Myths About Month of Safar
It is quite a common practice for us to consider the Islamic calendar when deciding a date for a special event, for example – a wedding. Most of us avoid fixing dates in month of Safar as it has been passed from generations to generations that the month of Safar has “nahoosat” and brings along most of the calamities. However, in the current age of reasoning and logic, it is hard to believe that without any research we consider the myth of nahoosat absolutely correct. To all who avoid having events in Safar, there is good news. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this holy month, and this myth of it being a month of calamities has no reality.
After researching the Quran and Ahadees, it is found that there is no authentic Hadees supporting the myths about Safar. According to Islamic Scholars, the myths about Safar are nothing but self proclaimed statements. Thus avoiding marriages and other events in month of Safar has nothing to do with Islamic teachings.
A sect of people who have seemed to be more extremist about this month, considering the last Wednesday as holiday, and putting a halt to routine businesses on this day. The labor says that working on this day is not appropriate and they ask for holiday from their employers. Also, they ask for sweets (mithai) on this day. Having a holiday on this day is considered a way of earning –“ajr-o-sawaab”. Women wear new clothes on this day, and people go out for recreation.
The reason of this celebration is that Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) recovered from an ailment on this day, and he went for recreation. Thus, giving people all the more reason to go out for fun – even though the reality is quite opposite to it. From this day, the Prophet (PBUH) started getting ill, and the illness ended with his demise. Due to lack of knowledge, people on the other hand believe that this is a day of celebration. This is why there is so much misconception about Safar – our own people like Shia Sunnis, have divided conceptions – thus some consider it a ‘heavy’ month while others celebrate it with no substantial logic behind it.
The myths related to nahoosat are not in sync with Islam because Allah SWT and Prophet PBUH have given us no teachings regarding this. Islam is a very simple and easy to understand religion. The entire do’s and don’t’s have been outlined very clearly. It’s “us” who get distracted from the righteous path. May we all get the right sense of our religion and follow it the way our God wants us to.
