Month of safar
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Zainab Muneer:
I have always heard about month of safar as month of misfortune and calamaties....i did some research and found this to be untrue.
Month of the year: Safar is the second month of the Islamic calendar.
Literal meaning: Empty. During this month the houses used to be empty and deserted because the ban on going to war in the month of Muharram came to an end and everyone proceeded towards the battlefield.
Safar also means to be yellow. When the names of the months were being given it was the season of autumn and the leaves of the trees were yellow.
Many people have erroneous beliefs regarding this month i.e. it is a month of misfortune and calamities. The teachings of Allâh Ta'âla and His beloved Rasűl sallallahu alayhi wa sallam gives us clear guidelines on such incorrect beliefs.
Allâh Ta'âla says in the Qur'ân: "No kind of calamity can occur, except by the will of Allâh". (Surah 64-Ayat 11).
These erroneous beliefs have also been condemned in the context of the following Ahâdîth:
There is no superstitious owl, bird, no star-promising rain, no bad omen in the month of Safar. (Sahih Muslim).
There is no bad omen in the month of Safar and no Ghouls (evil spirits) (Sahih Muslim).
There is no evil omen, no superstitious owl, bird and no bad omen in the month of Safar (Bukhari).
The above Ahâdîth clearly refutes all incorrect beliefs and superstitions regarding the month of Safar. These incorrect beliefs flow from the pre-Islamic period of Jâhiliyyah [Days of Ignorance].
The Month of Safar During the Days of Ignorance
The Muhaddithîn have recorded many of the superstitions harboured by the Arabs during the Days of Ignorance. A few are mentioned below:
The pre-Islamic Arabs believed Safar to be a snake which lives in the stomach of a human being and when hungry, bites the person. This is the discomfort one experiences when gripped by the pangs of hunger.
Some said Safar are worms which originate in the liver and ribs due to which the colour of the person becomes yellow, a condition we know today as jaundice.
According to some, the month of Safar flanked by Muharram and Rablul Awwal is full of calamities and misfortune.
With the advent of Islam and the teachings of Rasűlullah sallallahu alayhl wa sallam, all evil and incorrect beliefs common in pre-Islamic times were discarded.
Incorrect Beliefs:
Today too, there are some Muslims who hold incorrect beliefs regarding the month of Safar.
1.
A nikâh performed in this month would not be successful.
Sayyidina Ali radhiyallahu anhu married Sayyiditina Fatima radhiyallahu anha, (the daughter of Rasűlullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) in the latter days of Safar 2 A.H.
2.
This month is full of misfortune and calamities.
3.
To commence any important venture, business etc. during this month will bring bad luck.
4. The first to the thirteenth of Safar is ill-fortune and evil.
5. The person who distributes food or money on the 13th of Safar wiII be saved from its ill-fortune.
6. To celebrate the last Wednesday of Safar and regard it as a holiday.
What to do:
1. To shun all types of erroneous beliefs regarding the blessed month of Safar.
2. To understand that the most unfortunate person is he who disobeys Allâh Ta'âla's commandments e.g. does not perform the five daily salaah etc. It is narrated in a hadîth that Rasűlullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: "Pray, 0 Allah! Cause not anyone of us to be a wretched destitute." He then asked: "Do you know who is a wretched destitute?" Upon the request of the Sahabah radhiyallahu anhum he replied, "A wretched destitute is he who neglects his salât. " (Hadîth).
3. We should understand that all conditions which befalls us, good or bad, favourable, or unfavourable are from Allâh Ta'âla, (as a result of our actions). Allâh Ta'âla says: " Whatever misfortune befalls you, it is due to the things your hands have wrought, and He forgives many a sin." (Surah 42 - Verse 30).
This can also be confirmed by the following Hadîth:
Sayyidina Jabir radhiyallahu anhu has said that, "I have heard Rasűlullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam saying, the descending of illness and evil superstition befalling in the month of Safar is untrue." (Muslim)
Taskeen Jamali:
A very good Post...jazak Allah al Khair
Mona_khan:
Assalam-o-alaikum,
Zainab aapi it is my request to you that please do not take it as an offense. I am writing the reply with same intention with which you posted it here. You must have post it because you thought it is right this stated and goes with your beliefs. Similarly I am writing because what I am giving with logics and proofs are correct and some may be saved from making wrong conclusions.
I couldn’t find the reference of hadiths mentioned in the above statement. Kindly give the reference.
I do not heard people believe that last day of Safar is being Holiday! Though I’ve seen some sunni people celebrating the 13th Safar - when I asked why so, they say that Prophet s.a.w. was recovered from illness on this day. I was surprised because Prophet s.a.w. fell ill in the month of safar during his last days.
• Muharram محرّم (or Muḥarram al Ḥaram)
• Safar صفر (or Ṣafar al Muzaffar)
• Rabi' al-awwal (Rabī' I) الأول ربيع
• Rabi' al-thani (or Rabī' al Thānī, or Rabī' al-Akhir) (Rabī' II) الآخر ربيع أو الثاني ربيع
• Jumada al-awwal (Jumādā I) الاول جمادى
• Jumada al-thani (or Jumādā al-akhir) (Jumādā II) الآخر جمادى أو الثاني جمادى
• Rajab رجب (or Rajab al Murajab)
• Sha'aban شعبان (or Sha'abān al Moazam)
• Ramadan رمضان (or Ramzān, long form: Ramaḍān al Mubarak)
• Shawwal شوّال (or Shawwal al Mukarram)
• Dhu al-Qi'dah القعدة ذو
• Dhu al-Hijjah الحجة ذو
Firstly Allah didn’t create even a single particle without any purpose then how come He named the important months of Islam just in an ignorant way! When I think of Allah, His intelligence which one cannot reach to…. then it disturbs me that how come He didn’t pay much attention while naming the months, and He named just on the basis that when the calendar was started according to seasons and He wasn’t aware that these months will not be seasonal based! Islamic calendar is lunar based and hence they keep on shifting from one season to another. So thinking that they are named after seasons sounds quite kidding for Allah.
As I’ve mentioned earlier in the reply for Fast of Ashura, Islamic calendar has nothing to do with pre-islamic calendars until unless the months coincides always with those months of ignorance in Jewish calendar.
If one looks at the start of the Hijri year i.e. Prophet s.a.w. migrated to Medina in the month of Rabi-ul-awwal, September 622 CE. So in this way the first month of Safar in history falls either in July/ August/ September which are either the hot seasons or start of rainy season. And the meaning of Ramadan is “severely hot or hardship” – due to which people say that 1st Ramadan coincided with summers in Arabia. Two months which are 6 months apart can not be named on same seasonal basis. This logic nullifies the generally accepted logic of seasonal based naming of the Islamic months.
Now let’s learn some Arabic:
Yellow - أصفر (asfar)
Green – أخضر (akhdhar)
Blue – أزرق (azraq)
Red – أحمر (ahmar)
White – أبيض (abyadh)
Black – أسود (aswad)
Brown – أسمر or ﺒﻨﱢﻲ (asmar or bunnii)
This is what I learned during the Arabic classes. It is clear that Safar (the month) do not stand for “Yellow” in any sense.
Pronunciation of the month Safar in Arabic is ﺼﻔﺮ (safaru)
ﺍﻠﺼﻔﺮ (alsafaru) – Jaundice/ Peelia/ Yarqan
Safara (ﺼﻔﺮ) – to whistle
Alsafarani (ﺍﻠﺼﻔﺮﺍﻦ) – ﻮ ﺼﻔﺮ محرّم (Moharram wa Safar)
Asfara (ﺼﻔﺮ ﺍ) – Empty off wealth; Asfara Albait – To empty the house
Sufira Saghran – deposition of bile in stomach [Al-Munjid]
Masdar of all these words is ﺼﻔﺮ. This way one may think why Allah has given such a name to this particular month and Prophet s.a.w. also fell ill before his demise in this month. And it is a month in which Ahlul Bait suffered a lot too. All these events and meanings can lead to the belief that this month is full of calamities.
Now come to the marriage of Imam Ali with Fatima a.s. There is dispute on the date of marriage rather the month of wedding. Some says it is month of Safar and some says it is the last day of Zi-qada and 1st night of Zil-hijja. Majority historians write that the date of wedding is not clear. What is clear that it was 2nd hijri right after the Battle of Badr. Battle of Badr took place in Ramadan 2nd Hijri. Now if the calendar starts from Moharram then Safar came after Battle of Badr will fall in 3rd Hijri. But all historians agree that the heavenly wedding took place in 2nd Hijri and it creates doubt about the wedding in Safar.
This is all about the facts given in above statement regarding the month of Safar. However the basis of proofs being wrong doesn’t nullify the fact that why to forbade weddings and celebrations in this month. Neither Quran nor Prophet s.a.w. asked any one to do so as per my knowledge. If some one believes that it brings harm to the house then he is weak in faith because our deeds can change all calamities to the mercy of Allah but the condition is our acts and intentions (niyyat). If one is doing so due the love and attachment towards Ahlul Bait because the shuhuda of Karbala were not allowed to burry in the month of Moharram and hence did so in the month of Safar. People forbade celebrations in due respect to the martyrs and Ahlul Bait. Be clear that this practice is not a part of sharia’h it is individual wish to do so in the months of Moharram and Safar. We have got so many other months for doing weddings and other celebrations. In Iran & Iraq as well the mourning is strictly practiced for the first 10 -13 days in Moharram and afterwards it is left to individual choice. But they observe Arba’een 40th day after Ashura strictly. Number forty is mystic in Theosophy. According to the Islamic culture if someone practices a good deed constantly during forty days, it would be his inseparable attribute and lead to descending of Allah's blessing. In some religions forty days and forty nights praying has been special position.
When Prophet Musa / Moses (pbuh) prayed forty nights; found the ability to hear the words of Allah (SWT), "And when We appointed a time of forty nights with Musa, then you took the calf (for a god) after him and you were unjust." [Glorious Quran 2:51]
And if you (originating from India and Pakistan) look back at your ancestor’s practice then I guess all were practicing the same at least in the month of Moharram. And the practice was established by the Aulias of all times. Yes my ancestor’s were practicing the same because they were told by Khuwaja Moinuddin Chishti that it is liked by Allah not to make celebrations during these months and keep remembering the Ahlul bait and shuhuda-e-karbala. It was also told them to give more and more sadqa in the month of Safar before leaving for journey. All these customs were abolished by the various jamats emerged during the British rule. I think that Wali Allah knows better Islam in accordance with Quran, Prophet s.a.w. and Ahlul Bait than any other degree holder aalim. One is not forced to practice the same but intentions will count and hence the rewards. My region was far better and blessed before get captured by jamats and the newly created Islam.
One can marry in Safar choice is solely individual and it has been said before more than a million times one will be responsible for his own acts and deeds. When Dr. Israr Ahmed (who has many followers) can marry his son on 10th Moharram then why not in Safar! So its better to leave the choice with the people and we must encourage all to study, indentify and then choose his/her path rather than just following blindly. If we are following anything just because our ancestors are following then its an act of jahil irrespective of how many degrees one holds. Jahil doesn’t mean illiterate in Quran. Arabs were literate, they knew to read and write, they did poetry…. But they were jahil because they didn’t bother about the logics, the science, the signs of Allah and were following their ancestors the idol worshippers blindly, they were not taking help from Qalb given by Allah. Similarly when I was following the faith blindly as taught by some ulema, I was living a life of jahil. But when I studied Quran myself, I learned Arabic to get it in a better way and studied the various original resources and took guidance by Allah through Ahlul bait and Aulias then I came out of the category of jahils. It is hard to accept but be with truthful that is what Allah asks us in Quran. Every era has those jahils whom Allah addresses in Quran. Quran is a living book for all times, every aya’h is valid to the current time as well.
Arabic was only language which cannot be read even without learning it’s grammar rules if it doesn’t carry fatha, damma, kasra etc. If these were not attached with the language then I swear by Allah every muslim would have been academically literate and would have done wonders in the world.
I will try to contemplate all the 12 Islamic months naming in coming weeks inshAllah.
And as for the stars and the significance they carry will be talked soon. For now only one sign:
By heaven in which are zodiacal signs. (Surah 85, Verse 1)
Most Blessed is He Who made constellations in the sky and placed therein a lamp and a shinning moon. (Surah 25, Verse 61).
And many times in Quran Almighty Allah swears by the stages of stars and call it a big sign. Why so!
It seems like we follow book of hadiths written by some man/men more strictly than Quran without cross checking the authenticity!
Zainab Muneer:
Dearest Mona...i have no idea what you are trying to emply...
firstly .....you wrote "Firstly Allah didn’t create even a single particle without any purpose then how come He named the important months of Islam just in an ignorant way! When I think of Allah, His intelligence which one cannot reach to…. then it disturbs me that how come He didn’t pay much attention while naming the months, and He named just on the basis that when the calendar was started according to seasons and He wasn’t aware that these months will not be seasonal based! Islamic calendar is lunar based and hence they keep on shifting from one season to another. So thinking that they are named after seasons sounds quite kidding for Allah"
Where in the world did you get to know this ,that Allah swt named the months...I dont for a minute think that Allah swt ne months k naam rakhey!!!!
secondly.....you are absolutly right that our calender is lunar based and seasons shift.....so This word safar also means "whistling of the wind". When this name was assigned to this month, it was probably a windy time of the year, most of the months were named according to weather conditions at the time. However, since they are based on the moon, the months shift about 11 days every year. So, the seasons do not necessarily correspond to the name of the month anymore....
http://www.al-islam.org/al-serat/hijrah.htm
go through this link and you will know how months were named and bascially the history of our calender.
thirdly... you wrote "One can marry in Safar choice is solely individual and it has been said before more than a million times one will be responsible for his own acts and deeds. When Dr. Israr Ahmed (who has many followers) can marry his son on 10th Moharram then why not in Safar! So its better to leave the choice with the people and we must encourage all to study, indentify and then choose his/her path rather than just following blindly...
i guess thats what exactly the article i posted says...that these things were practiced by ppl of daur-e-jahiliya...and months have nothing to do with weddings/births/deaths whatsoever
Zainab Muneer:
Another thing is,i am clueless about what you are trying to say in the middle and second half of your reply.....what i posted was to remove this mis-conception that the month of safar causes bad things to happen,
as for your quote from the Quran "By heaven in which are zodiacal signs. (Surah 85, Verse 1).....what do you exactly mean?....is there any other reason for the creation of stars/sun/moon ???
Allah says in Quran
And we have adorned the nearest heaven with lamps.” (V.67.5), and said “the creation of these stars are for three purposes”
1. Decoration of the nearest heaven
2. As missiles to hit the devils
3. Signs to guide travellers
Subhan Allah
Al-Bukhaari said in his Saheeh: Qutaadah said: “Allaah created these stars for three purposes: to adorn the heavens, to stone the devils and as signs by which to navigate. Whoever seeks anything else in them is mistaken and does not benefit from them, and he is wasting his time and effort in seeking something of which he has no knowledge.” (Saheeh al-Bukhaari, Baab fi’l-Nujoom, 2/240)
As regards what Muslims think about the moon and the stars, they believe that they are part of the creation of Allaah, and as such can neither benefit nor harm people, and they do not have any influence over events on earth. Allaah has created them for the benefit of mankind,...
"They ask you (O Muhammad) about the new moons. Say: These are signs to mark fixed periods of time for mankind and for the pilgrimage…" [al-Baqarah 2:189]"
[The commentator] Ibn Katheer said, explaining the phrase Say: these are signs to mark fixed periods of time: "From them (the new moons) they may know the times for repaying loans, the `iddah (waiting period) of their women [after being divorced or widowed] and the timing of their Hajj (pilgrimage)… Allaah has made them signs to mark the times when Muslims should start to fast and break their fast [the beginning and end of Ramadaan], to count the `iddah of their women and to know the times for repaying loans." (Tafseer Ibn Katheer).
or
"It is He Who made the sun a shining thing and the moon as a light and measured out its (their) stages, that you might know the number of years and the reckoning…' [Yoonus 10:5]...
Lastly Allah knows best...i am really not very learned in these matters ,nor i want to go in detail here as this is not a religious forum.thank you...Wallahu-aalam bithwab.
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