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Synopsis
The Prophet’s birth
was recorded according to the then existing calendar as 12th Rabiul Awwal
Monday in the Elephant year. The calculated date according to AD is
20-4-571AD. This date does not correspond to 12-3-53BH. The author inspects
this and gives a method for calculating the correct date of the Prophet’s
birth. Those interested may try it and know the truth.
The exact date of the Prophet's birth
(Peace be upon him)
The exact date of the Prophet Muhammad's (pbuh) birth has not
been determined so far and we do not know the correct date of his birth
according to the Christian calendar. Historians and astronomers who had
worked on this subject in the past have given various dates for the
Prophet’s birth. Even the famous Encyclopedia Britannica gives doubtful
dates and puts a question mark as to the year of his birth. From this it is
clearly known that the world is not sure of the date on which the Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh), who claimed to be the last of the prophets, was born.
The commonly accepted date for the Prophet’s birth is 20th April 571 AD.
It is said that the famous astronomer Mahmood Pasha of Egypt, who lived in
the 19th century, calculated this date. Calculations reveal that this date
does not tally with the date recorded according to the Arabic calendar,
which was same as the Hebrew calendar. The date of the Prophet's birth
according to that calendar is 12th of Rabiul Awwal of the Elephant Era.
The historic records say that the Christians had build a church in order to
attract the Arabs, but the Ka’aba attracted more attention than the newly
built place of worship and Abraha, the Governor of Yemen, came to Mecca to
destroy the Ka’aba, the long revered place of worship of the Arabs. He
brought an elephant to facilitate the task. But his plans were foiled and
all ended in a disaster. The Holy Qur’an refers to this event in the
chapter 105. It is recorded that the Prophet was born after 55 days of the
event, which occurred on the 17th of Muharram in the year 570 AD.
The examination of the scientific records of the phases of the moon for the
year 570 AD reveals that this date is Monday the 5th of May 570 AD. The
moon was eclipsed on Tuesday the 6th of May 570 just before the infant
Muhammad (pbuh) completed the first day of his life on the Earth!
According to the songs remembered since time immemorial, it is
Monday, the 12th of Rabiul Awwal. At that time their calendar had a fixed
number of days for the twelve months; Muharram, Safar, Rabiul Awwal, Rabiul
akhar, Jamadul awwal, Jamadul akhar, Rajab, Shahaban, Ramadan, Shawwal, Zul
ka’ad, and Zul hajj.
The twelve months of the year had 30 or 29 days alternating from Muharram
to Zulhajj with an occasional leap year in which Zulhajj got 30 days, in
order to adjust with the natural system. In this artificial lunar calendar,
which was same as the Hebrew Calendar, the dates need not necessarily tally
with the phases of the Moon. The full moon occurred on the 12th or13th and
the new moon on the 28th or 29th in the Arabic calendar as against the 14th
or 15th for the full moon and the 29th or 30th for the new moon in the
Islamic calendar in which the dates must tally with the phases of the Moon.
The Arabic calendar is better than many others of its kind, because the
error accumulated in 2000 years in it is only one day. The Jews use this
calendar even today.
Islam does not accept even this minute error in recording time. A mistake
in recording historic events can create a lot of confusion to the
posterity. The error in calculating the date of the Prophet’s birth is
only due to this confusion. It had baffled even the renowned astronomers
and their calculations have gone wrong. People are made to believe a
falsehood about the Prophet! How can Islam, which is the perfect code of
life for mankind, tolerate such a serious mistake? So Islam has prescribed
an error-free dating system for the people. The last Prophet in his last
days during the Hajjathul Wida gave instructions to reform their calendar.
During the Hajjathul Wida he laid down rules and regulations for the
Islamic Calendar. He made the seven days of the week and the dates, which
represented them, and the months, which depended on the lunar cycle, sacred
and inviolable. He named the months in which war is forbidden (Ash-hurul
hurum) as Zul Qaid, Zul hajj, Muharram and Rajab. The Qur’an explains
this automatic cease-fire arrangement in the verse 9:36. All wars must
cease in these months, which allows a warring people enough time to think
of the after effects of a war. The Prophet abolished the use of a leap year
and ordered them to use the dates of the natural calendar, which depended
strictly on the Manzils (the phases) of the Moon. He wanted the calendar to
be fully natural so that there will not be any adjustments and confusion in
future. All other calendars need periodical adjustments known as
intercalation (Nasie) which is forbidden in the Qur'an.(9:37)
The Gregorian calendar, now in vogue in the world for recording the dates
of events in history is not scientific. It accumulates errors in course of
time and the accumulated days have to be removed at intervals. Whenever
this is done, the method of calculation would change and the calendar must
be renamed. The present calendar was known as the Julian calendar in the
beginning. In 1582 AD the Pope Gregory 13 reformed it after removing 10
days, which had accumulated in that calendar by then. It was renamed as the
Gregorian calendar.
The calculation methods in Julian and Gregorian periods are different. So
if the date calculations are made without taking the intercalations into
consideration, the results would be wrong and this is serious. Telling a
lie about the Prophet who forbade falsehood is not a simple thing in the
sight of Allah (swt). If we tell his date of birth, we must tell the truth.
Otherwise we should admit that we do not know. In a recent publication
under the Board of Islamic Publications, the book entitled “The Prophet
Muhammad in the Indian context the Prophet’s date of birth is given as on
20 or 22 April 571 AD. This clearly shows our ignorance about the dates.
The fact that a person cannot be born on two dates is totally ignored.
The commonly accepted date for the Prophet’s birth 20 or 22 April 571AD
must correspond to 12th of Rabiul Awwal of the Arabic calendar. But according
to the records, the year of the Elephant is 570, not 571AD. We can check
whether this date is correct by simple calculations. The date of the
Prophet’s demise is recorded correctly, for he was famous when he passed
away, on Monday the 8th of June 632 AD corresponding to the 12th of Rabiul
Awwal in the Arabic calendar. The span of the Prophet’s life can be
calculated under two calendars. The number of days in both the calendars
should be same if the dates are correct. It should be remembered that the
12th of the Arabic calendar corresponds to the 14th of the Islamic
calendar.
Demise: 08 - 06 - 0632 AD = 12 -
03 - 0011 AH
Birth: 20
- 04 - 0571 AD = 12 - 03 - 0053 BH
* He passed away on Monday in the
middle of Rabiul Awwal (full moon)
* Hijra took place in Rabiul
Awwal after 53 years of the Elephant Era.
Now this has to be converted in to days to see whether both are equal. The
number of days in the Christian and the Arabic year is 365.25(365.2422 true
figure to be used for long periods) and 354.3671 days respectively.
Therefore:
AH
- 64 x 354.3671 = 22679.49 days
AD
- 61 x 365.25 + 50 = 22339.25 days
Difference =
340.24 days
This difference of 340.24 days is because the dates in
both the calendars are not correct. Therefore the mistake must be in the
calculation of the Julian date for the Prophet’s birth.
Now we can examine the Prophet’s date of birth (05 - 05 - 0570 AD)
which we have arrived at by following the ancient historic records.
Demise: 08 - 06 - 0632 AD = 12 -
03 - 0011 AH
Birth : 05 - 05 - 0570
AD = 12 - 03 - 0053
BH
03 - 01 - 0062 years = 00 - 00 - 0064 years
Now let us convert this in to days so that both could be compared
62 x 365.25 + 31 +3 = 22679.500 days
According to Christian Era
64 x 354.3671
= 22679.494 days According to Muslim Era.
The absence of disparity proves that both the dates are
correct.
Now we can cross check this by using another method of calculation
and see if we can get the same date. The Prophet’s migration (Hijra) to
Madeenah is an important event in the history. This is called the Hijra and
Hijra Era began with this incident. The Prophet was 53 years old at that
time. We can take the date of Miladunnabi of 1999 for this
calculation.
Date of Miladunnabi of 1999 = 27-06-1999AD =
14-03-1420AH
Hijra Era attained 1420 lunar year on 27-06-1999. So the Prophet’s
age on this date would be 1420 + 53 = 1473 lunar years. This subtracted
from the date 26-06-1999 should give the Prophet’s date of birth
according to Christian calendar. To enable this, 1473 lunar year must be
converted in to Christian calendar.
Therefore:
1473 x 353.3671 / 365.2422 =1429.1413 years (1429 years 1 month and
21 days). That is:
0.1413 x 12 = 1.6956 months - To convert years to months multiply by
12..
0.6956 x 30.43 = 21.167 Days -to convert months into days multiply by
30.43.
Subtracting this 1429 - 01 - 21 from 1999 - 06 - 27
1999 - 06 - 27-
1429 - 01 - 21
= 0570 - 05 - 06AD Tuesday. But the
Prophet was born on a Monday for certain. This discrepancy is due to the
error in the Christian calendar.
By deducting 1day to correct the error existing in the Christian
calendar we get the true date as, 0570 - 05 - 05AD. Monday.
These calculations prove beyond any doubt that the last Messenger of
Allah, Muhammad (pbuh) was born on MONDAY the 05th of MAY 0570 AD according
to the Christian Calendar.
ALI MANIKFAN
29/9/1420-5/1/2000
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