!”
Their response to this will be: “Our Lord, the request we wish to make is that You
grant forgiveness to those who faithfully keep the fast in Rajab,” whereupon Allah
(Exalted is He) will tell them: “That I have already done!”

Then Allah’s Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) said:

No one will go unrewarded if he fasts during the daytime on Thursday, the first
Thursday in Rajab, and if he then performs twelve extra cycles of prayer [salat]
during the period between sunset [maghrib] and late evening [‘isha’], i.e., during the
first segment [‘atama] of the night of Friday. In each cycle [rak’a] he must recite the
Opening Sura of the Book [Fatihat al-Kitab] one time only, then the Sura that begins
with “Behold, We sent it down on the Night of Power…’ [Inna anzalnahu fi lailat il-
qadr…]three times, and the Sura that begins with “Say: ‘He is Allah, One…’” [Qul
HuwAllahu ahad…] twelve times. The twelve cycles must be divided into sets of two,
with a salutation [taslima]to mark the conclusion of each pair.

When he has completed his prayer [salat], he must invoke blessings upon me, by
repeating seventy times:

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O Allah, bestow blessings and peace upon ) < 
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Muhammad, the illiterate Prophet, and upon
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his family.

- Shaikh 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, Sufficient Provision for the Seekers of the Path of Truth (Al-Ghunya li-Talibi Tariq al-Haqq)
7
He must then bow down low in an act of prostration [sajda], repeating seventy times
while he is in the posture of prostration [sujud]:

All-Glorious, All-Holy, Lord of the Angels G Z [\   X

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and of the Spirit!

Then he must raise his head and repeat seventy times:

My Lord, forgive and have mercy, pardon 78 _7 ^ ,2  Y  = ]  1X ) Y
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that which You well know, for You are the
Mighty, the Supreme.

Then he must bow down low for the second time and repeat the words he uttered
during the first prostration [sujud], he should ask Allah to grant his personal request,
for that request will surely be fulfilled.

Allah’s Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) also said:

By Him in whose Hand is in my soul [wa ‘lladhi nafsi bi-yadih], I assure you that no
servant [of His], whether manservant [‘abd] or maidservant [ama], will ever perform
this particular prayer [salat] without Allah forgiving all the sins of which that
individual has ever been guilty, even if they are like the flecks of foam upon the ocean,
as numerous as all the grains of sand, as heavy as the mountains, and as many as the
drops of rain and the leaves on all the trees. On the Day of Resurrection [Yawm al-
Qiyama], he will be allowed to intercede on behalf of seven hundred members of his
family.

On the first night that worshipful servant spends in his grave, the rewards for this
prayer [salat] will come to visit him [in the shape of a human being], with a cheerful
face and an eloquent tongue. “O my dear friend,” it will say to him, “rejoice in the
good tidings, for I am here to tell you that you have been delivered from every severe
affliction!” This will prompt the servant to exclaim: “Who are you? By Allah, I swear
that I have never seen a man with better-looking face than yours. Never have I heard
a form of speech more charming than your way of speaking, and never have I smelled
a fragrance more delightful than that of your perfume.” So then it will tell him: “O
my dear friend, I am the reward for that prayer [salat], the one you performed on
whichever night it was, in whichever month it was, in whichever year it was. I have
come here tonight in order to fulfill your request, to entertain you in your solitary
state, and to banish your loneliness from you. Later one, when the trumpet is sounded,
I shall provide you with shade to protect your head from the scorching heat on the
Fields of the Resurrection [‘Arasat al-Qiyama]. So rejoice in the good tidings, for you
will never be deprived of the blessing that comes from your Master [Mawla].”

- Shaikh 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, Sufficient Provision for the Seekers of the Path of Truth (Al-Ghunya li-Talibi Tariq al-Haqq)
8