Source: “Ghair Masnoon Nafli Namazain” by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Ameenpuri❖ Ṣalāt al-Raghāʾib: Innovation Without Basis in Sharīʿah
Ṣalāt al-Raghāʾib is a special prayer that some people perform on the first Friday night of Rajab. This practice is an innovation (بدعة) and a religious fabrication. It has no basis in the Qurʾān, Sunnah, or the practice of the Salaf. Let us examine the narration that is often used to justify it:
✿ Fabricated Ḥadīth Concerning Ṣalāt al-Raghāʾib
Narrated from Sayyidunā Anas bin Mālik رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
رجب شهر الله وشعبان شهري... لا تغفلوا عن أول ليلة في رجب...
"Rajab is the month of Allah, and Shaʿbān is my month… Do not be heedless of the first night of Rajab, for it is a night called by the angels Laylat al-Raghāʾib. When this night comes, no angel remains in the heavens and the earth except that they gather around the Kaʿbah. Allah says: 'O My angels! Ask Me whatever you want.' They respond: 'Our Lord! Our desire is that You forgive the one who fasts during Rajab.' Allah replies: 'I have forgiven them.'
The Prophet ﷺ further said: Whoever fasts on the first Thursday of Rajab, and between Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ (i.e., Thursday night), prays twelve rakʿāt — reciting in each rakʿah:
- Al-Fātiḥah once
- Innā Anzalnāhu fī Laylat al-Qadr three times
- Qul Huwa Allāhu Aḥad twelve times
Then he gives salām after every two rakʿāt, recites ṣalawāt seventy times, makes a special duʿā in sujūd seventy times, raises his head and says another duʿā seventy times, then makes sujūd again and asks for his needs — his needs will be fulfilled.
Reference: al-Mawḍūʿāt by Ibn al-Jawzī: 2/436–437, ḥadīth 1002
Reference: Muʿjam al-Shuyūkh by Ibn ʿAsākir: 1/186, ḥadīth 210
Reference: Wazāʾif al-Layālī wal-Ayyām by Abū Mūsā al-Madīnī (quoted in Dhail al-Mīzān: p. 363, #593)
Reference: Ghaniyyat al-Ṭālibīn by ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī: 1/181–182
❖ Authentication and Verdict:
The chain contains numerous unreliable and unknown narrators:
➤ Key Fabricators:
➊ Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī bin ʿAbdullāh bin Jahḍam aṣ-Ṣūfī
- Ibn Khayrūn: "He was criticized, and it is said he lied."
- Ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Rāwī: "He was a liar."
- Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī: "He was the shaykh of the Ṣūfīs in Makkah and the author of Bahjat al-Asrār. He is accused of fabricating ḥadīths."
➋ ʿAlī bin Muḥammad Saʿīd al-Baṣrī, Muḥammad bin Saʿīd al-Baṣrī, and Ḥanaf bin ʿAbdullāh al-Ṣafānī — all are unknown (majhūl).
- ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Namāṭī:
"Its narrators are unknown. I searched all the books of rijāl and did not find them."
(al-Mawḍūʿāt: 2/438)
- Ibn ʿAsākir:
"Its chain includes multiple unknown individuals."
(Muʿjam al-Shuyūkh: 1/186)
- Abū Mūsā al-Madīnī:
"The narrators in the chain up to Ḥumayd are unknown."
(Dhail al-Mīzān: p. 363)
- al-Dhahabī:
"Perhaps these narrators were never even born!"
(Talkhīṣ al-Mawḍūʿāt: p. 185, ḥadīth 433)
- Ibn Ḥajar:
"Ibn Jahḍam's shaykh, his shaykh’s shaykh, and Khalaf are all unknown."
(Tabyīn al-ʿAjab: p. 55)
✿ Verdicts from the Scholars
❖ Ibn al-Jawzī (597 AH)
"This narration is fabricated and falsely attributed to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Ibn Jahḍam was accused of fabricating it."
(al-Mawḍūʿāt: 2/438)
❖ al-ʿIrāqī (806 AH)
"A fabricated and false narration."
(Takhrīj Aḥādīth al-Iḥyāʾ: 1/203)
❖ Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (852 AH)
"ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Kattānī quoted this ḥadīth in Faḍl Rajab, but he mistakenly believed it was from someone other than Ibn Jahḍam. In reality, he took it from him and removed his name due to his reputation for fabricating ḥadīths. His chain remains filled with unknown narrators."
✿ Condemnation by the Imāms of Islām
❖ al-Nawawī (676 AH)
"This prayer is bāṭil (invalid), and it is unanimously disliked."
(al-Majmūʿ Sharḥ al-Muhadhdhab: 4/56)
❖ Ibn Taymiyyah (728 AH)
"Ṣalāt al-Raghāʾib has no basis. It is a bidʿah and is not recommended, neither in congregation nor individually. The narration about it is agreed upon by the scholars to be fabricated. No one from the Salaf or major imāms ever recognized it."
(Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā: 23/132)
"The agreement of scholars is that this prayer is an innovation, not legislated by the Prophet ﷺ, nor by his companions or the major imāms like Mālik, Abū Ḥanīfah, Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad, etc."
(Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā: 23/134)
❖ al-Dhahabī (748 AH)
"This narration is fabricated. Only Ibn Jahḍam narrated it, and he is accused of fabrication."
(Tārīkh al-Islām: 9/238)
"It is undoubtedly false."
(Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ: 23/143)
❖ Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (751 AH)
"All narrations about Ṣalāt al-Raghāʾib on the first Friday of Rajab are lies fabricated against the Prophet ﷺ."
(al-Manār al-Munīf: p. 95, ḥadīth 167)
❖ Ibn Rajab al-Ḥanbalī (795 AH)
"All narrations about the virtue of Ṣalāt al-Raghāʾib are fabricated, false, and baseless. This prayer is a bidʿah according to the majority of scholars."
(Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif: p. 228)
❖ al-Shawkānī (1250 AH)
"This prayer is fabricated and false."
(Tuḥfat al-Dhākirīn: p. 143)
❖ Clear Prohibition from the Prophet ﷺ
The Prophet ﷺ said:
لا تختصوا ليلة الجمعة بقيام من بين الليالي
"Do not single out the night of Jumuʿah (Friday night) for night prayer over other nights."
Reference: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 1144
❖ al-Nawawī commented:
"This ḥadīth is a clear prohibition against designating Friday night for prayer or Friday day for fasting. Scholars used it as a proof against the invented prayer known as Ṣalāt al-Raghāʾib. May Allah destroy the one who fabricated it — it is a misguided and corrupt innovation filled with falsehoods."
(Sharḥ al-Nawawī: 8/262)
✿ Additional Note from the Salaf:
Sayyidunā ʿAbdullāh bin ʿUmar رضي الله عنهما used to dislike seeing people give special attention to Rajab:
كان ابن عمر إذا رأى الناس، وما يعدون لرجب كره ذلك
"When Ibn ʿUmar saw people making special preparations for Rajab, he disliked it."
Reference: Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah: 3/101 — sanad is ṣaḥīḥ
Conclusion
◈ Ṣalāt al-Raghāʾib is a fabricated prayer with no basis in Islam.
◈ All narrations supporting it are either fabricated or extremely weak.
◈ Major scholars across generations have declared it a bidʿah (innovation) and misguidance.
◈ It should not be practiced — neither individually nor in congregation.
