Welcoming the month of Allah

How to Welcome the month of Rajab

By: Shaykh Ḥabīb al-Kāẓimī

Part 1 of 3

The Spring of the Soul

Nowadays, many individuals are thinking of alleviation in order to rest their body from the fatigue of daily life. The soul, like the body, is in need of alleviation. In fact, it needs it even more, as the body is finite whereas the soul endures eternally by God Almighty's endurance: "They shall remain in it for as long as the heavens and the earth endure" [11:107]. Just as the physical realm has three months which constitute the season known as spring, so does the metaphysical realm. Its spring is the [following] three blessed months: (1) Rajab, the month of God Almighty, (2) Shaᵓbān, the month of His prophet [p], and (3) Ramadan, the month of his nation. The Lord of the Worlds made for us two months to prepare for convening the grand deal/transaction in laylat al-qadr (the night of ordainment). Thus, ample worship, invocation of God during the morning and night, and grand occasions are witnessed in these [two] months. These two months are also decorated with many important anniversaries of the members of the Prophet [p]'s household, [such as]:

i) The birth of the Commander of the Faithful (Ali) [p].

ii) The day Prophet Muhammad [p] was sent as a messenger (Yawm al-Mabᶜath)

iii) The birth of the master of the martyrs (Husayn) [p], his brother ʿAbbās and his son Zayn al-ʿĀbidῑn [p].

iv) The pinnacle of joy: the birth of Imam al-Mahdi [may God hasten his reappearance].

[These are followed by] the birth of Imam Ḥasan [p] in the middle of the month of Ramadan.

All of these are occasions of joy and happiness. And it is known that during the occasions of joy and happiness, rewards and bestowals are received [by people], so why should we not ask for a grand bestowment in each occasion from the father or son of the beholders of that [specific] occasion?! (i.e. ask from the Imam whose birth is on that occasion, or from his infallible father or son - tr.)

Therefore, these two months – along with the first twenty nights of the blessed month of Ramadan – are crucial nights for earning an exceptional Laylat al-Qadr; the night which the Lord of the Worlds refers to [in the Qur'an when] He says, "Indeed We sent it down on the Night of Ordainment * What will make you conceive what the Night of Ordainment is?." [97:1-2] Similarly, when He describes the day of resurrection He says, "What will make you conceive what the Catastrophe is?" [101:3] using the same expression to show us that we are incapable of comprehending the reality of this night. 

Whomsoever complains throughout the year of illness in his body, severance of his sustenance, disturbance of his heart, or a problem within his family; it all is [a result] of what had been ordained for him/her on laylat al-qadr. If he/she was to perfect the previous laylat al-qadr, he/she would not have been afflicted with the aforementioned [calamities]. How many among us can claim that he exhorted his [greatest] efforts in the previous laylat al-qadr?!

Translated by: ShiaTranslation