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Fatwa CenterSacred months are four and Hajj months are three
Question
Assalaamu alaykum. I received the answer for fatwa No: 336652. May Allaah reward you for your time. My question was that perhaps we are doing something wrong regarding the rituals of Hajj and Allaah is alerting us to correct the mistakes. (2:197) The pilgrimage is (performed in) the well-known months. (9:36) Four of them are sacred. Abu Bakrah said that the Prophet said, “The division of time has returned to its original form which existed when Allaah created the Heavens and earth. The year is of twelve months, out of which four months are sacred: three are successive: Thul-Qi‘dah, Thul-Hijja,h and Muharram, and (the fourth is) Rajab, the month of (the tribe of) the Mudhar which comes between Jumaada and Sha‘baan.” Therefore, the Sacred Months are 4: Thul-Qi‘dah, Thul-Hijjaah, Muharram, and Rajab. I also read Fatwa No: 183153 “According to the majority of Scholars, Hajj is to be performed within a three-month period.” But Allaah and His Prophet said four sacred months. Why then, did the majority of Scholars say only three months? We only perform pilgrimage within two weeks of the year. Why do we not follow the majority of the Scholars, who said that we can perform it within three months? I also wanted to know: Does the verse mean that'(whoever enters Hajj, he shall be safe in the hereafter', or shall he be safe while performing it? Can you please explain to me this? May Allaah reward you. Wassalaam.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
First of all, you should know that the sacred months are one thing and the months of Hajj are another. The sacred months are four: Thul-Qi‘dah, Thul-Hijjah, Muharram, and Rajab. The months of Hajj, on the other hand, are three: Shawwaal, Thul-Qi‘dah, and Thul-Hijjah. Two of the sacred months, which are Muharram and Rajab, have nothing to do with the months of Hajj. Thus you come to realize that saying that the months of Hajj are these three is not contrary to what Allah and His Prophet 
said.
The meaning of saying that these months are the months of Hajj is that they are a time for assuming Ihraam (ritual state of consecration), not that all the acts of Hajj can be performed at any time during these months, because Hajj has a number of rituals, and each of them has its specific time and cannot be performed before its due time. For instance, the Ihraam is a ritual that is bound by this time frame, and the standing in ‘Arafah is on a specific day... It was authentically reported that the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, performed these Hajj rituals on those specific days.
Allah, The Exalted, says (what means): {And whoever enters it shall be safe.} [Quran 3:97] This is related to some of the religious rulings and provisions pertaining to the worldly life. As we underlined in the previous fatwa, this is a statement that indicates command; i.e. "grant security to whoever enters it."
As for whether the pilgrim will be safe on the Day of Judgment or not, other religious texts indicate the merits of Hajj and that Hajj is a reason for having one's sins forgiven. Therefore, it is hoped that the pilgrim would be blessed with safety on the Day of Judgment. For more benefit, please refer to fatwa 81549.
Allah knows best.
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