Shahr (the month: the lunar month in law, the months of pilgrimage, the iddah in months, and the hire by the month)

Shahr, from shuhra (clarity), was given to the moon for its brightness, and then to the days. The first part of the month runs to the sixteenth day, and the rest is its end; the night that opens a month is counted with its day. The first three days are the "ghurra" of the month. The crescent is the first day of the month, or the second if it was hidden. The last day is its "salkh". ¹ In law the month, used without qualification, is the lunar month, as the verse of the Repentance (36) says: the number of months with God is twelve in the Book of God, four of them sacred. Al-Qurtubi says the rules of worship and other matters are tied to the months the Arabs know, not to the months of the Persians, Romans and Copts, which differ in length. The Shafi'is make an exception for the shortest term of pregnancy, six months, where the month means thirty days. ²

For most jurists the months of the pilgrimage are Shawwal, Dhu al-Qa'da and the first ten days of Dhu al-Hijja; for the Malikis they are Shawwal, Dhu al-Qa'da and all of Dhu al-Hijja. The sacred months are Rajab of Mudar, Dhu al-Qa'da, Dhu al-Hijja and Muharram. ²

A woman who is not subject to menstrual cycles, through youth or menopause, observes her waiting period in months, citing the verse of Divorce (4). A woman whose courses have stopped and who does not know why, and a widow who is not pregnant, observe their waiting periods in months, citing the verse of the Cow (234): four months and ten days. ³

If a landlord says, "I rent you my house for twenty months at a dirham each month," the contract is valid by agreement, since the term and the rent are known. If he says, "I rent you this each month for a dirham," the Hanafis, Malikis, some Hanbalis and Abu Thawr validate it: the first month binds by the contract, and each later month by occupation; they rely on the report of 'Ali who drew water for a Jew for a date a bucket. The Malikis do not treat it as binding, so either side may end it. The Shafi'is, Abu Bakr and Ibn Hamid among the Hanbalis void it, since "each" is a number that is not fixed. Al-Shafi'i in one work validates the first month and voids the rest. ^{3 4}

Where the contract begins on the first day of a month, that month and those after it are counted by the crescent. Where it does not, the broken part is completed from the last month by number of days, and the rest is counted by the crescent; this is the Shafi'i view, that of the two companions of Abu Hanifa, and the Hanbali school view. Abu Hanifa, one of al-Shafi'i's reports and one of Ahmad's reports count the whole by number, so the first month is completed by days from the next. The disagreement extends to every term given in months, such as the waiting period for a death, the monthly fast of expiation, a period of option, and deferred payment or supply. ^{4 5}