Ṣafar is the second month of the Islamic lunar calendar. There is a weak hadith narrated by Ibn ‘Abbās that states, “On the last Wednesday of the month [of Ṣafar] there is a continual calamity.” In other hadiths it is mentioned that this is the day during which Pharaoh and his army perished, and the people of ‘Ād and Thumūd were destroyed. Accordingly, there emerged from these texts various supplications and prayers to meet these historic, calamitous events with prayers and devotion.