The Four Sacred Months

The four months of the Islamic lunar calendar that the Quran and the tradition name as sacred, Dhu al-Qadah, Dhu al-Hijjah, Muharram and Rajab. Warfare is forbidden in them and good deeds and wrongdoing are both weighed more heavily. Three of the four follow one another in the closing and opening of the year, namely Dhu al-Qadah, Dhu al-Hijjah and Muharram, while Rajab stands alone in the seventh place of the calendar. Before Islam the Arabs already paused fighting in these months so that pilgrims could travel safely, and the Islamic tradition kept the pause and added its own weight to worship and to wrongdoing in them.