بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

The Haram, sacred or forbidden months are called ‘haram’ or forbidden as some lawful things are made temporarily unlawful during these months. These months are not named in Quran therefore with the help of ayahs of Quran we will identify which months are the sacred months.

The Islamic calendar is lunar, therefore these sacred months are lunar months. The lunar calendar is important with respect to the months of Ramadan and Hajj. Because of the lunar calendar, these months don’t always come in the same season but the seasons keep on changing, thus giving us the opportunity to experience the blessings of these months in all seasons.

2:217  يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الشَّهْرِ الْحَرَامِ قِتَالٍ فِيهِ ۖ قُلْ قِتَالٌ فِيهِ كَبِيرٌ ۖ وَصَدٌّ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَكُفْرٌ بِهِ وَالْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ وَإِخْرَاجُ أَهْلِهِ مِنْهُ أَكْبَرُ عِندَ اللَّهِ ۚ وَالْفِتْنَةُ أَكْبَرُ مِنَ الْقَتْلِ ۗ وَلَا يَزَالُونَ يُقَاتِلُونَكُمْ حَتَّىٰ يَرُدُّوكُمْ عَن دِينِكُمْ إِنِ اسْتَطَاعُوا ۚ وَمَن يَرْتَدِدْ مِنكُمْ عَن دِينِهِ فَيَمُتْ وَهُوَ كَافِرٌ فَأُولَٰئِكَ حَبِطَتْ أَعْمَالُهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ ۖ وَأُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ ۖ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ

They ask you about fighting in the sacred / holy month. Say, fighting in it is big (offence) and to oppose from the way of Allah and to reject with it, and from the sacred Mosque, and to expel its people from it, is greater (offence) in the nearness of Allah and ‘Fitna’/temptation is greater (offence) than killing. They will not cease fighting with you until they turn you back from your ‘deen’/judgment if they are able to. And amongst you whosoever turns away from his judgment and dies while being a rejecter, then they are those whose works have failed in this world and in the hereafter and they are the companions of fire, they will dwell in it.

The above ayat states that sacred/forbidden months are associated with a prohibition of fighting and temptation. We will further investigate for identification of sacred months in Quran.

9:36  إِنَّ عِدَّةَ الشُّهُورِ عِندَ اللَّهِ اثْنَا عَشَرَ شَهْرًا فِي كِتَابِ اللَّهِ يَوْمَ خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ مِنْهَا أَرْبَعَةٌ حُرُمٌ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ الدِّينُ الْقَيِّمُ ۚ فَلَا تَظْلِمُوا فِيهِنَّ أَنفُسَكُمْ ۚ وَقَاتِلُوا الْمُشْرِكِينَ كَافَّةً كَمَا يُقَاتِلُونَكُمْ كَافَّةً ۚ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الْمُتَّقِينَ

Surely in the sight of Allah, the number of the months are twelve months, in the book of Allah the day He created the skies and the earth. Out of them four are sacred / forbidden. That is the established judgment. So you do not oppress your souls in them (by fighting) and you fight (in other than sacred months) the associaters all out like how they fight you all out. And know Allah is with those who guard themselves.

The names of the twelve Islamic lunar months are given below.

01. Muharram,  02. Safar, 03. Rabi-ul-Awwal, 04. Rabi-ul-Thani, 05. Jumada-l-Ulawwal, 06. Jumada-th-Thaniyya,, 07. Rajab, 08. Shaaban, 09. Ramadhan , 10. Shawwal, 11. Dhul Qadah, 12. Dhul Hijja

Out of these 12 months, four are sacred/forbidden. Lets see which months are made sacred/forbidden in Quran:

2:185  شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِي أُنزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ هُدًى لِّلنَّاسِ وَبَيِّنَاتٍ مِّنَ الْهُدَىٰ وَالْفُرْقَانِ ۚ فَمَن شَهِدَ مِنكُمُ الشَّهْرَ فَلْيَصُمْهُ ۖ وَمَن كَانَ مَرِيضًا أَوْ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍ فَعِدَّةٌ مِّنْ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرَ ۗ يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ بِكُمُ الْيُسْرَ وَلَا يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ الْعُسْرَ وَلِتُكْمِلُوا الْعِدَّةَ وَلِتُكَبِّرُوا اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا هَدَاكُمْ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ

Ramadan is the month in which Al-Quran/The Reading was sent down, a guide for mankind, and clarification from the guidance and the criterion (between right and wrong), so whosoever is a witness amongst you of that month, then he should fast in it, but if any one is ill, or travelling, then the count (should be made up) in later days. Allah intends ease for you; He does not intend to put you to hardship. So that you to complete the prescribed period (of fasting), and to glorify Him in that He has guided you; and you be grateful to Him.

From the above ayat, we come to know about the month ‘Ramadan’ which is holy as Quran was revealed in this month and we are prescribed to do fasting in this month.

2:187  أُحِلَّ لَكُمْ لَيْلَةَ الصِّيَامِ الرَّفَثُ إِلَىٰ نِسَائِكُمْ ۚ هُنَّ لِبَاسٌ لَّكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ لِبَاسٌ لَّهُنَّ ۗ عَلِمَ اللَّهُ أَنَّكُمْ كُنتُمْ تَخْتَانُونَ أَنفُسَكُمْ فَتَابَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَعَفَا عَنكُمْ ۖ فَالْآنَ بَاشِرُوهُنَّ وَابْتَغُوا مَا كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ ۚ وَكُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكُمُ الْخَيْطُ الْأَبْيَضُ مِنَ الْخَيْطِ الْأَسْوَدِ مِنَ الْفَجْرِ ۖ ثُمَّ أَتِمُّوا الصِّيَامَ إِلَى اللَّيْلِ ۚ وَلَا تُبَاشِرُوهُنَّ وَأَنتُمْ عَاكِفُونَ فِي الْمَسَاجِدِ ۗ تِلْكَ حُدُودُ اللَّهِ فَلَا تَقْرَبُوهَا ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ آيَاتِهِ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَّقُونَ

It is lawful for you to be intimate with your women in the night of fast, they are a covering for you and you are covering for them. Allah knows that you used to be dishonest with your nafs/psyche, so He returns over you and pardoned you about it. So now be in contact with them and seek what Allah has written for you, and eat and drink until from dawn the white thread clarifies for you from the black thread, then complete the fast towards the night and you do not be in contact with them (your women) when you are devoted/Aakif in the mosques. These are the boundaries of Allah so you do not go near them. Likewise Allah clarifies His ayahs / signs for people so that they may take guard.

During fasting, eating and drinking becomes temporarily unlawful from dawn to dusk. This is for training purpose of our ‘nafs’. We restrain our ‘nafs’ during this month from certain things. Therefore now we can identify ‘Ramadan’ as one of the sacred/forbidden months.

Also, during Ramadan most men are reluctant to go to their women in the night as they are more into remembrance of Allah and sanctity of the month and thereby are declining their nafs/psychology by refraining from their wives out of respect of the Holy month. Allah addresses this point in above ayat as well.

2:194  الشَّهْرُ الْحَرَامُ بِالشَّهْرِ الْحَرَامِ وَالْحُرُمَاتُ قِصَاصٌ ۚ فَمَنِ اعْتَدَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ فَاعْتَدُوا عَلَيْهِ بِمِثْلِ مَا اعْتَدَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الْمُتَّقِينَ

The Sacred / Holy month is with the sacred / holy month and the sanctities are related (months and others) So whosoever transgresses against you so you transgress against him with the example of what he transgresses against you. And take guard of Allah and know that surely Allah is with those who guard themselves (against doing evil).

The important point to note for identification of sacred months in the above ayat, is that a sacred month is with a sacred month. It means that all four sacred months are adjacent to one another. (The B/بِِ in above Ayat (بِالشَّهْرِ), means ‘with‘ in Arabic). Also note that the Arabic word (أَشْهُرٌ) for months is a plural  which means that months of Hajj are at least 3 (Arabic plural is at-least 3), therefore the 3 Hajj months cannot be separated i.e the Hajj months cannot occur with another non-Hajj month among them. (The traditionalist have different months designated as forbidden months, which are separated therefore they cannot be the 4 months intended by Allah)

2:197  الْحَجُّ أَشْهُرٌ مَّعْلُومَاتٌ ۚ فَمَن فَرَضَ فِيهِنَّ الْحَجَّ فَلَا رَفَثَ وَلَا فُسُوقَ وَلَا جِدَالَ فِي الْحَجِّ ۗ وَمَا تَفْعَلُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ يَعْلَمْهُ اللَّهُ ۗ وَتَزَوَّدُوا فَإِنَّ خَيْرَ الزَّادِ التَّقْوَىٰ ۚ وَاتَّقُونِ يَا أُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ

The months of Hajj/Pilgrimage are known so whosoever imposes Hajj / Pilgrimage (on himself) in them so he should not commit obscenity nor commit immoralities and no bickering in the Hajj / Pilgrimage. And what you do from goodness, Allah knows it. And take provision, so surely the best of the provisions is to take guard and take guard from Me, O’ you who posses the core of knowledge).

One of the formality of Hajj is ‘Ahram’, which puts temporarily, certain restrictions on pilgrims. Some normally lawful things become unlawful during Hajj and ‘Ahram’. Therefore the months associated with ‘Hajj’ are sacred and forbidden. The ayat also informs that the months of Hajj is common knowledge, because the system of Salat and Hajj is preserved in the Holy City of Makkah (please see previous post (https://topicsfromquran.com/2017/03/21/salat-procedure/). We know that ‘Hajj’ is performed in the monht of ‘Dhul Hijja’. After we had identified Ramadan as a sacred month and ayat 2:194 stated that sacred months are together, and then we know that Hajj is performed in Dhul Hijja. These facts lead us to identify the four sacred months as Ramadan, Shawwal, Dhul Qadah and Dhul Hijja. So we can highlight the sacred months from the list of names of 12 months as below:

01. Muharram,  02. Safar, 03. Rabi-ul-Awwal, 04. Rabi-ul-Thani, 05. Jumada-l-Ulawwal, 06. Jumada-th-Thaniyya,, 07. Rajab, 08. Shaaban, 09. Ramadhan , 10. Shawwal, 11. Dhul Qadah, 12. Dhul Hijja

9:1-2  بَرَاءَةٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ إِلَى الَّذِينَ عَاهَدتُّم مِّنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ  فَسِيحُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّكُمْ غَيْرُ مُعْجِزِي اللَّهِ ۙ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ مُخْزِي الْكَافِرِينَ

(A declaration of) disassociation from Allah and His messenger, towards those of the associaters with whom you made covenant. Thus roam around in the land for four months (sacred months) and know that you cannot frustrate (the will of) Allah and Allah will disgrace the rejecters. 

Allah gives the associaters a leave of 4 months to roam around the land, after that the believers will engage with them. After the 4 months pass the believers will not leave the associaters alone. This means that the sacred months have to be in a consecutive period of four months. The sacred monhts cannot be non-consecutive months as then according to ayahs 9:1-2, believers will have to give associaters a leave of more than 4 months.  

9:5  فَإِذَا انسَلَخَ الْأَشْهُرُ الْحُرُمُ فَاقْتُلُوا الْمُشْرِكِينَ حَيْثُ وَجَدتُّمُوهُمْ وَخُذُوهُمْ وَاحْصُرُوهُمْ وَاقْعُدُوا لَهُمْ كُلَّ مَرْصَدٍ ۚ فَإِن تَابُوا وَأَقَامُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتَوُا الزَّكَاةَ فَخَلُّوا سَبِيلَهُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

So when the sacred / holy months are ended then fight the mushrikeen/associaters  wherever you find them and catch them and confine them and sit for them at every place of ambush. So if they repent and establish salah/prayer and give zakah / justification, then leave the way for them. Surely Allah is all forgiving, merciful.

After having identified the sacred months above, what is for us to do in these sacred/forbidden months?  The sacred months are for preparation i.e ‘Jihad Akbar’ with Quran and deep pondering in order to be prepared for engagement with associaters for the rest of the year. In the four sacred months the associaters are not to be engaged in ideological fight. After the forbidden months are over, then associaters are to be engaged in ideological fight with Quran, wherever they are encountered. It is ideological fighting only because physical fighting and bloodshed is not allowed.

2:84  وَإِذْ أَخَذْنَا مِيثَاقَكُمْ لَا تَسْفِكُونَ دِمَاءَكُمْ وَلَا تُخْرِجُونَ أَنفُسَكُم مِّن دِيَارِكُمْ ثُمَّ أَقْرَرْتُمْ وَأَنتُمْ تَشْهَدُونَ

And when We took a covenant with you, not to shed your blood and do not expel your souls/selves from your circles then you confirmed and you are witness to it.

9:37  إِنَّمَا النَّسِيءُ زِيَادَةٌ فِي الْكُفْرِ ۖ يُضَلُّ بِهِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يُحِلُّونَهُ عَامًا وَيُحَرِّمُونَهُ عَامًا لِّيُوَاطِئُوا عِدَّةَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ فَيُحِلُّوا مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ ۚ زُيِّنَ لَهُمْ سُوءُ أَعْمَالِهِمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْكَافِرِينَ

Surely the postponing of the (sacred / holy month) is an increase in the rejection, those who reject are led astray with it. They make it (sacred month) un-lawful in a year and make it sacred in another year. So that they adjust the numbers (of the sacred  months) to what Allah has made forbidden. So they make it lawful what Allah has made forbidden. Their bad works are made adornment for them. And Allah does not guide the people who are rejecters.

Exchanging sacred months with other months is not allowed. The prescribed sacred months are to be respected. The discipline of deep pondering and preparation from Quran for 4 consecutive months is decreed by Allah which should prepare them for ideologoical fighting with associaters for the rest of the year. 

Notes:

Ayat 2:197 states that the months of Hajj are common knowledge, meaning that people have always been aware of them. Prophet Ibrahim (A.S) announced Hajj for all of mankind, as mentioned in Ayat 22:27.

Therefore, if someone conducts research and claims that the months in which Muslims currently perform Hajj do not align with the Quran, and that Hajj should be observed in a different month, their conclusion cannot be accepted. This is because the established months of Hajj have always been known to people, whereas their research is not based on common knowledge.

Additionally, the historical claim that Hajj only became mandatory from a certain date after Hijra is incorrect. Hajj has always been performed, and its designated months were well known even before Islam.

A lecture by Scholar Mohammad Shaikh about Sacred/forbidden months:

https://www.iipccanada.com/category/english-video-lectures/direction-of-belief/

https://www.iipccanada.com/2017/12/12/muhtarum-mahiney-2006/

 

Case for Lunisolar calendar:

Could the intention of Quran be that actual Islamic calendar be a Lunisolar one instead of Lunar calendar. Some people make a case citing below ayat:

17:12 وَجَعَلْنَا اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ آيَتَيْنِ ۖ فَمَحَوْنَا آيَةَ اللَّيْلِ وَجَعَلْنَا آيَةَ النَّهَارِ مُبْصِرَةً لِّتَبْتَغُوا فَضْلًا مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَلِتَعْلَمُوا عَدَدَ السِّنِينَ وَالْحِسَابَ ۚ وَكُلَّ شَيْءٍ فَصَّلْنَاهُ تَفْصِيلًا

We have made the night and the day as two signs. So, We obscured the sign of the night, and made the sign of the day manifest ; so that you may seek bounty from your Lord, and that you may know the count of the years and calculations and We explained everything in detail.

The above ayah refers to the alternation of day and night as signs by which people may keep count of years and make calculations. Since days and nights result from the earth’s rotation in relation to the sun, some argue that Ayah 17:12 indicates a directive to establish a solar-based calendar. Meanwhile, Ayah 10:5 is understood as a directive to base the calendar on the lunar cycle. On the basis of these two ayahs together, they conclude that the Qur’an supports the idea of a lunisolar Islamic calendar.

10:5  هُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ الشَّمْسَ ضِيَاءً وَالْقَمَرَ نُورًا وَقَدَّرَهُ مَنَازِلَ لِتَعْلَمُوا عَدَدَ السِّنِينَ وَالْحِسَابَ ۚ مَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ ذَٰلِكَ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ ۚ يُفَصِّلُ الْآيَاتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْلَمُونَ

It is He, who made the sun a radiance and the moon a light, and determined stages for it (moon); that you may know the count of years and the calculation. Allah did not create this but in truth. He explains His Ayahs/Signs in detail, for those who understand.

However, if we reflect further on Ayah 10:5, it mentions both the sun and the moon, but it specifically assigns the calculation of years to the phases of the moon. Had the Qur’an intended a lunisolar calendar, then when Allah mentions both the sun and the moon together, we would expect the verse to instruct that the calculation of years be based on both—yet it explicitly singles out the moon.

This suggests that the Qur’an intends two different calendars, each serving a distinct purpose. According to Ayah 10:5 and Ayah 2:189, the Qur’an clearly establishes a lunar calendar for observing Islamic duties—such as Hajj, Ramadan, and the four sacred months—which require careful reflection, preparation, and study of the Qur’an.

The second calendar may be used for practical, worldly matters. Ayah 17:12 indicates the use of day and night cycles for “seeking the grace of Allah,” which can be understood as pursuing livelihood, business, and agricultural needs. Since the Qur’an does not name any months for a solar calendar, this implies that people are free to adopt the commonly used solar-month names already established in the world for such purposes.