السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته
الحمد لله و الصلاة و السلام على رسول الله وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين.
For any act of worship to be a part of the religion of Islam, it needs to be proven from The Quran and The Sunnah, by the Sunnah we mean authentic Ahadith.
The 5th Hadith in the Arbain of Imam An-Nawawi(*1) reads:
On the authority of the mother of the faithful, Aisha (رضي الله عنها), who said:
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “He who innovates something in this matter of ours (i.e., Islam) that is not of it will have it rejected (by Allah).”
[Bukhari & Muslim]
In another version in Muslim it reads: “He who does an act which we have not commanded, will have it rejected (by Allah).”
There is a narration from the virtuous Sahabi Abu Hurairah (رضي الله عنه) on the virtue of fasting on the 27th of Rajab. Imam Ibn Hajr Al-Asqalani Rahimahullah has declared that it is a weak narration.
[عن شهر بن حوشب:] عن أبي هريرةَ قال: مَنْ صام يومَ سبعٍ وعشرينَ من رجبٍ كُتبَ لهصيامُ ستِّينَ شهرًا وهو اليومُ الذي هبط فيه جبريلُ بالرِّسالةِ
On the authority of Shahr bin Showhab from Abu Hurairah (رضي الله عنه) that he said : Whoever fasts on the 27th on Rajab it will be written from him as if he fasted for sixty years and that is the day Jibreel came down with the revelation.
ابن حجر العسقلاني (٨٥٢ هـ)، تبيين العجب ٤٥ • موقوف ضعيف الإسناد
(Sunnah.one app used)
The above narration is the same one quoted by Imam Al-Ghazzali Rahimahullah in his book Ihya Al-Uloom Ad-Deen.
For more on this subject do read:
https://islamqa.info/en/answers/75394/fasting-in-the-month-of-rajab
Quoted from the link above:
Imam ibn Hajar(*2) said in Tabyeen al-‘Ajab (p. 11)
There is no saheeh hadeeth that would count as evidence which speaks of the virtue of the month of Rajab, or that speaks of fasting this month or part of it, or of spending any particular night of it in prayer. End quote.
If Imam Al-Ghazzali has used the above narration of Abu Hurairah (رضي الله عنه) in his book Ihya Uloom Ad-Deen, that doesn’t make the Hadith ‘authentic’. A Hadith is authentic only if it fulfills the criterion for being authentic. And Allah will forgive Imam Al-Ghazzali Rahimahullah for his error and even reward his Ijtehad(efforts) to arrive at what he thought was right.
In a Hadith:
Narrated `Amr bin Al-`As:
That he heard Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) saying, *”If a judge gives a verdict according to the best of his knowledge and his verdict is correct (i.e. agrees with Allah and His Apostle’s verdict) he will receive a double reward, and if he gives a verdict according to the best of his knowledge and his verdict is wrong, (i.e. against that of Allah and His Apostle) even then he will get a reward .”* [Al-Bukhari 7352, Muslim 1716a]
If someone asks ‘how can we reject the statement of a Shaikh like Imam Al-Ghazzali Rahimahullah?’ we will, in reply to those brothers, present the statement of Imam Malik bin Anas Rahimahullah.
Imam Malik bin Anas said: Everyone after the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) will have his sayings accepted and rejected – except the Prophet .ﷺ”
(*4)(*5)
Can a scholar like Imam Al-Ghazzali make a mistake?
Yes he can,and anyone can make a mistake except for the beloved Prophet ﷺ.
Imam Ash-Shafii said:
“The sunnah of the Messenger of Allaah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) reach, as well as escape from, every one of us. So whenever I voice my opinion, or formulate a principle, where something contrary to my view exists on the authority of the Messenger of Allaah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), then the correct view is what the Messenger of Allaah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) has said, and it is my view.”(*6)
So we can conclude that there is no authentic Hadith about fasting on the 27th of Rajab and Imam Al-Ghazzali Rahimahullah, the virtuous Imam, erred in mentioning the virtues of fasting on the 27th night of Rajab.
Anything correct is from Allah and anything wrong is from me and Satan the accursed.
May Allah guide all of us to follow The Quran and The Sunnah. Aameen.
Abu Muaaz Mohammed Manna,
Mangalore, India.
27th Rajab 1440
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Reminder:
For more on this subject do read:
https://islamqa.info/en/answers/75394/fasting-in-the-month-of-rajab
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Footnotes:
(*1)Abu Zakaria Yahya Ibn Sharaf al-Nawawī popularly called An-Nawawī or Imam Nawawī (631–676 A.H./1234–1277 CE) [Wikipedia].
(*2)Shihāb al-Dīn Abu ’l-Faḍl Aḥmad b. Nūr al-Dīn ʿAlī b. Muḥammad b Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī) (18 February 1372 – 2 February 1449 [852 A.H.]) [Wikipedia].
(*3) Imam Al-Ghazali full name Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazālī (CE 1058 – 19 December 1111).[Wikipedia]
(*4) This is well known among the later scholars to be a saying of Maalik. Ibn ‘Abdul Haadi declared it saheeh in Irshaad as- Saalik (227/1); Ibn ‘Abdul Barr in Jaami’ Bayaan al-‘Ilm (2/91) & Ibn Hazm in Usool al-Ahkaam (6/145, 179) had narrated it as a saying of Al-Hakam ibn ‘Utaibah and Mujaahid; Taqi ad- Deen as-Subki gave it, delighted with its beauty, in al- Fataawaa (1/148) as a saying of Ibn ‘Abbaas, and then said: “These words were originally those of Ibn ‘Abbaas and Mujaahid, from whom Maalik (radi Allaahu ‘anhu) took them, and he became famous for them.” It seems that Imaam Ahmad then took this saying from them, as Abu Daawood has said in Masaa’il of Imaam Ahmad (p. 276): “I heard Ahmad say, ‘Everyone is accepted and rejected in his opinions, with the exception of the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam)’.”
http://www.qss.org/articles/salah/footnotes/01_fn.html#fn28
(*5)Imam Mālik ibn Anas ( 711–795 CE / 93–179 AH), author of Muwatta Imam Malik.[Wikipedia]
(*6)Related by Haakim with a continuous sanad up to Shaafi’i, as in Taareekh Dimashq of Ibn ‘Asaakir (15/1/3), I’laam al- Mooqi’een (2/363, 364) & Eeqaaz (p. 100). (Web link as in footnote (*4))
(*7) Abū ʿAbdullāh Muhammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī (767–820 CE, 150–204 AH).[Wikipedia]
*○Hadith translations taken from sunnah.com○.
*The weak hadith on Rajab was translated by me.
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Saheehus-Seerah 