Rajab (the seventh month and one of the four sacred months)

Rajab is the seventh month, called al-Asabb and the Solitary, a sacred month standing alone among non-sacred months; the Arabs honoured it and named it God's deaf month, for no clashing of weapons was heard in it. ¹

It is one of the sacred months by the text of sura al-Tawba; fighting is forbidden in it except to repel an attacker, on the majority view, and sin is graver in it for the aggressor. ²

The Prophet performed 'umra in Rajab in year seven, the 'umra of qada' in place of the one he was turned back from; the night journey is also reported in Rajab but no reliable text fixes it. ³

No sound merit is established for the night of mid-Rajab or the Ragha'ib prayer among the hadith scholars; many reports on Rajab's excellence are weak or fabricated. ²