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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 |
