Islamic calendar

From Mw

The Islamic calendar, also known as the hijri calendar (Arabic: التقويم الهجري at-taqwīm al-hijrī), is the lunar calendar used in Islam. It differs from the Gregorian calendar in it that follows a lunar year system, and not the earth's rotation around the sun. Thus, it is 10 to 11 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar, and each month is 29 or 30 days (making the year start and end at different times each year). Another difference between the two is that, rather than starting the year of Jesus' birth, the calendar begins the year of the Prophet's emigration from Mecca to Medina. Prior to Islam, intercalation would be performed in order to make up for the calendar's shorter year. When Islam came, the Qur'an prohibited this practice.

The Islamic calendar, along with many other civilizations such as in China, and India have a lunar based calendar, as opposed to the solar based calendar.^{[citation needed]}

1 Months
2 Days of the week
3 Adoption by Umar
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Months

There are twelve months in the Islamic calendar. The names of the months of the Islamic calendar were used before the advent of Islam.^{[citation needed]} Each new month starts when the crescent moon is sighted. Each new day starts at sunset.^[1]

Muharram ul Haram (or simply Muharram) محرّم
Safar صفر
Rabi' al-awwal (Rabi' I) ربيع الأول
Rabi' al-akhir (or Rabi' al-thani) (Rabi' II) ربيع الآخر أو ربيع الثاني
Jumada al-awwal (Jumada I) جمادى الأول
Jumada al-akhir (or Jumada al-thani) (Jumaada II) جمادى الآخر أو جمادى الثاني
Rajab رجب
Sha'aban شعبان
Ramadan رمضان
Shawwal شوّال
Dhu al-Qi'dah ذو القعدة
Dhu al-Hijjah ذو الحجة

[edit] Days of the week

yawm al-ahad يوم الأحد: Sunday
yawm al-ithnayn يوم الإثنين: Monday
yawm ath-thalatha' يوم الثُّلَاثاء: Tuesday
yawm al-arba`a' يوم الأَرْبعاء: Wednesday
yawm al-khamis يوم الخَمِيس: Thursday
yawm al-jum`a يوم الجُمْعَة: Friday (lit. the Day of Congregation)
yawm as-sabt يوم السَّبْت: Saturday

[edit] Adoption by Umar

One day Abu Musa Al-Ash`ari, the governor of Basra at the time, sent a letter to Umar Ibn Al Khattab complaining that the ordinances, instructions, and that letters from the Caliph were undated and therefore gave rise to problems linked to the sequence of their implementation.

Because of this and other similar problems of undatedness, Umar convened an assembly of scholars and advisors to consider the question of calendar reforms. The deliberations of this assembly resulted in the combined opinion that Muslims should have a calendar of their own. The point that was next considered was from when should the new Muslim calendar era begin.

Some suggested that the era should begin from the birth of Prophet Mohammad , while others suggested that it should begin from the time of his death. `Ali suggested that the era should begin from the date the Muslims migrated from Mekkah to Al Madinah, and this was agreed upon.

The next question considered was the month from which the new era should start. Some suggested that it should start from the month of Rabi` al-Awwal, some from Rajab, others from Ramadan, others from Dhu al-Hijja. `Uthman suggested that the new era should start from the month of Muharram because that was the first month in the Arabic calendar at that time. This was agreed upon. Since the Migration had taken place in the month of Rabi` al-Awwal, two months and eight days after the first of Muharram that year, the date was pushed back by two months and eight days, and the new Hijri calendar began with the first day of Muharram in the year of the Migration rather than from the actual date of the Migration.^{[citation needed]}