| We realize time because we live. And we measure our time through two objects of nature, the sun and the moon. We mark one day from the non-stop flow of Time with sunrise. Every time the sun rises only to mark the end of one day and the beginning of another. A Day is further divided into nights and days, hours, minutes and seconds. The natural division of a day as indicated in the Qur’aan is through the declinations of the sun.
Subuh, pre-sunrise prayer, is the first prayer, thus we do not have to define a day in any other terms once more nor is there any problem in finding out when it starts and ends. When does the day begin? Our five time prayers tell us this. The first prayer is Subuh. Thus the day begins at Subuh Sadik. The day neither begins with sunrise as was believed by most till the introduction of the International Date Line, nor at sunset. Obviously the last prayer of the day is Esha.
The week begins on Sunday even according to the Islamic Calendar. After the Hijra when the Islamic Calendar came into being, Sunday continues to be the first day.
According to Arabic grammar while listing nouns the masculine is said first and then the feminine. Thus we have the expression ‘Lail wa Nahar’ night and day. This does not mean that night comes before the day. In fact one Ayath of the Qur’aan states categorically ‘Valallaylu saabiqunnahaari’ (36:40) “the night is not the forerunner of the day”. This strengthens the argument that the day begins with the daybreak.
The seven days of a week too receive sanction in the Traditions. We need not re-fix it. The Monday morning sun rises to give birth to a new week and after the passing of seven days, the sun rises the following Monday to mark the end of one week and the beginning of another. No natural phenomenon marks the beginning or end of a week. The next higher unit of time is the month. The movement of the moon marks the birth of a month. After the brief conjunction or Amavasai a part of the moon is visible to a part of the Earth. It may be day to others and so they cannot see the short-lived crescent or their land may not come under the visibility angle. However, the fact remains that the month is born. The crescent waxes and becomes a full moon. Then it wanes till it disappears totally. The plain of rotation of the moon, which is five degrees slanted, does not allow the shadow of the moon fall on Earth at every conjunction or Amavasai. And when the three come in a line and on the same plane the shadow of the moon falls on the earth and an eclipse occurs. Conjunction marks the end of one month and gives birth to a new one. Similarly the time taken for the earth to go one full circle around the sun is one Solar year. In lunar terms, the end of twelve months marks the beginning of a Lunar year. A Solar year has 365.2422 days. A Lunar year has 354.3671 days. However the Qur’aan does not approve of measuring the year depending on the sun. The Qur’aan orders mankind to use the Lunar year, which is free of errors, which will be explained in due course.
The point very casually made first, i.e., “After the brief conjunction, eclipse or Amavasai a part of the moon is visible to a part of the Earth” is what is explained through this book. There is much darkness around this fact. There is less light and more heat generated in this area. It is hoped that this book will throw some light for people willing to see the truth.
As the beginning of a month depends upon days and birth of the crescent, it is important that we know the day on which the crescent would be born. According to a popular Tradition the Muslims have been asked to look for the crescent and confirm its presence on the western horizon before starting the fast of the month of Ramadan and before ending it. While some understand “see” [Ru’yah] literally to mean see it with the eyes, some others take it metaphorically to mean, “Know”. The Author is a strong advocate of the latter interpretation. He quotes many traditions to substantiate his stand. His argument that the exact time of the birth of the crescent can be calculated well in advance lends validity to his interpretation. In fact, he has been calculating the movement of the moon before every month of Ramadan, Idul fithr and Idul Adha. He has worked out a calendar for many years backwards and forwards. Through this achievement he has not only given a very practical interpretation to a very basic Tradition on the lunar calendar but also impressed upon the educated the importance of learning this science. For those who do not have time and means to learn this he gives a series of simple formulae to confirm the dates of the lunar calendar.
The time of the moonset and sunset is given in leading newspapers. In order to find out the date of the Lunar month we will have to deduct the time of the sunset from that of the moonset and divide the remainder by forty-eight. There are also simple ways of doing this by looking at the shape of the moon and its position on the sky at a particular time. The author argues that at least the Ulema should learn this in order to lead the community in the right path. Today nearly everyone is ignorant of a science, which our forefathers had mastered. He gives us simple rules like the lunar calendar cannot have 30 days consecutively more than thrice except as a freak and 29 days more than twice. By applying these we can avoid mistakes in our Hilal observations.
The point that is to be highlighted is that we neither know the science of the lunar calendar nor are we conscious of this ignorance. Far from making an effort to learn this science we pretend to know it. The disease that we are ignorant of our ignorance is to be remedied through this book. It is only when we know the scope of this subject that we realize how little we know. This in-turn would either make us interested in this subject or at least dissuade us from taking our own stand based on our smatterings when we are faced with the situation of having to fix a date.
The question of deciding or rather knowing the right date is very important in Islam because a series of duties become incumbent on Muslims on certain months and dates. What is regularly done in a month or even a date is not done on other months and dates. The most common example for this is eating and fasting. It is only after knowing when the month of Ramadan begins does a Muslim stop eating during the day.
The celebration of Eid ul Fitre too is linked with the appearing of the crescent of the Shavval, the tenth month of the Islamic calendar. One should not fast on the first day of this month but celebrate Eid instead. Similarly one should not fast on the day previous to the first day of Ramadhan, i.e., on the last day of Sha’baan. These days are the bones of contention in the Islamic world. When the month is calculated right, there is great confusion among the Muslims. Missing a day in a month would amount to a day’s difference for months together in a calendar.
The Lunar calendars published in India and the same published in Saudi Arabia give at least three different dates for a day anytime in a year. While this difference, which is not ignorable, does not attract the attention of the common man and thereby does not affect his religious life during most months, it becomes the topic of discussion for the entire Islamic world at least twice, once during the beginning of the month of fasting and once more during the celebration of Idul Fitr. The problem is equally serious on the eve of the month of Haj, Dulhaj the last month of the Islamic calendar. However, as mere celebration of Idul Adha is involved to most of the people the difference in the Day of celebration throughout the world do not strike them as significant because all of them celebrate on the same date. This is because they do not know the significance of Day and Date.
The author takes strong objections to the confusion in dates created by false Hijra calendars. The argument that the crescent of the first day should be physically seen with the eyes the night following the 29th is held strongly by both the learned “Ulema” and the common man alike. The question of seeing the crescent does not arise the night following the 30th of a month. While one people belonging to one school of thought wait till they see the crescent to begin the month, others either go by calculations like Saudi Arabia or accept the sighting in any part of the world. Thus the latter’s month often begins early. The author is a strong advocate for both calculating and accepting the earliest sighting in the world.
There are two problems involved here. First of all, not all accept the fact that another must accept the sighting of one country. As sight follows from the East, a group may accept the sighting of the crescent in an eastern country. Although the same group accepts the fact that the crescent that is not visible in the local sky may be visible in a neighboring country that is to its west within a few hours. Accepting this possibility does not convince them that the month is born for their country too. They are willing to believe that the month that has started in a neighboring country has not started in theirs! They believe that the new month need not start on the same day throughout the world. To them it can be Shaban in one country and Ramadan in another or Ramadan in one country and Shawwal in another. They do not even consider this a sin. What is worse sometimes is that there are three dates in the world. One country delays by not one day but two in accepting the arrival of the new month. The problem does not end here, but the error continues not only throughout the month but also in determining the sighting of the crescent for the following month. Thus the error is perpetuated from year to year.
The consequence is the existence of not two but three lunar calendars in the Muslim world. The Muslims consider certain days special and certain others normal on the basis of the calendar that is printed and circulated in their society. Finally it is both the Ulemah and the false Hijra calendars printed without caring to verify the dates with the objects on the sky which are responsible for retaining the people in a month that has passed and delaying them from entering into the next month promptly.
The interesting phenomenon here is that usually the Muslim world is behind time and not ahead of it. If one section is ahead of time another behind and the rest on time the problem would have been still more difficult to solve. Now it is only a matter of convincing the late entrants to enter on time. The first task before us is to explain the concept of time to the people.
The time difference that exists from country to country is obviously because of the rotation of the earth. It anticipates sunlight–day and avoids sunlight–night. However this hour difference does not result in two different twenty-four hour days. It may be that Friday has started in Fiji and it is Thursday in Samoa. But the time difference between both these points is less than twenty-four hours. In fact the maximum time difference between two distant places on earth is twelve hours. Perhaps this is the only existing time difference on earth. If the crescent of Ramadan is visible in the sky in some part of the Earth or if the crescent of Ramadan is born in the sky but not visible anywhere on Earth, it is Ramadan for the whole world. The simple logic is that there is only one day/date on Earth, only one month on earth and one year on earth. As the Moon is the clock that shows the time to the inhabitants of the Earth, it cannot show two dates and consequently two months at the same time. The question of three days sounds highly fantastic and it ridicules the very idea of a calendar. The people of the Earth must be reminded of this basic fact.
Another major doubt in the minds of the people is with the possibility of predicting the movement of the Moon. Once you accept that like the Sun, the moon too moves in a definite orbit following the laws of its Creator you will accept the calculations made about the movements of the Moon. One wonders how the same mind that agrees with the fact that the Sun’s movements can be calculated for many years in advance disagrees with the fact that the moon’s movements can also be calculated for many years in advance. There is a reason for this contradiction. The common man does not follow the existing solar calendar just because he is convinced with it. He follows it just because there is only one of its kinds. And how is it that there is only one solar calendar and not two or three as is the case with the lunar calendars? The first point is that it is midnight twelve (in London) and twelve noon at the Date line that marks the beginning of a day. Any other happening in the sky does not mark the end of a day and the beginning of a new one. That the Sun has to rise and set to mark every day is taken for granted. Obviously the time can be clearly checked in most sea coasts.
The duration of each month is found even in nursery rhymes. Thirty days hath September April June and November. And all the rest have thirty one excepting February alone which has only eight and a score till leap year brings in one day more. Giving a certain number of pre-fixed days to each year does not mean that year is exactly that long only. The difference in time, which we miss to tabulate in our solar calendars, shows its unpleasant shadows in terms of days lost. When we look at the history of the Gregorian calendar we learn that it was altered more than once with a view to synchronizing the dates that the calendar shows and the dates that the Sun shows. Thus in 8 BC Augustus Caesar altered the Julian calendar introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC. He wanted to give 31 days to August, a month named after him, instead of the original 30 days. As 10 days had to be dropped from it in 1582 this calendar was renamed Gregorian calendar in memory of Pope Gregory XIII. As the length of a day in the solar calendar is not the same, the length of a month and a year too are not the same. Thus the speed of the rotation of the earth is not a perfect guideline to measure the length of a day.
The Sun is not a dependable calendar that can be used by man who has to record history too. But the Sun is an effective watch to show the time of the day, nothing less, nothing more.
How about the Moon? It is a perfect calendar as already pointed out. We can depend on it. We can work it backwards to arrive at the exact days of historical events. We can calculate forwards to know the time of Moon set and Moonrise. And this is enough to tell us when the month will begin. As the movement of the Moon follows certain rules, it is a matter of finding out these rules. The author has tabulated a calendar that goes backwards and forwards through centuries. Further we can calculate the exact day and date of any event in history through a simple method. This calculation tallies with the known dates and days in Islamic history. For example the agreed fact in Islamic history is that the Holy Prophet (saw) gave his historical talk to more than one lakh companions on the 9th day of Zul Haj, the last month of the Islamic calendar. We can work back to confirm this. However when we work backward, the false calendars miss a day or two.
One need not be shocked at the fallible nature of the solar calendar. In fact, we are bound to err and we are destined to keep changing our calendar if we base it on the Sun. The Sun is not meant to be a calendar. We get this startling truth from the Qur’aan.
When the companions of the Holy Prophet (saw) asked the Prophet (saw) how the moon changed the phases, the Holy Prophet (saw) replied that it was a calendar. His answers provide clues to so many questions unsolved by our scientists up to the first man landing on the Moon and even now. When Allah (swt) Himself has called the Moon a calendar, can there be any defect in this calendar?
The present interpretation of the various traditions of the Holy Prophet (saw) that has resulted in two lunar calendars, as against the true one, should clearly be a gross misinterpretation. There can neither be more than one lunar calendar nor can any other object that has not got Allah’s sanction as a calendar considered one. Thus Allah (swt) has not called the Sun a calendar but He has called the Moon. And the fact that a Calendar has got Allah’s sanction demands our consideration in that and it alone has to be accepted as the point of our time reference.
The case is different with the Moon. It’s rising that is, visibility is a problem on the first day if the sky is not clear and not within the visibility angle. The concession given by Allah (swt) is that when one cannot decide the first crescent on the 29th night one should complete 30. This is the only thing possible. However, when one observes the Moon regularly for many years the seemingly unpredictable movement of the moon becomes predictable as said in the Qur’aan: (55:5)
The argument has come one full circle. The writings of the author should be more meaningful to the beginners of this discipline against the background of what has been said. I should accept the fact that all that I have said so far and in the rest of this book is an echo of the author’s ideas. I have enjoyed his intellectual and spiritual companion-ship for over a decade. The fact that a layman like me is able to write on this topic is a testimony to his influence on the educated. One only needs to listen to him patiently and with an open mind. Patience and open mindedness is what is needed to appreciate the views of the author, Ali Manikfan, the unschooled but self-taught genius.
Calendars
The aims of this section are two fold. The first aim is to demonstrate the validity of the lunar calendar. And the second but incidentally the very important aim is to find out the right dates for various events in the life of the Holy Prophet (saw).
The Holy Prophet (saw) was born on Monday 14-03-53BH. According to the Arabic calendar it is recorded that the Prophet (saw) was born on 12th Rabiul Awwal (12-03-53). There is no controversy over the date 12-3-53 BH, of the Arabic calendar or the day, Monday. The controvercy, however is over the the date of his birth in AD calculated as on 20-4-571AD. When we check up the equivalent date in the solar calendar, it is 05-05-570 AD a Monday. On the strength of the historical evidence pointed out earlier and from what the calendar shows it becomes clear that the Holy Prophet (saw) was born on 14-03-53BH a Monday. Of the thirteen important events quoted here for date fixation, nine of them took place on a Monday. Further the confirmed and accepted date of the demise of the Holy Prophet (saw) is 14-03-11AH a Monday. The Holy Prophet (saw) was born and died on the same day: 14-03 a Monday. He was born and died on full Moon day of Rabiul Awwal.
With 14-03-53AH = 05-05-570AD, Monday as the point of reference we can count the number of days the Holy Prophet (saw) lived in this world, pausing at eleven events in between his birth and death. This account should tell us how long he lived.
He received the first revelation Wahi on 27-09-13BH = 01-09-609, Monday. This historical event took place exactly 14365 days after the birth of the Holy Prophet (saw). The Prophet (saw) was 40 years and 190 days old according to the lunar calendar and 39 years and 125 days old according the solar calendar. A lunar year is 354.3671 days long and a solar year is 365.2422 days long. The general statement that the Holy Prophet (saw) received Prophet Hood at forty should not be taken literally. The first Wahi being in the ninth month of Ramadan, the Holy Prophet (saw) who was born in the third month of Rabiul Awwal could not have been exactly forty during his first Wahi. The two dates of the two calendars given can be verified by dividing the days by the length of the year:
14365 / 354.3671 = lunar years
14365 / 365.2422 = solar years
The readers may convert the days into the lunar and solar months through the above simple method and count the years from birth to death.
The third important event in the life of the Holy Prophet (saw) was his departure from home on 27-02-00BH = 18-09-621AD, a Thursday (Eve of Friday). The time gap between the first Wahi and this event was 4400 days. The general belief is that the Prophet (saw) preached in Makkah for 13 years. As the objective of this book is to make the world Muslim community time conscious, it is but proper to know the exact time gap between the events. The Prophet (saw) preached in Makkah for 12 years and 147 days according to the lunar calendar and 12 years and 17 days according to the solar calendar. One can calculate with his calculator to find this out. This is not to call the earlier historian wrong. Usually fractions are rounded off to the nearest zero for convenience of speech. Thus roughly speaking it is 13 years. However, as this section attempts at date fixation even a day counts.
The Holy Prophet (saw) went to the Thowr cave and hid there for 3 days. Then he proceeded to Quba on 01-03-00BH = 21-09-621AD Monday. That month of Safar had 29 days.
27-02-00, Friday 28 Saturday, 29 Sunday and 01-03-00BH Monday
He traveled for 8 days (Monday to Monday) and reached Quba on 08-03-00BH = 28-09-621AD Monday. He stayed a week in Quba and reached Medina on 15-03-00BH = 05-10-621AD Monday. Although Hijrath started the moment the Holy Prophet (saw) left his home, 01-01-01AH was exactly 300 days after Hijrath. Much took place during the 0 year. If we could calculate the progress of time in terms of days there will be no confusion. The Prophet (saw) lived in Medina from 15-03-00BH. However, as the month was Rabiul Awwal, there were nine more months for the New Year. A calendar is a continuum. It is man who has to describe his activities with reference to time that is always on the move. There is a general misconception that the Islamic lunar calendar started with the Hijrath of the Holy Prophet (saw). An artificial lunar calendar was in vogue during the pre-Islamic period. The number of days in a month was fixed and the difference that arose in course of time was adjusted by the introduction of a leap year, adding one day to the last month which had 29 days. It had twelve months. Muharram was the first month and Dul Hajj was the last. When the Holy Prophet (saw) reached Medina he did not change the calendar. He did not call the 1st day in Medina 01-01-01 AH. He accepted the sanctity of the order of the months as man followed this Allah given order right from the start. So the first of the first month of Muharram of the first year was 01-01-01AH, a Thursday.
The Holy Prophet (saw) waited for the year to finish and the count of years started from one when the New Year was born. As Islam saw rapid growth only after the Hijrath it is but natural to begin the count of the year afresh.
However, historians should not forget to add the 300 days while calculating the life span of the Holy Prophet (saw). And they will have to understand the reason for the delay of nine months before the new Islamic lunar calendar came into vogue. 01-01-01AH = 15-07-622AD was a Thursday. 193 days later during an Asar prayer the order for the change of Kiblah was given on 17-07-01AH = 24-01-623 AD, a Monday.
The order to fast was sent 27 days later on 15-08-01AH = 21-02-623AD, a Monday. The historical battle of Badre was fought 32 days after on 17-09-01 AH = 25-03-623 AD Thursday (Eve of Friday). 9 years and 42 days later the baby boy of the Holy Prophet (saw) Ibrahim (R) expired on 30-10-10AH = 27-01-632 AD, a Monday. The well-known Hajjathul wida took place 38 days later on 09-12-10 AH = 05-03-632AD, Thursday (Eve of Friday). Finally the Holy Prophet (saw) died 93 days after on 14-03-11AH = 08-06-632AD a Monday.
Of the thirteen events listed nine of them took place on a Monday. The other events took place on a Thursday. The first day of the first month of the first year was a Thursday. His departure from home, the battle of Badre and the Hajjathul Wida fell on a Thursday (eve of Friday). There is an ambiguity because the Arabs usually refer a day by Youm or Lailah.
The Holy Prophet (saw) lived from 14-03-53BH = 05-05-570AD, a Monday to 14- 03-11AH = 08-06-632 AD, a Monday. He lived for 22680 days and a few hours in all. When we calculate the days in terms of solar years we get:
22680 /365.2422 = 62 years and 35 days
One has to be careful when telling how long the Holy Prophet (saw) lived. If you follow the Lunar year you have to say 64 years. If you follow the solar year you have to say 62 years. If you say 63 years, then you are falling in line with the historians who have missed the 300 days from the lunar calendar. It is high time we set right our dates too.
A calendar is a system for the reckoning the passing of time. The principal problem in drawing calendars arises from the fact that the solar day, the lunar month and the tropical year- the most immediate time unit – are not simple multiples of each other. In practice a solution is found in basing the system either on the phases of the moon (lunar calendar) or on changing of the seasons (solar calendar). The difficulty that the days eventually get out of step with the moon or the seasons is got over by adding in (intercalating) one or more extra days or months at regular intervals in an extended cycle of months or years. These types of calendars are artificial calendars.
The earliest Egyptian calendar had a year of 12 months with 30 days each, though later 5 extra days were added at the end of each year so that it approximated the tropical year of 365.25 days. In the classical times, the Greeks came to use a lunar calendar in which 3 extra months were intercalated every eight years (octannial cycle). Through about 432BC the astronomer Meton discovered that 235 lunar months fitted exactly into 19 solar years (Metonic cycle), this being the basis of the modern Jewish and ecclesiastical calendars.
The Roman calendar was reformed under Julius Caesar in 46 BC fixing the year at 365 days but interclatating an additional day every fourth year, (this giving an average 365.25 day-year). This Julian calendar was adopted by the Christians, who called it Anno Domini and it continued in use until 16th century when it had become about 10 days out of step with the seasons, the tropical year infact being a little less than 365.25 day-year.
In 1582 AD Pope Gregory xiii ordered to omit 10 days from that year and not to give a leap year for century years unless divisible by 400 so that there would be no recurrence of any discrepancy in future. But since the error of one day occurs in about 127 years, this adjustment will not make it fully error-free. This calendar was called Gregorian calendar.
This Gregorian calendar was only sowly adopted particularly in non-Catholic countries, the reform waiting until 1752 AD in England and its American colonies by which time 11 days had to be dropped. But in spite of all these defects it is still in civil use throughout the world even today. Various proposals for further reforms of this calendar have come to nothing.
The Hijra calendar
At the time of advent othe last Prophet of God Muhammed Mustafa (saw) the Jews were using an artificial lunar calendar. The Arabs too used it. The Prophet (saw) was born on the 12th of Rabiul Awwal according to the Jewish calendar. The Prophet (saw) did not approve this artificial lunar calendar for the Muslims. In his last days he gave orders to revive the ancient natural lunar calendar fixing the months at 29 or 30 according to the appearing of the Hilals, the dates tallying with the phaces of the Moon as commended in the Quraan. He banned the use of leap years and orderd to fix the months according to the Manazil of the moon so that the calendar would be totally scientific and free of error. In this system the dates can be calculated up to infinity. It is a perpetual calendar for mankind, which can be computed mathematically.
Islamic date line
We need a point of reference a Date line on earth itself to count its rotation which marks the day. This point would mark the beginning of the day. This count can be taken accurately only at noon when the point is geocentrically straight to the sun. Towards the west of this point the new day begins while towards the east the old day is ending. As the point of reference would have two days meeting at noon when he people are at work, it cannot be on land where people live. Further, this point ought to be a line running from north to south of the earth. Now the whole line has to continuously pass through the sea avoiding land. When we search for such a point on earth we find it between Russia and Alaska. Interestingly this is the place where the Internationnal Date Line runs through. The day begins with this line which comes straight to the sun at noon. So the day begins on earth at 12 (mid day) on the date line. At London which is to the opposite of this line, it is 12 midnight. Our concern here is with the time of the birth of the day on earth, which is at 12 noon. It is with reference to this that we calculate the time in 24 hours. The universal day is from noon to noon, calculated at the Dateline or midnight to midnight calculated at London 0 degree Greenwich. The point that is underlined here is that the people of Fiji to the west of the date line pray the first Jumu’ah of Friday while people of Samoa to the east pray the Luhar of Thursday.
The question of Qibla too arises here, the people of Fiji pray towards the west and the people of Samoa towards the east. If the Islamic date line runs through inhabited land there would be two days, Jumu’ah and Luhar and two opposite Qiblas in the same place. One should interpret the statement of Imam Shafee ® that there cannot be two Jumu’as in the same town against this concept of the Islamic dateline. The learned Imam was suggesting that the date line should not pass through land where inhabitance is possible.
Dr. Y. Sayed Muhammad |
