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Hajj Months

The video shows the time periods for this century within which Hajj pilgrimage may be observed.

How do we know?

  1. Let me explain.

We already know that Hajj was established by Abraham (2:125, 2:127, 3:97, 22:26).

Through the descendants of Abraham, Hajj was also inherited by Muhammad (16:23, 3:68, 3:95, 22:78), and it has been performed each lunar year in the month of Zul-Hijjah, generation after generation (43:28).

Therefore Muhammad and Abraham must have performed their Hajj also during the month of Zul-Hijjah.

Because, Abraham and Muhammad were competitive and eager for righteous works (38:47), they did Hajj in the earliest time possible (23:61, 9:88).

Therefore, the month of Zul-Hijjah must be, the earliest time for Hajj, or the first month of Hajj.

However, the Quran informs us that Hajj can be performed within many months (2:197) (plural), and the only plural months mentioned in the Quran are the four Sacred Months (5:2, 9:36), which are mentioned in relation to Hajj.

Therefore, the four Sacred Months are the months of Hajj.

But which ones exactly are the Sacred Months?

We already concluded that the first Sacred Month is Zul-Hijjah, but what about the other three months?

Verse 28:27 resolves this issue for us, because we see there that the word Hajj also means “Lunar Year”. There is no other word in the Quran which refers to lunar years. I explain this in my video titled “Christian vs. Muslim calendar”. So, one Hajj period is synonymous with one lunar year. This means that all the Sacred Months are joined to one another, a continuous period, because if any of them was separate, we would have more than one Hajj period every lunar year, and this would have been in violation with verse 28:27. So, there is only one Hajj period every lunar year, and this means that the Sacred Months should come all together one after another, joined after Zul-Hijjah, because we already concluded that Zul-Hijjah is the first Sacred Month.

Another way to prove this is by reading the beginning Surah 9. In it God and Muhammad make a declaration (9:1) on the day of the Greater Hajj (9:3), which we know happens during the beginning of the month of Zul-Hijjah, not to fight the idol worshipers for four continuous months (9:2), which are the four Sacred Months (9:5). Here we see that the four Sacred Months are continuous and they start with the month of Zul-Hijjah.

So, the Sacred Months, or the Hajj months, are Zul-Hijjah (12th month), Muharram (1st month), Safar (2nd month), and Rabi I (3rd month).

So these dates are the beginning and the end of the Sacred Months, from the first day of Zul-Hijjah, until the last day of Rabi I.

 

By: Alban Fejza, the Clarifying Messenger

 

For more information:

Religious Duties: Gift from God

Essentials of Islam

Limits of Organized Religion

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