The Islamic Calendar · Ṣafar
آخِرُ أَرْبِعَاءِ صَفَر
Ākhir Arbiʿāʾ Ṣafar — The Last Wednesday of Safar
The last Wednesday of Ṣafar — kept in its day, or in the night that leads into it.
Next: Wednesday 28 July 2027
About this Day
Ṣafar is reckoned the heaviest month of the year; it is said that seven hundred thousand afflictions are sent down in the course of it. The last Wednesday of the month is held to be the heaviest day within it — the day upon which that descent is at its greatest.
The people of the Naqshbandī way have long kept this day as a day of protection: turning to Allah ﷻ with ṣalāh, istighfār and charity, and asking to be shielded from what descends by land and by sky, for oneself, one’s household and the believers.
Because the night in the Islamic reckoning precedes its day, the worship of this occasion may be kept either in the daylight of that Wednesday or in the night before it — the Tuesday evening that leads into it.
What to Do on this Day
Keep the day — or the night that leads into it — with the worship of protection:
- Pray Ṣalāt Ṣafar al-Khayr, two rakʿahs of nāfilah, in the day or the night of this last Wednesday. Its method is set out in full below.
- Keep the daily portion of the month: the Shahādah three times and Astaghfirullāh three hundred times.
- Give charity, however small — one charity is said to close seventy doors of trouble. If there is no one at hand to receive it, set it aside first thing in the morning and give it as soon as you can.
- Ask Allah ﷻ for ʿāfiyah — safety and well-being — for yourself, your family and the Ummah, and close the day in duʿāʾ.
Keep to worship established in the Sunnah, and hold to moderation. This is a day for turning to Allah ﷻ in hope and reliance, not for fear or for omens: the Prophet ﷺ said, “There is no ʿadwā, no ṭiyarah, no hāmah and no Ṣafar.” No month and no day carries harm of itself — all harm and all protection are from Allah alone.
The Prayer of this Day
Șafar al Khair — Safar al Khair
- 2 rak‘ah nāfilah salāh on the day or night of the last Wednesday of Safar
- In each rak‘ah, after Sūrah al‑Fatihah, Sūrah al‑Ikhlās should be recited 11 times
- After the completion of the salāh, recite:
- Istighfār 11 times
- Salāt‑Munjiyyah 11 times
- Finally, du‘ā (supplication) should be made.
What to Recite
- The two rakʿahs of Ṣalāt Ṣafar al-Khayr, reciting Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ eleven times after al-Fātiḥah in each rakʿah.
- After the ṣalāh: istighfār eleven times, then Ṣalāt al-Munjiyah (at-Tunjīnā) eleven times, and finally duʿāʾ.
- The month’s daily portion: the Shahādah three times and Astaghfirullāh three hundred times.
- Abundant ṣalawāt upon the Prophet ﷺ, and the muʿawwidhāt — Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ, al-Falaq and al-Nās — for protection.
Source: Ṭarīqat al-Naqshbandiyya · Duʿāʾs and ʿIbādahs, Fazilet Publication.