The blessed month of Rajab is famous for many things and one of which is the Rajab niaz, also called “koonday” by some. This niaz has been happening at our place for generations and is done for khair and barket in rizk of the house. If you have been invited to a niaz and not sure what to expect, here are all the Rajab niaz etiquettes:
- The niaz happens like an open house and you will be given a time slot by the hosts to attend. Leave once you’re done eating. Don’t linger because the hosts are expecting many more guests to arrive.
- This is not a sad occasion. You can dress up as you would for a desi dinner. Modesty is appreciated.
- You don’t need to take a hostess gift. Your presence at a niaz is the gift itself. Pray for the hosts instead.
- There is a huge spread of food and the Rajab niaz is famous for its special dishes such as meethi poori, kheer etc. Infact the name ‘Koonday’ itself comes from the clay pot in which the kheer is served. The niaz which is a fatiha is only done on a small portion of the food that is set aside. You can request the host if you wish to eat the niaz part. Otherwise majority of the food served does not have any niaz or dua on it.
- Your host will guide you where to sit. Some have seating on the floor or on a table or sofa. To be on the safe side, dress up so that you can sit down on the floor easily.
- Show respect at a niaz. If there is a daster khawan, do take off your shoes.
- There is no dua at the end. The hosts would already have done that as a family earlier in the day.
Hope these Rajab niaz etiquettes help you if you’re invited to a niaz.
I was lucky enough to be in Pakistan last year for Rajab, and you can watch the whole Rajab niaz scene at my parents’ house in this Instagram highlight.
Do check out this delicious param (meethi) poori recipe that’s always made at our house for Rajab niaz!
Have you been invited to a niaz? Do you host one yourself?
Let’s hope and pray for understanding, tolerance and co-existence in all Muslims, ameen.
We do it every year at our place here in Canada. Donot not know too many people who are keem on coming so we just end up doing fateha and eating those meethi tikianour selves lol.
My son loves them. Infact kal raat ka dinner for him was meethi tikiyaan and cream lol.
I love how we used to make it with ammi and had a glass for cutting out the round shaped tikiyaan. And all 4 of us (siblings) used to take turn in helping ammi cut the round shaped tikiyaan 🙂
Rajab mubarak
I like ur feedback r explanation of the majlis n its adab i m a zakira talib e deen n i agree some of the zakirs add their views n explanation to ahades n ayat ..they r self learned mostly..the talib ilm cataegory s ofcourse different butt what i want u to research more s abt dr ammar dat u hav recommended..sorry to say but his appearance in some majalis that i have seeb clip dosnt go with the adab of majlis he s students of agha sherazi history s his field but …but if one’s words r recommendations can effects ppl then one need to be careful