Rajab: The Seventh Month and Why It Is Sacred

Rajab is the seventh month of the Hijri calendar, falling between Jumada al-Thani and Sha'ban. It is sacred because the Quran says four of the twelve months are sacred, and the Prophet ﷺ named Rajab as one of them. It is the only sacred month that stands on its own; the other three (Dhu al-Qi'dah, Dhu al-Hijjah and Muharram) come in a row. Rajab is also the month that many Muslims associate with the Night Journey and Ascension (al-Isra wal-Mi'raj), although the date of that event is a matter on which scholars differ.

Key Takeaways

• Quran 9:36 says four months are sacred, and Sahih al-Bukhari 4662 names Rajab as the fourth, the month "which stands between Jumad (ath-thani) and Sha'ban."
• Rajab is the only sacred month that is not part of the consecutive block of Dhu al-Qi'dah, Dhu al-Hijjah and Muharram.
• 27 Rajab is widely commemorated as the night of the Isra and Mi'raj, but scholars differ on whether that date is established and on whether to mark it.
• Some popular Rajab narrations, including a well-known supplication for Rajab and Sha'ban, are graded weak on sunnah.com.
• In the calculated Umm al-Qura calendar, Rajab 1448 runs from Thursday 10 December 2026 to Friday 8 January 2027.

Where Rajab sits in the Hijri year

Rajab is month 7 of 12. Like every Hijri month, it begins with the new crescent and lasts 29 or 30 days, and each day begins at sunset. Because the Hijri year is about 11 days shorter than the solar year, Rajab arrives earlier in the Gregorian calendar each year.

The table below shows Rajab in the calculated Umm al-Qura calendar for five years. Dates are calculated from the Umm al-Qura tables in the open-source hijri-converter library (@tabby_ai/hijri-converter) that this site uses. Local announcements based on moon sighting may differ by a day.

The Gregorian date in the table is the daytime of each Hijri day. The night belonging to that day comes first: the night of 27 Rajab 1448, for example, begins at sunset on Monday 4 January 2027. You can see every day of the month in the Rajab 1448 calendar.

Why Rajab is a sacred month

The sanctity of Rajab rests on two texts read together.

The Quran sets the number of months and says some are sacred. In Surah at-Tawbah 9:36, a translation of the meaning (Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran, on quran.com) reads: "Indeed, the number of months ordained by Allah is twelve." The verse continues that four of them are sacred and tells believers, "So do not wrong one another during these months." The verse does not name the four.

The Prophet ﷺ named them in his sermon during the Farewell Pilgrimage. In Sahih al-Bukhari 4662, narrated by Abu Bakra, he says the year is twelve months, four of which are sacred. Three come in succession: Dhul-Qa'da, Dhul-Hijja and Al-Muharram. The fourth is "Rajab Mudar," which "stands between Jumad (ath-thani) and Sha'ban."

The same sermon appears in Sahih Muslim 1679a. There the Prophet ﷺ goes on to compare the sanctity of life, property and honour to the sanctity of that day, that city and that month.

What "Rajab of Mudar" means

The phrase links Rajab to Mudar, a large Arab tribal group. The English translation of Bukhari 4662 on sunnah.com glosses it as "named after the tribe of Mudar as they used to respect this month." Muslim 1679a words it as "Rajab the month of Mudar which comes between Jumada and Sha'ban." Placing the month between its neighbours leaves no doubt about which month is meant.

The sermon opens by saying that time "has come back to its original state." The Quran condemns the pre-Islamic practice of shifting the sacred months. Surah at-Tawbah 9:37 begins, in The Clear Quran's translation: "Reallocating the sanctity of ˹these˺ months is an increase in disbelief." The sister post on nasi covers that history.

What sacredness meant in practice

The best-known consequence of a sacred month is the restriction on fighting. Surah al-Baqarah 2:217 answers a question about fighting in the sacred months: "Fighting during these months is a great sin," in The Clear Quran's translation. The verse then sets that sin against others it calls greater. How the ruling applies in later periods is a question treated in works of law and exegesis.

For an individual Muslim, the instruction most often drawn from 9:36 is the one in the verse itself: not to wrong oneself or others in these months. The verse sets no special ritual for Rajab. How Rajab compares with the other three sacred months is covered in the sister post on the four sacred months in Islam.

Rajab and the Isra and Mi'raj

The Night Journey is affirmed in the Quran. Surah al-Isra 17:1 begins, in The Clear Quran's translation: "Glory be to the One Who took His servant ˹Muḥammad˺ by night from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque whose surroundings We have blessed, so that We may show him some of Our signs." The Ascension through the heavens is described in detail in hadith, for example Sahih al-Bukhari 3887, narrated from Malik bin Sa'sa'a. In that account the daily prayers are first enjoined as fifty and then reduced to five.

Neither the verse nor that narration gives a date. That gap is the source of the different positions below.

The popular date: 27 Rajab

Across much of the Muslim world, the night of 27 Rajab is known as Laylat al-Mi'raj. Encyclopaedia Britannica's entry on the Mi'raj notes that it is popularly celebrated with readings of the story on the 27th day of Rajab. Egypt's official fatwa body, Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah, writes in an article on the Night Journey and Ascension that Muslims commemorate the event every year on 27 Rajab.

Scholars who hold the date is not established

The Saudi scholar Abdulaziz ibn Baz states in his article on celebrating the night of the Isra and Mi'raj (in Arabic) that the authentic hadiths do not fix the night, "neither in Rajab nor in any other month," and that the reports naming a date are not established according to hadith scholars.

Marking the night: two positions

The disagreement about marking the night is separate from the disagreement about its date.

This post does not decide between them. If the question affects what you do on the night, ask a qualified scholar or your local mosque. The Laylat al-Mi'raj holiday page shows the calculated date.

Narrations about Rajab to treat with caution

Rajab attracts many circulated sayings, and not all of them are reliable. Checking the grading on sunnah.com before sharing one is a simple habit.

The supplication for Rajab and Sha'ban

A widely shared supplication asks Allah to "bless us in Rajab and Sha'ban and bring us to Ramadan." It is recorded from Anas in Mishkat al-Masabih 1369, which cites al-Bayhaqi. Sunnah.com shows al-Albani's grading of it as da'if (weak). Many Muslims still make similar requests in their own words, since asking Allah to reach Ramadan is a general prayer. The point here is only that the wording should not be presented as an authenticated saying of the Prophet ﷺ.

Fasting in the sacred months

A narration in Sunan Abi Dawud 2428 has the Prophet ﷺ telling a man who had been fasting excessively to "Fast during the inviolable months and then stop." It is cited when discussing fasting in Rajab, but sunnah.com shows it as da'if according to al-Albani.

Sa'id ibn Jubair was a Successor (tabi'i), a student of the Companions. In Sahih Muslim 1157c, 'Uthman ibn Hakim asks him about fasting in Rajab while they are in that month. Sa'id does not name a special Rajab fast. He answers with Ibn 'Abbas's description of the Prophet's voluntary fasting. The Prophet ﷺ would fast until people said he would not stop. Then he would leave fasting until they said he would not fast.

The regular voluntary fasts fall in Rajab as in any other month. These include Mondays and Thursdays, and the White Days (the 13th, 14th and 15th of each Hijri month).

Two Rajab practices the sound hadith address

Two authenticated narrations correct ideas about Rajab directly:

• The Rajab sacrifice. Sahih al-Bukhari 5473 reports the Prophet ﷺ saying "Neither Fara' nor 'Atira," and the narration explains that the 'Atira was a sheep slaughtered during Rajab.
• Umrah in Rajab. In Sahih al-Bukhari 1775, 1776 (one entry on sunnah.com), Ibn 'Umar says one of the Prophet's four Umrahs was in Rajab. 'Aisha replies that he "never performed any `Umra in Rajab." The narration settles a question about the Prophet's own practice. It is not a ruling on performing Umrah in Rajab.

Preparing for Rajab

Rajab is two months before Ramadan, and Sha'ban sits between them. For many people it is a practical starting point for building a routine before Ramadan, which the sister post on Sha'ban picks up.

To plan ahead:

1. Check when Rajab begins in your year with the Hijri date converter, and remember the first night starts at sunset the evening before.
2. Confirm the start with your local mosque or moon-sighting authority, since it can differ by a day from the calculated date.
3. Before sharing a saying about Rajab, look it up on sunnah.com and note the grading shown.