What is the philosophy behind the Sacred Months?

In the Islamic calendar or lunar calendar, four months are known as Haram months,

Allah said in the holy Quran chapter Toabah verse 36:

إِنَّ عِدَّةَ الشُّهُورِ عِندَ اللّهِ اثْنَا عَشَرَ شَهْرًا فِي كِتَابِ اللّهِ يَوْمَ خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَات وَالأَرْضَ مِنْهَا أَرْبَعَةٌ حُرُمٌ ذَلِكَ الدِّينُ الْقَيِّمُ فَلاَ تَظْلِمُواْ فِيهِنَّ أَنفُسَكُمْ

“The number of the months, with Allah, is twelve in the book of Allah, the day when he created the heavens and the earth; of these, four are sacred. That is the right religion. Therefore, do not wrong yourselves in them”.

As the description of the meaning of sacredness in these months, we say that it means that people leave war and the security spreads in the lands.

There are some rules regarding these months. For example the fines for some crimes committed in these four months are more than what happens in the other months,

At first we say that the reasons of some of the religious rules in Islam might not be very clear for us, for example we don’t know why we are ordered to perform two Rak’ats for morning prayer, but the philosophy of some rules have been mentioned in the holy Quran or in the Narrations and some of the philosophies of Islamic rulings can be understood by intellect, or scientific researches, but any way it is not necessary for us to understand the philosophy of every action before its performance and it is very logical for us to perform our religious deeds even though the philosophy of some of them might not be so clear for us, because after proving the preliminary matters of a rule like the existence of God and the prophecy of the prophets and revelations etc. there is no any need for knowing the philosophy of each rule in detail. But of course in our topic some philosophies can be mentioned for the sacred months.

The sacredness of these months refers to the time of Prophet Abraham, and in the time before the emergence of Islam this rule was there and when Islam emerged, accepted and continued this custom like some of the rulings of Islam that are the same as what they were before Islam.

Let’s talk about some of mentioned philosophies for this rule:

It can be a means for ending the war because of finding the opportunity for reflection, or a way for showing the importance of peace, or as opportunity for performing the rituals like Hajj or business etc.

You know the importance of ceasefire even for a single day and it shows the spirit of seeking peace in Islam that for four months in every year, there is a kind of ceasefire.

Now let’s talk about the increase of some fines in these months. It is seen in around the world that there are some factors that reduce a fine or increase it, due to the time or place or the some mental situations etc. for example the fine and punishment of the one that repeats a crime in some cases is more than the one who has committed that crime for the first time.

In Islam we see some factors of reduction or enhancement of the reward or punishment in this world or in the hereafter and it is obvious that the factors of enhancement of the rewards in Islam, is so much more than the enhancement of punishment, and it shows that Islam is a religion that is based on mercy, for example the rewards of prayers in some places like mosques are more than the other places.

So we described that some places or times have effects on the amount of some punishments, for example the punishment of some crimes that are committed in the holy city of Mecca is more than the other places because of its sacredness or some crimes that committed in these four months have more punishments than what happens in the other months, and it can be because of the sacredness of these months and committing the crimes like murdering is against this sacredness.

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Source:

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