Virtues of the Month of Allaah, al-Muharram and the First Ten Days

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Best Month of the Year

The scholars have also stated that it is the best month of the year. This is the view of Hasan al-Basree and others, that it is the Month of Allaah. It is narrated that Hasan al-Basree said, “Allaah starts the year with Muharram and he ends it with the Sacred month (i.e. Dhu al-Hijjah).”

So there is no better month in the year after Ramadhaan than the month of al-Muharram, as it is has been named the Month of Allaah, due to its great sacredness.

It has also been narrated in Sunan an-Nasaa’ee that the Prophet [Peace and Blessings of Allaah be Upon him] said, “The best of prayers after the obligatory are those prayed in the middle of the night and the best of months is the Month of Allaah that is called al-Muharram.”

So the Hadeeth is general and unrestricted but we can understand that it is the best  after Ramadhaan, as explained by Hasan.

Others from the Salaf such as Sa’eed bin Jubayr said, “The best months are the sacred ones, Dhu al-Qa’dah and Dhu al-Hijjah.” This was the opinion from ash-Shafi’ee, who was of the opinion that the best months of the year were the months of Dhu al-Qa’dah, Dhu al-Hijjah (i.e. the sacred months) and Rajab. However, this view is weaker.

The Best Days of al-Muharram.

The best days during this month are the first ten days. Some of the Salaf were of the opinion that these were the days Allaah Swore by in the Quraan (cf. 89:2). However, the correct opinion is that the days mentioned in the Quraan refer to the first ten days of Dhu al-Hijjah.

Another from the Salaf, Aboo ‘Uthmaan al-Hindee, “They used to venerate three set of ten days; the last ten days of Ramadhaan, the first ten days of Dhu al-Hijjah and the first ten days of Muharram.”

Further statements and virtues of these days has been mentioned in the book, ’Fadaa’il al-‘Ashr’ by Ibn Abee ad-Dunyaa.

It is also said about these ten days of Muharram that they are the days in which Moosaa [Peace be Upon him] met Allaah and the forty days were completed at the end of these ten. It means, Allaah Spoke to him during these days.

It is also narrated from another from the Salaf, Wahb bin Munnabih that he said, “Allaah, the Most High, revealed to Moosaa [Peace be Upon him] to tell his nation to do Tawbah and return to Him during these first ten days of al-Muharram. When the tenth day came, He Forgave them all.”

It is also narrated from another from the Salaf, Qataadah, that he said in Tafseer of the Aayah in Surah al-Fajr where Allaah Swears by ten days (cf. 89:2), “The first ten days of Muharram are the days in which the rest of the days of the year are extracted from.”

Adapted from Lataa’if al-Ma’aarif (Pg. 23-24) by Imaam Ibn Rajab al-Hanbalee (795 H) [May Allaah have Mercy on him]