Muharram： The Month of Allah
Muharram： The Month of Allah
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00The Month of Muharram
00:06We are now beginning the new Islamic calendar.
00:09We are now in the month of Muharram.
00:12And this is a month that is a sacred month.
00:15In fact, our Prophet ﷺ said
00:18that the best month to fast
00:21after that of Ramadan
00:23is Shahrullahil Muharram,
00:26the month of Allah Al-Muharram.
00:28So notice, our Prophet ﷺ
00:30called Muharram the month of Allah.
00:33And no other month has been called
00:35Shahrullah other than Muharram.
00:38He literally called it Shahrullahil Muharram,
00:41the month of Allah Muharram.
00:43And therefore, this is of the highest honors
00:46that has been given to this month.
00:48And no other month in the Islamic calendar
00:50has been given this honor.
00:52This month of Muharram
00:53is one of the four sacred months.
00:55And in fact, many of the Sahaba said,
00:57it is the most sacred of the four months.
01:00Obviously, Ramadan is the most sacred month of the year,
01:02but Ramadan is not of the four sacred haram months.
01:05And Muharram, many of the scholars said,
01:07is the most sacred of all of the sacred months.
01:11When Umar ibn Khattab instituted the calendar,
01:1510 years or 8 years after the Prophet ﷺ passed away,
01:18they discussed which month
01:19should we begin the calendar with.
01:21And some said this, and others said that,
01:23and one opinion was Ramadan,
01:24and one opinion was other months as well,
01:27until finally, the most of the Sahaba they said,
01:29Muharram makes the most sense to begin the year with,
01:32because of its blessings,
01:33and because it occurs right after Hajj,
01:35so it's as if it's a new beginning.
01:37And so they decided that
01:39the first month of the year shall be Muharram.
01:41And so, Muharram from that time onwards
01:44has always been the first month of the year.
01:46And it is a month where the Prophet ﷺ
01:48would fast regularly.
01:49Ibn Abbas reported,
01:51that I never saw the Prophet ﷺ
01:53more concerned about fasting
01:55than on the day of Ashura,
01:58and in the month of Muharram.
01:59And the day of Ashura literally means
02:01the 10th from Ashura.
02:03The fasting on this day was made obligatory
02:05even before Ramadan.
02:06It was made wajib in the first year,
02:09after the Hijrah.
02:10And everybody had to fast the first year.
02:13Then Allah revealed Ramadan.
02:15So Ramadan became wajib,
02:16and the next year Muharram became
02:19recommended and not obligatory.
02:20So the first year of Islam,
02:22it was obligatory on all Muslims
02:25to fast on the 10th of Muharram.
02:27And then in the second year,
02:28it went down from being obligatory
02:30to being recommended and strongly encouraged.
02:33And our Prophet ﷺ said,
02:34that it serves as a forgiveness
02:36for the sins of the previous year.
02:38On this day of 10th of Muharram,
02:40our Prophet ﷺ told us that
02:42Musa ﷺ was saved,
02:43Moses was saved from Pharaoh.
02:45That Nuh ﷺ,
02:47his ship landed on Mount Judi.
02:50That on these days,
02:51many incidents happened in the past
02:53that served as a day of celebration and rejoicing.
02:57When our Prophet ﷺ found out
02:58that the Yahud are fasting
03:00on the 10th of Muharram as well,
03:01even though the blessings of the 10th
03:03were predating the knowledge
03:04of our Prophet ﷺ about the Yahud.
03:06When he found out that they were fasting,
03:08because on this day they said,
03:10Moses was saved and Pharaoh drowned.
03:12So we take it as a day of celebration.
03:14Our Prophet ﷺ said,
03:16we have more right to Moses than you do.
03:18In other words, we are the true followers of Moses,
03:21and from that year onwards,
03:22he also encouraged everybody to fast on the 10th,
03:25and he also said,
03:26if I live one more year,
03:27I shall fast on the 9th and the 10th.
03:30The scholars say,
03:31to make our ritual different
03:33from the ritual of other religions and nations,
03:35and therefore, ideally,
03:37it is good to fast the 9th and the 10th,
03:39even though our Prophet ﷺ never did it.
03:41Because he said the hadith,
03:42but he passed away the very year that he said it.
03:44So he never actually lived to the next year.
03:46But he said,
03:47if Allah allows me to live another year,
03:49I shall fast the 9th and the 10th of Muharram.
03:52So those who are able to fast the 9th and the 10th,
03:54alhamdulillah.
03:55Or the 10th and the 11th, alhamdulillah.
03:57But if they cannot fast two days,
03:59then at least on the 10th,
04:01they should definitely fast on that day.
04:03And it is a day that,
04:05inshaAllah, if you do it properly and sincerely,
04:07the minor sins of the previous year are forgiven.
04:10And no doubt, this day also is a day
04:12in which a historical tragedy occurred,
04:14and that is the massacre of Hussain radiallahu ta'ala anhu.
04:18That tragedy does not have anything to do
04:21with the sanctity of this day.
04:22It was a coincidence that it happened on that day.
04:25And the fact of the matter is that,
04:27the death of Hussain is a historical tragedy.
04:29But the blessings of the 10th of Muharram,
04:32and the fasting of the 10th of Muharram,
04:34is separate to the historical tragedy
04:37that occurred coincidentally on the 10th of Muharram
04:40in a later year of the hijrah,
04:42the massacre of Karbala.
04:43And unfortunately, people have taken this massacre
04:46to imply and to give meaning to Muharram.
04:49But Muharram was blessed and sacred
04:51before the massacre.
04:53And the massacre has nothing to do
04:54with the sanctity of the month,
04:56and the fasting of the month.
04:58And Ashura was a day that was holy
05:00before Hussain was martyred on that day.
05:03And therefore, we as Muslims,
05:05we take the 10th of Muharram
05:06not as a day of mourning,
05:09but as a day of worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
05:12as a day of ibadah,
05:13as a day where we are conscious of Allah even more,
05:16and we come close to Allah
05:18through our actions of worship,
05:19through the action of fasting.
05:22And let us make sure we fast on the 10th,
05:24and if we're able to on the 9th and the 10th,
05:26or the 10th and the 11th,
05:27but at least on the 10th.
05:28And especially in this month overall,
05:30this is a month where overall
05:32our Prophet ﷺ encouraged extra good deeds,
05:34extra fasting, extra charity.
05:36It is one of the sacred months.
05:37May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
05:39make us of those who utilize it to the best.
05:49you