The Merit of Fasting During the 27th Day of Rajab
It was on the 27th day of Rajab, we are told, that [Archangel] Gabriel [peace be upon him] first came down to invest the The Holy Last Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) with his Messengership [Risala].
According to this next report, likewise conveyed to us by Sheikh Hibatu’llah, Allah’s Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) once said: “Rajab contains a very special day and a very special night. If someone fasts during that day, and keeps vigil throughout that night, he will be entitled to a reward like the one that would be earned by a person who fasted for a hundred years, and who keeps vigil throughout all the nights in that period.” The reference must be to the 27th of Rajab, that being the day on which our Holy Last Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) was first dispatched to embark upon his mission.
Sheikh Hibatu’llah (may Allah bestow His mercy upon him) has also informed us, on good traditional authority, that Allah’s Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) once said: “Rajab is one of the sacred months and its days are inscribed on the sixth gate of Heaven. So, if a man has fasted during one day of this month, and if he has kept his fast completely clean through obedient devotion [taqwa] to Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He), the heavenly gate will acquire the faculty of speech, and the day itself will also acquire the faculty of speech, and the two of them will say: “O Lord, forgive him!” But if he has failed to make his fast complete through obedient devotion to Allah (Exalted is He), they will make no such plea for him to be forgiven. They will say, or he will be told by some other voice: “Your own lower self [nafs] has betrayed you!”
