Safar
Ṣafar al-Muẓaffar (Arabic: صَفَر المُظَفَّر) or Ṣafar al-Khayr (Arabic: صفر الخَیر) is the second month in the Lunar calendar.
The word "Safar" literally means empty. It was called so because people in the Age of Ignorance left their homes empty in this month, because it was after the month of Muharram, which was a haram month in which people stopped battles and expeditions, but in Safar they restarted their battles once again, leaving their houses empty.
Place
Just like the month of Muharram, this month is also a month of grief for Twelver Shiite Muslims. The demise of the Prophet Muhammad (s), the martyrdom of Imam al-Hasan al-Mujtaba (a), and Imam al-Rida (a), as well as Imam al-Husayn (a)'s Arba'in (the fortieth day of his martyrdom) occurred in this month.
It is widely held that Safar, and in particular its last Wednesday, is malevolent, but there is no hadith in this regard.
According to some sources, however, the Prophet (s) has said about the month of Safar that "Whoever gives me the good news that the month of Safar has ended, I will give him the good news of going to heaven". This hadith does not have a reliable chain of narrators (sanad), and it is probably about Abu Dhar al-Ghifari.
Recommended practices of the Safar month
Practices of Safar al-Muzaffar | |||
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Common practices |
Reciting the prayer:
| ||
The third day | Performing two Rak'as of prayers, reciting in the first Rak'at Qur'an 2 (Sura al-Hamd) and Qur'an 48, and in the second, Sura al-Hamd and Qur'an 112 (Sura al-Ikhlas), and 100 times reciting Salawat upon the Prophet (s) and his progeny after the prayer, and reciting a curse on the progeny of Abu Sufyan for 100 times, and 100 times asking God's forgiveness. | ||
The twentieth day | Reciting Ziyara al-Arba'in |
Important Events
- Arrival of the captives of Karbala alongside with the heads of Imam al-Husayn (a) and other martyrs of Karbala to Syria (1 Safar, 61/31 October, 680)
- The martyrdom of Imam al-Hasan al-Mujtaba (a) (according to a narration)(7 Safar, 50/6 March, 670)
- The birth of Imam Musa b. Ja'far al-Kazim (a) (Safar 7, 128/November 8, 745 )
- The demise of Ayatollah Sayyid Shihab al-Din Mar'ashi Najafi (7 Safar, 1411/29 August, 1990)
- Arba'in of Imam al-Husayn (a) (20 Safar, 61/19 November, 680)
- The demise of the Prophet (s) (28 Safar, 11/25 May, 632)
- The martyrdom of Imam al-Hasan al-Mujtaba (a) (28 Safar, 50/27 March, 670)
- The martyrdom of Imam al-Rida (a) (last day of Safar 203/818)
References
- The material for this article is mainly taken from صفر in Farsi WikiShia.