Dating depending on the lunar calendar

In the name of Allah...

Praise be to Allah who Who has sent down to His slave (Muhammad peace be upon him) the book (the Glorious Qur'an) and who has said about the moon "….and determined for it phases - that you may know the number of years and account [of time]……" [Yunus 10:5]

Transliteration: waqaddarahu manazila litaAAlamoo AAadada alssineena waalhisaba

And peace be upon our prophet Muhammad, his family, companions and upon all those who followed them till the Day Of Judgment.

The consensus was held during the caliphate of Omar (may Allah be pleased with him) to begin dating from the prophet's emigration depending on the lunar calendar.

Preface about the beginning of the new Hijiri year:

Dear brother: the first day of Muharram is the beginning of the new Hijiri year which depends on the lunar calendar, but Muslims (except those upon whom Allah has bestowed His mercy) abandoned this dating and depended on the calendar year that depends on the solar calendar. If Muslims knew the mistake they committed, they would fast be back to the Hijiri calendar as it is more acceptable by Allah and more accurate, merciful and more wise as we will see in the following research with Almighty Allah's will.

A historical glance:

Since the beginning of life on the earth, the man knew dating and its importance for the human life, so every nation had its own calendar as the Jews depended on the lunar calendar and began their dating from the year in which they left Egypt escaping from the pharaoh and his soldiers. The Christians were depending on the calendar year beginning with the Jesus (peace be upon him) birth, also the Romans, Persians, Indians, Chinese, Pharaohs and other people had their own calendar that was connected to great events in their life. The Arab in pre-Islamic period has depended on the lunar calendar and began their own dating by the great events in their life like the collapse of Marib Dam, elephant year and renewing the building of honorable Kaba .......etc.

The lunar calendar and the solar calendar:

It is from the grace of Allah to mankind that He made the sun and the moon a guide by which the people might know the days, months, the number of years and the reckoning. Almighty Allah has directed the human beings to look at the heavens, especially to the moon to deduce from its movement the knowledge of time measurement, the number of years and reckoning, the Almighty Allah said: "It is He who made the sun a shining light and the moon a derived light and determined for it phases - that you may know the number of years and account [of time].….." [Yunus 10:5]
 

Transliteration: Huwa allathee jaAAala alshshamsa diyaan waalqamara nooran waqaddarahu manazila litaAAlamoo AAadada alssineena waalhisaba

Firstly, the solar calendar:

The solar calendar: is the calendar that depends on the earth movement around the sun in reckoning the number of year days which are nearly 365 days .

The calendar of the Roman Empire:

Dear brother: the current calendar year which depends on the sun, has its roots in the Roman Empire dating that counted the year as 360 days (also the Babylon did the same), but this is a big mistake which contradicts the reality because the actual year is nearly 365 days, so this difference leads to deducting five days yearly and one month every six years. To avoid the yearly shortage of days, Julius Caesar has decided to increase the number of days in some months (till it reached 31 days). In 1582 A.D, the pope Gregory XIII nullified ten days of the year and the calendar year name was changed to be the Gregorian calendar, also in 1752 A.D, the pope Benedict XIV nullified eleven days of this year.

The popes were continuously modifying the Gregorian Christian calendar until the Christmas came in its position at the beginning of the calendar year.

Months are affected in the solar calendar:

The distribution of months days is not equal, as February is 28 or 29 days while July and August are 31 days. This distribution of months days has subjected to the desires of Caesars and popes who made this calendar, Julius Caesar, as an example tried to immortalize his name by giving it to one of the months (July) and increased the days of this month to 31 to be distinguished.

The popes also has unduly decreased February days to satisfy those Caesars, although it was supposed that the months should be equal in days number, they couldn't do that as it is impossible to divide 365 days on 12 months because there will remain five days which can't be equally distributed on the year months, so all this indicates that depending on the sun is not useful for distributing months.

Warning: A lot of Muslims use the foreign names of the months, while they don't know that some of these names are pagan names, for example, January is a name for one of the Roman's Gods and also some days like Sunday means the day of sun, and Monday means the day of moon, so Muslims should use the Arabic names for months like Muharram, Safar, .....etc, and they also should use the Arabic names for the days like Al-Ahad, Al-Ethnien......etc.

Secondly: the Lunar Calendar:

It is known that the moon goes around itself and around the land, also both the moon and the earth go around the sun. As the moon is seen by the naked eyes, the man noticed that the moon is born in a small size and then grows until it reaches its height after fourteen days, after that its size gradually decreases until it reaches its starting point and then disappears for a period which is called the wane phase, then it appears again. The period between the two times of seeing the crescent is 29 or 30 days. The man discovered that this phenomenon can be adopted in dividing the time to units bigger than day and smaller than the year which was called a month. Because of the moon sight which differs from one month to another with Allah's measurement , the average of the number of month days in the lunar calendar is nearly 29.5 days which means that 12 months include 354 or 355 days (lesser than the solar calendar with 11 days).

The wisdom behind depending on the lunar calendar:

Dear brother: You should know that Almighty Allah has ordered us to depend on the moon in counting years; the Almighty Allah says "They ask you (O Muhammad) about the new moons. Say: These are signs to mark fixed periods of time for mankind and for the pilgrimage....." [Al-Baqarah 2:189]


Transliteration: Yasaloonaka AAani alahillati qul hiya mawaqeetu lilnnasi waalhajji

Also our prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has ordered us to depend on the lunar calendar in all our affairs such as treaties and transactions dating and defining the times of worship like fasting as he(peace be upon him)said "Start fasting on seeing the crescent (of Ramadan), and give up fasting on seeing the crescent (of Shawwal)." [Agreed upon]


Here, we are trying to understand some scientific and shariah wisdoms in the lunar calendar:

Firstly, some shariah wisdoms which include the following:

1- The lunar year is more fair and merciful concerning the shariah assignments, whereas the Muslim doesn't fast, perform pilgrimage or pay poor due (zakat) always in the summer but he does all that in all seasons, as with the passing of 33 years, the pilgrimage, fasting and other kinds of worship come in all seasons. For example, the Muslim along his life doesn't fast or perform pilgrimage in the long hot summer days only, but he fasts and performs pilgrimage in all climatic conditions (summer, winter, spring….etc).

2- The lunar calendar is more merciful for the poor as they receive the zakat (poor due) every year and the lunar year days are fewer than the solar year.

3- The lunar calendar is easier for Muslims in performing their shariah assignments, the following are some examples:

(a)The woman's waiting period following divorce or her husband death is lesser.

(b) The woman who is seeking for a judgment of separation because of her husband's absence or sexual disability.

(c) As for those who must fast two consecutive months as an expiation for a certain sin, as he might fast 62 days instead of 58 if he depended on the solar calendar.

In all the forgoing cases, we find that depending on the lunar calendar is easier for Muslim, the Almighty Allah says " …and has not placed upon you in the religion any difficulty… " [Al-Hajj 22:78]


Transliteration: wama jaAAala AAalaykum fee alddeeni min harajin

4-The menstrual period of the woman and the other biological permanents for the man are tightly linked to the moon.

Secondly, the scientific wisdoms which include the following:

1- Unlike the solar calendar, the lunar calendar is calculated with naked sight, so the rate of error is nearly nonexistent but if there was a human error, it could be easily discovered and automatically corrected within two days.

2- The scientists discovered that the solar calendar should be modified by omitting a day every 128 years (because of the accumulated fractures) but they found it easier to omit 3 days every 400 years, while the lunar calendar doesn't need a modification because it is corrected (in case of error) every month...Allah is the Greatest…

3- The month days distribution in the lunar calendar is divinely determined by the completion of moon turning around the earth, unlike the solar calendar which was subject to the whims of popes, kings or princes.

4- Even in the polar countries in which the sun disappears for six months, the moon can be noticed as it is clear and can easily be followed in these areas unlike the sun which disappears for six months.

5- It is known that the moon becomes full between the 14th and 15th days of the lunar month, so if there were any mistaken sight in the beginning of month, the moon would not reach its completion on its time and that gives more accuracy for the lunar calendar, while the sun has no signs that differentiate between months and that makes it undependable concerning months timing.

6- The phenomena of the ebb and flow are linked to lunar calendar and they are very important to the human life especially for the people who depend on the sea life like fishermen, merchants, travelers and military men so when we know that most goods are transferred by the sea, we realize the importance of depending on the moon as a universal calendar…Allah knows the best…

The result of the foregoing; the man should use the lunar calendar for dating in all his life.

The Hijiri calendar in Islam depends on the lunar calendar:

At the era of Omar son of Al-Khattab the commander of the faithful a man submitted to him a document, in which a debt was written to be payable in Shaban, , Omar asked the man which Shaban do you mean ? Is it of this year or the past or the next year? Then Omar gathered people and said "we should make a calendar for people to know the time of repaying debts". Ali son of Abu-Talib and others suggested to begin dating from the prophet's emigration from Mecca to Al-Madina, upon this suggestion the consensus was held between the prophet's companions and the commander of the faithful.

It is also known that the year in Islam is calculated according to the lunar calendar as Almighty Allah has ordered in His Glorious Quran.

Note:

In Islam, we also depend on the sun in defining the times of everyday prayer, for example the time of Fajr (dawn) prayer begins at the dawn time and ends at the sunrise, also the time of Doha (forenoon ) and Eid prayer begins when the sun rises with five degrees from the horizon ( about 15-20 minutes of sunrise, the time of Zuhr (noon) prayer begins when the sun is at its height at midday till it passes over the meridian, Maghreb prayer is performed when the sun has set and Isha (night) prayer is prayed after the absence of the twilight .

Why did Muslims stopped using the Hijri (Islamic) calendar:

The Islamic nation was depending on the Hijri dating (which depends on the moon) until the arriving of the colonial wave in the modern era and its consequences of westernization, changing identity and the caliphate collapse at the hands of the Masonic Moustafa Kamal Atatork who issued a resolution on (1344 AH -1926 AD) abolishing the Hijri dating and substituting it with the Christ birth dating to imitate non-Muslims and separate the Islamic nation of its glorious past.

Finally:

O Muslims, our adhering to the Hijri dating, which depends on the lunar calendar, is an adhering to Almighty Allah's pleasing, adhering to knowledge, truth, logic and reason and it is also a kind of glorification for our principals and enraging our enemies.

Our religion urges us to give advice, so we ask Almighty Allah to guide our governments, institutions and individuals to adopt the Hijri dating to acquire success in this world and in the hereafter.

Also we ask the companies owners and the employers to pay their employees' salaries at the beginning of every lunar month to please Almighty Allah therewith.

Glad tidings: By adopting the Hijri dating, the employee will receive wages of additional eleven days yearly (because of the difference between the solar and lunar calendar), Verily, Allah is the All-Provider, Owner of Power, the Most Strong.

Note: this pamphlet has been revised by Dr. Saleh Al-Ajiri and a group of scholars (may Allah give them great reward)…



Translated by Wathakker.info website