Are all Hadith about the virtue of Rajab fabricated?
Quran
Hadith
Islamic Text
No, not all Hadith about Rajab are Fabricated. However, there are an unusually large number of baseless Hadith regarding Rajab. Therefore, one should be especially careful when forwarding Hadith about Rajab.
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: كَفَى بِالْمَرْءِ كَذِبًا أَنْ يُحَدِّثَ بِكُلِّ مَا سَمِعَ
(Sayidina) Abu Hurairah (May Allah Most High be pleased with him) said that the Prophet ﷺ said: ‘It is enough of a lie for a person to narrate everything that he hears.’ (Sahih Muslim, Chapter 3, Prohibition of Narrating Everything One Hears).
It is prohibited to attribute a fabricated or baseless narration to Allah (Most High) or His Messenger ﷺ. It is only permitted to mention such narrations to warn people about them. It must not be promoted or propagated. Therefore, it is important to check the authenticity of narrations before forwarding them or quoting them.
For some reason there is a greater prevalence of baseless Hadith regarding Rajab, therefore one should take even more care when forwarding Hadith about the virtues of Rajab. That is not to say that all Hadith about the virtues of Rajab are baseless. Imam Ibn Hajr decided to write an entire work on this issue called:
تبيين العجب بما ورد في شهر رجب
(Tayeen al-Ajab Bima Warada Fi Shahri Rajab)
Expressing astonishment regarding that which has been narrated regarding Rajab.
At the beginning of this book Imam Ibn Hajr clarified that there is nothing authentic regarding the fasting or night prayer (Qiyaam al-Layl) in Rajab specifically. Obviously, the general encouragement to fast or pray at night applies to Rajab.
لم يرد في فضل شهر رجب، ولا في صيامه، ولا في صيام شيء منه، – معين، ولا في قيام ليلة مخصوصة فيه – حديث صحيح يصلح للحجة
No sound Hadith, which can be used as evidence has been narrated regarding the virtue of Rajab, neither in fasting it, nor fasting a part of it specifically, nor in praying at night during it, which is specific to it. (Imam Ibn Hajr al-Asqalani, Tabyeen al-Ajab).
This is a general statement, one may come across rare exceptions to this. However, the purpose here is not to reject every Hadith that speaks about Rajab. Rather it is to recognise that great Imams of Hadith have raised concerns regarding this issue. Therefore, it behooves a Muslim, who loves the Prophet ﷺ, to be even more protective regarding the words attributed to his beloved and blessed Prophet ﷺ.
In reality, we should not have to remind Muslims to be careful with Hadith narrations. Rather our love for our beautiful Prophet ﷺ should be sufficient to make us incredibly protective regarding anything attributed to him ﷺ. Strangely, we often find those who speak most about the love of the Prophet ﷺ demonstrate the least care regarding the authenticity of what they are attributing to the beloved Prophet ﷺ.
And Allah Most High Knows Best
– Answered by Shaykh Noorud-deen (02.02.2022)
See also:
Fasting one day in Rajab is like fasting a hundred years?
Narrating Hadith Without Reference
What do the different Hadith classification terms mean?
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