Moon Calendar

varda

I would like to ask, why muslim use moon-based calendar? do muslim use sun-based calendar too?

thanks.

hivizman

varda wrote: »

I would like to ask, why muslim use moon-based calendar? do muslim use sun-based calendar too?

thanks.

A simple answer is that the use of a lunar rather than a solar calendar is required by what Muslims regard as the word of God, as contained in the Qur'an:

The number of months in the sight of Allah is twelve (in a year)- so ordained by Him the day He created the heavens and the earth; of them four are sacred: that is the straight usage. So wrong not yourselves therein, and fight the Pagans all together as they fight you all together. But know that Allah is with those who restrain themselves. Verily the transposing (of a prohibited month) is an addition to Unbelief: the Unbelievers are led to wrong thereby: for they make it lawful one year, and forbidden another year, in order to adjust the number of months forbidden by Allah and make such forbidden ones lawful. The evil of their course seems pleasing to them. But Allah guideth not those who reject Faith.

[Sura at-tawbah 9:36-37, Abdullah Yusuf Ali translation of meaning]

The background to this is that the pre-Islamic Arab calendar was based on 12 lunar months. But as this gives a year of only around 354 days, it quickly gets out of line with the solar calendar. Hence there was a practice of adding (or "intercalating") an extra month every few years to bring the calendars more or less back into line. This was also a practice used in ancient times in other cultures, for example in Rome before Julius Caesar reformed the calendar, and it is still used for the Jewish calendar.

Various months were considered in the pre-Islamic period in Arabia to be months in which fighting was forbidden. The verses quoted aimed at ruling out a practice of intercalating an extra month during the sequence of months in which fighting was not allowed, which led to uncertainty as to when fighting was lawful and when it was forbidden.

The use of the lunar calendar for religious purposes means that important dates such as the month of Ramadan and the time of the Hajj are 11 days earlier each (solar) year. However, most predominantly Muslim countries use the Gregorian calendar for official purposes, sometimes quoting both the Gregorian and the Hijra date (the Year 1 of the Muslim calendar is the year of the Hijra, when the Prophet Muhammad emigrated from Mecca to Medina). Saudi Arabia is, I believe, the only significant country to use the Muslim calendar for official purposes.

AbuBakr

hivizman wrote: »

. . . the Year 1 of the Muslim calendar is the year of the Hijra, when the Prophet Muhammad emigrated from Mecca to Medina).

Imam Al-Bukhari reports, on the authority of Sahl bin Sad (may Allah be pleased with him):

The Prophet's companions did not take as a starting date for the Muslim calendar, the day, the Prophet had been sent as an Apostle or the day of his death, but the day of his arrival at Medina. (Volume 5, Book 58, Number 271.)

varda

Thank you hivizman & AbuBakr.

Bougeoir

Actually the moon calendar is ancient. Our Celtic ancestors used to celebrate their festivals as in accord to it. I follow it even though I'm not Muslim (I'm pagan). What year is the Islamic calendar in by the way? I think the Hebrew one is in the 5000s or sth!

Nodin

Bougeoir wrote: »

Actually the moon calendar is ancient. Our Celtic ancestors used to celebrate their festivals as in accord to it. I follow it even though I'm not Muslim (I'm pagan). What year is the Islamic calendar in by the way? I think the Hebrew one is in the 5000s or sth!

Away ye go...
http://www.oriold.uzh.ch/static/hegira.html

Bougeoir

Nodin wrote: »

Away ye go...
http://www.oriold.uzh.ch/static/hegira.html

Oh cool! It's 10 Safar 1430! When did Muslims start recording their Calender? Was it from Mohammed's time?

AbuBakr

Bougeoir wrote: »

Oh cool! It's 10 Safar 1430! When did Muslims start recording their Calender? Was it from Mohammed's time?

It was under the second of the rightly guided caliphs, Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), around year 17 of the Hijra. At that time, different calendars were being used in Arabia, Syria (the Byzantine calendar based on the Julian calendar) and Persia, and it was desirable to have a unified calendar for administrative purposes. The companions of the Prophet (may the blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) discussed whether the new calendar should begin with the Prophet's birth or death, or the first revelation of the Qur'an, but it was finally decided that year 1 should be the year of the Hijra, when the Prophet left Mecca for Medina. There was also a discussion of which should be the first month, and it was decided that this should be Muharram, as this was the first month of the traditional Arabic calendar.

That website to convert dates was interesting. What's the "Julian day" mentioned on the website (today is Julian day 2454869)? I worked out from the website that Julian day zero was 1 January 4712 BCE. However, the Wikipedia article on the Julian day says that this is 1 January 4713 BCE, and I guess that the conversion programme doesn't cope with the fact that there was no "year zero" - 1 BCE was followed by 1 CE (or AD if you're old-fashioned).

zulfikarMD

There are few sects in islam who follow Misri Calendar. Which is devloped by Fatemi Rules in Egypt. Misri Calendar consists of fix calendar days rather then variable lunar calendar. So Ramadan has 30 days fixed.

hivizman

Very interesting - I've been reading up on Wikipedia and elsewhere about sects such as the Sulaimani and Dawoodi Bohras.

As I understand it, there is a long-running debate between those who believe that a lunar month ends after 29 days rather than 30 days only if the new moon is actually sighted by reliable witnesses on the 30th day, and those who believe that it is legitimate to use astronomical measurement to determine whether a new moon could be sighted at least in principle on the 30th day. As you note, this is particularly important for determining the start and end of Ramadan, and sometimes leads to the Eid al-Fitr being celebrated on different days by different groups.

zulfikarMD

hivizman wrote: »

Very interesting - I've been reading up on Wikipedia and elsewhere about sects such as the Sulaimani and Dawoodi Bohras.

As I understand it, there is a long-running debate between those who believe that a lunar month ends after 29 days rather than 30 days only if the new moon is actually sighted by reliable witnesses on the 30th day, and those who believe that it is legitimate to use astronomical measurement to determine whether a new moon could be sighted at least in principle on the 30th day. As you note, this is particularly important for determining the start and end of Ramadan, and sometimes leads to the Eid al-Fitr being celebrated on different days by different groups.

Not sure about Sulaimani using Misri calendar but Dawoodi bohras use Misri Calendar since Fatimid's inception in Egypt. It is worth noting that Misri Calendar has been adapted by many arab countries as authenticate.