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The Hijrah Calendar
"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 straigth 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."
.....Qur'an (Surah 9 Verse 36)
If you are one of those who believe that Hijrah of Rasulullah to Madinah occurred on the 1st of Muharram then read on. This article will enlighten you on how this Islamic Calendar began...
Introduction
Islamic calendar is a purely lunar, as apposed to solar or luni-solar, the Muslim (Hijrah) year. It is shorter than the Gregorian year by about 11 days, and months in the Islamic (Hijrah) year are not related to seasons, which are fundamentally related to the solar cycle. This means that important Muslim festivals, which always fall in the same Hijrah month, may occur in different seasons. For example, the Hajj and Ramadhan can take place in the summer as well as the winter. It is only over a 33 year cycle that lunar months take a complete turn and fall during the same season.
The Meaning of Hijrah
'Maal Hijrah" literally means 'with Hijrah' . However in the Arabic language usage this would mean beginning of Hijrah. What then does Hijrah mean. The word Hijrah mean to discard or migrate. Thus it carries the following meanings:
1. Recognition of the plot;
2. Migration from the plot;
3. Leaving witnesses for the plot so that the future generations can learn of
and recognize the conspiracy against the faith.
The Islamic calendar is reckoned from the time of migration (Hijrah) of Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) from Mecca to Madina. Rasulullah's decision to migrate from Mecca came after several years of inhuman treatment of the faithful by the powerful tribes who were united despite all their feuds to stop the spread of Islam.
The process of Hijrah actually occured in the 13 th
year of Prophethood when Rasulullah was 53 years old.
Prophet Mohammad's decision to leave Mecca coincided with the Qureshies' plan to
assassinate him. In 622 AD, the Quresh tribesmen held a meeting and decided that
a band of young men, one from each tribe, should assassinate Prophet Mohammad
collectively so that their responsibility for the murder could not be placed on
any particular tribe.
On the eventful night on the 1st of Rabiul Awwal, the Prophet asked his cousin Ali bin Abu Talib to take
his place in bed to make the Meccans think that he was asleep. The Prophet
himself came out unobserved along with his loyal companion Abu Bakar r.a (who was
chosen as the first Caliph after the wafat of the prophet). They secretly made
their way to a cave named Thur, not far from Mecca and lay staying hidden there for a
day or two until Abu Bakar's son reported that the search for him had been given
up. Then the two set out from Madina on camel back. They reached Quba, on the
edge of the Madina oasis, on 12th Rabiul Awwal. With Mohammad's arrival in Quba
a new phase of his career and glory of Islam started.
However the decision to make Hijrah as the beginning of the Islamic Calendar came much later. At that time though the 12 months of the Arabic months were already there, the beginning of the years were marked by different memorable events which had occurred earlier. The years of the Elephant, which is the years Rasulullah was born, was then widely used to mark the beginning of the calendar. This was the year when Abrahah's army of Elephants marching to destroy Kaabah was crushed by the birds sent by Allah s.w.t. Another event that was used to mark the beginning of the Calendar was the war of Fijaar that occurred in when Rasulullah was 20 years old.
The decision to fix the beginning of the Islamic era was proposed and decided during the era of Omar bin Al-Khattab the second Caliph of Islam, 16 years after the hijrah event occurred. According to early Moslem scholars, Abu Musa Al Shari drew attention of Omar r.a. to an improperly dated debenture or IOU which was payable in the month of Shaaban but it was not clear which Shaaban was actually meant, the present one or the coming one. Omar r.a. called the dignitaries for consultation and a decision to create a calendar that represented an Islamic rule was made.
They made several suggestions to begin the Islamic calendar. Among the dates suggested were the year Rasulullah's birth , wafat, nubuwwat, and the opening of Makkah . Finally the year of Hijrah, which was suggested b Saidina Ali bin Abi Talib r.a. was accepted. Thus in the years 638 AD, Saidina Omar decided that Hijrah-which occurred on 622 AD- was to became the the first year of the Islamic Calendar of Hijrah.
Though the Rasulullah's migration happened in the month of Rabiul Awwal there were a few reasons why Muharram was taken as the beginning of the Calendar. The main reason was that the Muslim's of Makkah had already started migrating since the month of Muharram. the other reason was that there were many memorable event in Islam which has occurred in this month.
This migration has a special significance in the history of Islam. It ended the Meccan period of humiliation and torture and began the era of success. In Madina the power of Islamic nation enhanced day by day. Here, the Rasulullah was not only the religious leader but took the role of a politician and statesman too. Prophet Muhammad expired ten years after his migration to Madina but only in one decade he changed the course of human history.
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