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Meeqatul Qibla
and Islamic Calendar
All of us are familiar with the word "Meeqat"
in connection with the Hajj pilgrimage.
As we know, the Meeqat is a fixed place
or a station at which the pilgrims don
the 'Ihram', that is the pilgrim's
garment.
Now I am trying to explain about another
Meeqat which is very important for the
Muslims, - that is "The Meeqatul Qibla".
The former Meeqat which we already know
is connected with a place and this 'Meeqat'
is connected with the place as well as
the time, where a traveller going around
the Earth has to change his Qibla from
east to west or vice versa, his day and
his date and the time when the world has
to change her day, for example, - from
Thursday to Friday.
We must have a universal date line, for
the Islamic world to calculate the dates
of the Islamic calendar, which is based
on the movement of the Moon.(Qur'an
2:189). The date line of the Islamic
calendar should be marked in the light
of the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah, and
this should be with reference to the
Ka'ba, which is situated in the Ummul
Qura, the mother of towns, - that is
Makkah al Mukarramah. The Ka'ba is the
Qibla of the Muslim prayer, - the
direction to which a Muslim must turn
during his prayer.
I like to name this Date line, which
would be established, as 'The Meeqatul
Qibla'.
What is the use of such a date line?
We calculate time in relation to the
rotation of the Earth with reference to
the Sun, which is the largest and
brightest object that all of us can see
in the sky. The Qur'an says that all
celestial bodies are floating in their
orbits in space (Q.36:40) under certain
calculations. So the Sun too is moving
according to the Qur'an. We know our
time only in relation to the Sun.
Perhaps the most important thing in our
life is time. The time that is lost can
never be regained. So time has to be
spent with utmost care. For this we must
pre-plan our affairs and carry out the
programmes chalked out using a reliable
calendar with defined and assigned
dates. Islam gives certain rules to
guide us in this venture.
Islam teaches us how to manage our time
by appointing 5 prayers for a day, which
must be performed punctually at the
fixed timings. The time for the prayers
was measured in the days of the Prophet
(saw) with the help of the shadow of an
object cast by the Sun.
The Zuhar prayer is performed when the
shadow disappears and the Sun is on the
meridian, after the first declination of
the Sun, - that is when the Sun has
passed 90 degrees, the Asar prayer,
after the shadow equals the object, -
that is when the Sun has passed 135
degrees, the Magrib prayer, after
sunset, - that is when the Sun has
passed 180 degrees, the Isha prayer when
the glare of the setting Sun has
disappeared, - that is when the Sun has
passed 202.5 degrees and the Fajre
prayer, when the first rays of the
rising Sun appear, - that is when the
Sun has passed 337.5 degrees if the Sun
is taken to be at 0 degree at the
beginning on one's horizon at sea level.
(This is the basis of time. This will be
correct on the day of equinox on the
equator. The other details are not given
here.) The Qur'an explains this in the
verse 17:78 (see the diagram No: 1).
It will be interesting to note that the
period of night 9hours equals the
distance from the Qibla to the Meeqathul
Qibla. The last time to confirm the
onset of Ramadan at Makkah, the Centre
of Islam is their Sahar time. At this
time the last sunset of the day takes
place at Central America and it is noon
at the Mathla'h, where the first Jumu'a
prayer is performed. The distance from
the Qibla to Central America is 9hours.
Thus the Qibla (Ka'aba) is placed in the
middle of the world.
Our time is dependent upon the Sun's
angle in relation to the horizon at sea
level. We have converted all these
angles to our watches. We can tell the
Sun's angle in hours, minutes and
seconds without looking at the Sun or
its shadow. There is no difficulty in
telling our time even when the Sun is
not visible for days together because
its movement is subjected to certain
calculations. The Qur'an says: "The Sun
and the Moon are with calculation"
(55:5)
We cannot record the count of our time
in minutes or hours because the figures
will be too long. Pages will be required
to write them down. So we use a Date, -
that is days, months and years to make
the recording easy. A date stands in
place of a particular day of the week, a
month and a year. A day has 24 hours and
a week 7 days, which have numbers or
names having same meaning in different
languages. They are 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th,
5th, Jumu'a and 7th day in the Islamic
calendar and in English Sunday, Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and
Saturday and this is recognized by all
people in the world. The most important
day for the Muslims is the Jumu'a or
Friday on which all Muslims in a town
must perform the Jumu'a prayer at noon
in a congregation.
Where on the Earth should the first
Jumu'a of the week be performed? How can
this place be fixed according to the
Qur'an and the Sunnah?
The verses of the Holy Qur'an "He merges
night into day and he merges day into
night" (35:13) indicate that the Earth
must be a globe rotating on its axis and
that the rotation would make the night
merge into the day and vice versa. The
hemisphere on which the Sun's light
falls experiences the day while the
opposite hemisphere experiences the
night. As the globe rotates, night
passes into day and day passes into
night. The first hemisphere in which the
Ka'ba is situated and contains
Australia, Asia, Europe and Africa
enjoys the day-time while the second
hemisphere containing two Americas
enjoys the night-time. As time proceeds
from east to west on earth, the five
prayers as mentioned above, must be
performed at the stipulated times in
succession according to the angles of
the Sun without violating the order.
Thus no time in the world passes without
a Muslim prayer.
In the second year of the Hijra the
order to turn towards the Ka'ba, while
in prayer, was revealed in the Holy
Qur'an (2: 144). Supposing the Earth to
be a vast area with the Ka'ba at a
particular place, imagine what will
happen to the people in prayer on both
sides of the Ka'ba at the last ends. A
diagram will explain this better.
(Diagram No2)
The Qibla of a town cannot be different
in the Shariah. All Muslims in a town
must face to one direction in their
prayer.When all people turn towards the
Ka'ba, which is almost in the centre,
what will happen to those at the ends,
if the ends are joined together as it is
in the globe? The people at the ends
will face towards the opposite
directions and their backs will meet!
This condition is not contradictory to
the Qur'an, which says: "Righteousnes is
not that you face East or West."
(2:177). So there must be a place on
the Earth, where Muslims must
necessarily turn towards the opposite
directions in order to face the Qibla
during their prayers. Where on the Earth
could this happen?
The Zuhar prayer is performed at noon
everyday and there is no Zuhar prayer on
the Jumu'a day. So when the Zuhar prayer
of Thursday is over in the world the
Jumu'a prayer of Friday must begin
immediately and there must be a place on
the Earth, where some people pray the
Zuhar prayer while the others pray the
Jumu'a prayer. Here the sudden change of
Thursday to Friday will be experienced.
This is inevitable in the world. The
change over time of Zuhar to Jumu'a is
the Zero hour of the world. The days
change here in the world at noon. This
is the place, where two days of the
Jumu'a and losing or gaining of 5
canonical prayers of a Muslim traveller
crossing from one side to the other,
becomes inevitable. This too cannot
happen in a town or on a land inhabited
by people. There must be a line
demarcating the two groups to avoid
confusion. Such a place can be only in
the sea.
The Imams of the past have written down
the rules for such a place. According to
them, it should be separated by a sea or
an uninhabitable mountainous barrier,
which makes the two sides approachable
only by travel in which the Shariah
could allow the lessening of the
canonical prayers. Here a traveller must
change his Qibla, his Day and his Date.
This is the Meeqatul Qibla of which we
have already mentioned. The Meeqatul
Qibla is one of the Signs of Allah. It
must be recognized and respected by all
people. (Q.22:32). (see the diagram 3)
Since a traveller is allowed to lessen
his prayers (4:101) the peculiarity of
losing or gaining of prayers during a
travel accross the Meeqatul Qibla is not
a problem. The diagrams explain how the
lines of Qibla radiating from the Ka'ba
towards east and west meet and make a
line passing from the north pole to the
south pole of the Earth. There is no
question of the lines radiating towards
north and sounth of the Ka'aba meeting
each other because people cannot pass
through the poles or live there.
It is interesting to note that the
Qur'an does not mention north and south
in connection with the Qibla! Only the
lines radiating towards east and west
could meet each other and this forms the
dateline which marks the place to begin
the day in the world. It passes through
the Bering Strait, which is the only gap
separating the continents of Asia and
America. It has to be zigzag to allow
one Qibla, one day and one date for
those who had already settled and
established their day and Qibla when
they occupied the islands near this line
and were living there without knowing
each other till the explorers detected
them. The inhabitants on the East
observe the East Qibla and Thursday,
while the inhabitants on the West
observe the West Qibla and Friday. There
is one day's difference at this place on
the Earth. The Islamic Shariah forbids
the change of day, date or Qibla at any
other place on the Earth.
The Meeqatul Qibla is exactly 9 hours
ahead of Makkah. Days and dates of the
Isalmic calendar begin here at the Zero
hour at noon. Corresponding time at the
Ummul Qura, the Centre of Islam is
"Sahar" (the last part of the night) and
at London, situated on the line opposite
to the Meeqatul Qibla, it is midnight.
Allah (swt) had ordered the Prophet to
observe a singular Qibla and change of
day at 'Sahar' time in the second year
of the Hijra about 1400 years ago and
the Muslims began to practice it since
that time. The Date Line of Islam thus
defined at the time of the Prophet (saw)
was found out by the science in 1886
A.D. Those who established it did not
know the Islamic rules! Science does not
contradict Islam.
Our knowledge of time is in relation to
the rotation of the Earth with reference
to the Sun. To count the number of
rotations of a wheel two marks are
necessary - one in the rotating wheel
and one stationary, outside. When these
two marks meet, one rotation is counted.
In the same way to count the rotations
of the Earth a mark on the Earth and a
mark outside are needed. The mark on the
Earth is the Meeqatul Qibla and the
external mark is the Sun. When both
meet, one rotation for the Earth or one
day is counted. To get the correct count
we need a stationary mark outside. But
our mark, the Sun is moving and the
Earth too is perambulating the Sun. So
we will not be able to count the number
of the Earth's rotations exactly with
the help of the celestial objects which
too are in motion. We need not worry
about the correct number of the Earth's
rotations because our time is not
connected with that. Our days depend
only on sunrise and sunset.
We record the count of days in dates. So
if we calculated with the average length
of a day, measured in relation to the
Sun or the other objects which too are
really moving, we will make errors in
recording the passage of our time. So
the Creator has provided us with a
wonderful system to calculate our time
and has asked us to use the Moon for the
purpose so that we may not make mistakes
and be confused in calculating our time.
"He has appointed Manzils for it (the
Moon) so that you may know the count of
the ages(of the Moon) and the
calculations."(Q.10:5). We follow the
instructions of the manufacturers in
the case of our home appliances. In the
same way we must follow the instructions
of the Creator in order to be on the
right track.
The day dawns first for those who live
near the 'Meeqatul Qibla' and it is 9
hours before Makkah. They must observe
all religious rites 9 hours before
Makkah. In fasting and feasting also
they will be 9 hours ahead. They cannot
postpone any ritual saying that the
Centre has not yet done it. The order of
time sequence in the world must be
strictly adhered to. Violation of time
order in performing the rituals is
forbidden in the Shariah. For the same
reasons a time bound prayer cannot be
postponed. (2:189, 17:78, 9:37). So a
gap of 24 hours (a day) must be observed
between the islands on either side of
the Meeqatul Qibla, the International
Date Line. This means that those to the
west shall observe Friday while those to
the east observed Thursday.
Meeqatul Qibla is the Date line of the
Islamic calendar and the days begin
depending on the Sun (25:45). So a date
which stands in place of a day should
also begin with the day. A date line
cannot be shifted from place to place.
The Lunar Date Lines suggested by some
astronomers are neither scientific nor
Islamic.
After having defined the beginning of a
day under the light of the Holy Qur'an
and the Sunnah let us try to define the
beginning of a month of the Islamic
calendar. The Qur'an has already
explained that our dates and months
should depend on the Moon. The Sun
cannot catch the Moon.(36:40). The Earth
has already caught it. It is a satellite
of the Earth that rotates around the
Earth. One rotation of the Moon around
the Earth with reference to the Sun is
one month. As the Moon tarvels in its
course, the change of its position in
relation to the Sun, creates changes in
the phases of the Moon seen from the
Earth. This marks the dates for the
people.(2:189)
A solar eclipse (New moon) can occur
only when the Sun, the Moon and the
Earth are in a line, - the Moon between
the Sun and the Earth. Since it can
happen at any part of the day, it is
called the new moon day. The Islamic
month ends with it and the next month
begins. Since a month can begin only
with a day, the next day is treated as
the first day of the ensuing month. Some
times a solar eclipse can be experienced
at the time of the Eid prayer at some
places on the Earth. Imam Shafi (RA) has
corroborated this.(Fat'hul Barri Vol.2)
The Islamic month ends when the Moon
completes her cycle around the Earth and
this is to be calculated taking the Sun
as the reference point to begin the
cycle. When the Sun, the Moon and the
Earth join in a line, the cycle is
complete and the next one begins. This
moment is known as the conjunction or
new moon. This may happen at any part of
the day, in the beginning or in the end
and it is called the new moon day. This
will fall on one of the days of the
week. The next day will be the first day
of the next month. The Hilal can be seen
at different times at different places
on the Earth just as the sunset, many
hours before and after the conjunction,
because the the Sun and the moon are far
apart. It happens due to the error of
parallax. The month changes after the
conjunction.
During an eclipse of the Sun the shadow
of the Moon falls on the Earth. It
crawls on the surface of the Earth as
the time moves on. If one follwed the
shadow the eclipse can be viewed for a
longer time. The first and last are not
treated as conjunction. The middle one
alone is the conjunction. This is better
explained by a diagram. See diagram
No.4.
Since the dates of the Islamic calendar
must tally with the phases or the
Manzils of the Moon, (2:189, 10:5,
36:38-40) full moon day(a lunar eclipse)
should occur only in the middle of the
month when the Moon is behind the Earth
and the last day of the month should be
the new moon day (solar eclpse) when the
Moon is in front of the Earth towards
the Sun. So it will be clear that the
dates depend on the angles of the Moon
in relation to the Sun and that the
dates could be found out exactly by
using the calculations.
Our time depends upon the angles of the
Sun in relation to the horizon at sea
level. Our dates depend upon the angles
of the Moon in relation to the Sun. The
horizon has nothing to do with the date.
We can know our time without seeing the
Sun or the shadow. There is no objection
to use calculations or any other means
than the shadow to find out our time.
Then why should there be any objection
to use the other means than the seeing
of the Hilal for finding out our dates?
The Qur'an informs us that both the Sun
and the Moon are with calculations.(55:
5) We can use calculation for both, our
time and our date. The Ulema should give
a verdict on this issue.
The Prophet Muhammad (saw) who taught
the Qur'an to the illiterate Arabs of
his time, taught them the easy method of
finding out their time by observing the
Sun. He also taught them the easy method
of finding out their dates by observing
the Moon. They were not in the habit of
writing, calculating or recording their
time. The Prophet (saw) asked them to
learn wisdom, the art of reading,
writing and recording. He did not forbid
them to learn but on the other hand, he
enjoined them to acquire knowledge in
every faculty of learning from wherever
it was possible.
In the days of the Prophet (saw) the
Arabs were using the Jewish lunar
calendar which had a fixed number of
days for every month, 30 or 29
alternating and had intercalations (leap
years) to adjust their artificial months
with the natural calendar. He gave them
instructions to correct the dates
according to the Moon's Manzils (2:189).
He ordered them to avoid the
intercalations and use the natural
calendar. The deviation of a date from
the Manzil of the Moon would cause a day
of one month go into the other.This was
not allowed because if a day of Sha'ban
entered into Ramadan, it would violate
the Halal and Haram of Allah (swt).
Sha'ban according to the Jewish calendar
always had 29 days where as it could
have 30 days also. All Ramadans had 30
days, but Ramadan too could have 29 days
according to the Moon's phases
(Ahillah). That is why the Prophet (saw)
ordered them to observe the Moon and
correct the dates accordingly. The final
amendments of the calendar were
announced during the Hajjathul Wida.
There are 12 months in a year (9:36). We
know what will happen if a date is
skipped over. Qur'an forbids the
transposition of dates. (9:37).
The observation of the Moon for long
periods gives us the average number of
days for a year as 354.3671 and 29.53059
days for a month. (2953059x12=354.3671).
Astronomers have proved that the
statement of the Prophet (saw) that the
lunar months have 29 or 30 days only is
correct.
Since the dates of the months are
related to the days of the week, but not
to the places, the months of the Islamic
calendar should begin from the Meeqatul
Qibla with the day. Now the Muslims do
not practise the Islamic calendar,
instead they rely and depend on the
Christian calendar for their daily use.
So they do not have any idea about the
Islamic calendar. They think that the
Islamic months will begin only when they
see the Hilal with their naked eyes at
the sunset differently at different
places! It is foolish to believe that
time will wait for man and say that
different towns would have different
dates in the Islamic calendar!
Julius Caesar had instituted the Julian
calendar in 46 B.C. Later the Christians
adopted it as their calendar. This
Christian calendar was reformed by Pope
Gregory xiii in 1582. It had
accumulated an error of about 10 days by
1582 A.D! Pope Gregory removed 10 days
and changed the rules of the calendar,
and it is known as the Gregorian
Calendar since then.
The exact measure of the solar year was
not known when Julius Caesar introduced
the calendar. Even today we do not know
the exact measure! It was regarded as
365.25 days. Later it was estimated that
the Earth takes 365 days 5hrs 48 minutes
and 49 seconds to make a rotation around
the Sun according to the correction made
in 1582 AD. This is 365.2422 days and
this too will change whenever the
accumulated error of days is corrected
at intervals!
The error of 0.0078 days added up every
year amounts to 15.6 days in 2000 years!
This means that 15.6 days would have
passed without sunrise! In a solar based
dating system days will accumulate
without our notice and days will have to
be eliminated from the calendar at
intervals in order to adjust with the
natural system. This sort of meddling
with the calendar will create confusion
in calculating the passage of our time.
Such a dating system cannot be good for
recording the events of history.
Had the people used the lunar phases for
their dates to record the events in the
past, the historians would not have had
problems in finding out the actual days
on which the incidents in the past had
occurred. But now we are in utter
confusion. We do not arrive at the
recorded date and day by calculations.
The Qur'an says "The Sun and the Moon
are with calculation" (55:5). So both
the Sun and the Moon should be used for
calculating the passage of our time. A
dating system in which the Moon has no
role cannot be accurate.
Renowned mathematicians and astronomers
have calculated the date of birth of the
Prophet Muhammad(saw). But all of them
have gone wrong! They give different
dates for the Prophet's birth(saw)! The
fact that a person cannot be born on two
days indicates that there is some thing
wrong with their calculations. Their
dates do not tally with the historical
records too. This is because the
calendar had been meddled with and the
omissions are not taken into account
correctly.
We have a record of two events of the
past recorded in two calendars. If we
calculate the number of days elapsed
between the two incidents according to
the two calendar systems we can see what
happens when a defective calendar is
used to record time. The equivalent
dates and days of two solar eclipes of
the past are given below as recorded
according to two calendars.
The dates of the Solar eclipses of 0622
and 1990AD according to CE and ME.
1. CE. 22-07-1990
Sunday ME.
30-12-1410 Sunday
2. CE. 14-07-0622 Wednesday ME.
30-12-0000 Wednesday
8-00-1378
years
00-00-1410 years=Time elapsed
Total No. of days according to C.E. 1368
x 365.25+8 = 499670.00 days
Total No. of days according to M.E. 1410
x354.3671 = 499657.16 days
The error accumulated in C.E for 1378
years is 12.39 days. At the same time
there is no error in M.E. From this we
can see that the Lunar dating system is
perfect. If we calculated without
involving the Moon we will make mistakes
and we will not be able to know that
there is a mistake. We will be left in
confusion. It is high time that we
adopted the scientific dating system and
used it in our day-to-day life so that
we may not create confusion for the
future generations.
If we have the concensus to prepare the
scientific lunar calendar based on the
phases of the Moon as per the rules of
the Qur'an for the entire world, we can
have the first of Ramadan on the same
day for each and every Muslim on earth.
Likewise we can celebrate the Eid also
on the same day in all countries. Let me
remind that the Holy Prophet (saw) has
forbidden to fast on the Day of Eid. How
is it justifiable to have fasting and
feasting on the same day? If we agree
that it can be so we are admitting that
there can be mistakes in the
calculations of Allah the Almighty also!
By observing Ramadan and Eid on the
correct days, which will be same for all
people in the world as commanded by
Allah, we will be able to acheive the
much required unity, harmony and peace
of the people in all parts of the world.
Kindly think over the problem and the
relevance of the Meeqatul Qibla which is
very important to define the dates of
the Islamic calendar. May I once again
remind that The Islamic Lunar Date Lines
suggested by some Muslim astronomers are
neither scientific nor Islamic.
May Allah bless us with open minds and
intelligence to find out His orders and
systems which are hidden in Nature and
help us to live accordingly!
Ali Manikfan
Dated : 10-11-1996/21-07-1419
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