Hijri year: facts about the calendar that preceded Islam 200 years

Some Arab countries have announced It beginning Hijri new year It is Saturday And day 31 August, according to the Gregorian calendar, is the year 1441 since the migration of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina. But there are other facts about the Hijri calendar, which we examine here.

Moon calendar

The hijri calendar is based on the measurement of the lunar cycle around the Earth, so that the hijri month ends at the end of the lunar cycle. Unlike the Gregorian / solar calendar, which depends on the rotation of the Earth around the sun.

The end and the beginning of the month Hijri are measured according to the observation of the crescent of new moon, which makes the days of Hijri months unspecified, contrary to the solar calendar. As a result, the number of days in the Hijri month varies between 29 and 30 days.

Because of the previous point, the hijri year is eleven days a year, compared to the solar calendar, which makes the rituals and Islamic events take place at different seasons and at different times each year.

The visibility of the full moon cycle also varies depending on the geographical location, which means that the beginning of the month of Hijri can occur at one place and not at another.

World Hijri Calendar

A method presented by a group of astronomers in 2001, to reduce the disparities of crescent vision in various countries.

The idea was adopted at the Second Islamic Astronomical Conference, held in Amman, Jordan, in October 2001.

The idea of ​​measuring the calendar was presented by the committee "Al-Ahlal, Calendars and Timings" of the Arab Union of Space and Astronomy. It depends on the division of the globe into two halves:

The eastern half is the area between 180 degrees east longitude and 20 degrees west longitude.

Western Hemisphere: Area between 20 ° West Longitude and the West of the Americas.

The idea of ​​the calendar depends on the observation of the crescent on the 29th of Hijri month, in one of the terrestrial regions of each region. Once crescent observation is confirmed (to the naked eye or using astronomical instruments), the beginning of the new month is announced the next day throughout the region.

The idea of ​​this calendar does not mean that the Hijri months start on the same day in all regions of the world, but it reduces the variation of the beginning of the months in countries to no more than a day in the world.

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Before L & # 39; Islam BTwo centuries

The Arab masters met in Mecca in 412 AD to agree on the lunar calendar, as the disparity between the Arab tribes in the determination of the lunar months caused the chaos caused by the Hajj season and the commercial movement.

The fifth grandfather of the Prophet Muhammad, who proclaimed his prophecy in 610 AD, attended the meeting and the Arabs agreed on the number of months and their names.

They also agreed on activities associated with each month, some devoted to war, others to trade, others to pilgrimage.

It was also agreed that the holy months, when fighting is forbidden, continued even after the advent of Islam. These months are Dhul Qa'da, Dhul Hijjah, Muharram and Rajab.

17 years later

Although the hijri calendar begins with the migration of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, he began 17 years later.

This is the Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab who adopted the Islamic calendar in the Islamic State, previously known as the Arab calendar, and who acquired the word "Hijri" after establishing a link with the migration of the prophet.

The names of the months we know now have been chosen, after the tribes gave different names to the months. These are mainly the names accepted by the Arabs at the Mecca meeting in 412 AD.

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Days of the abyss

It's five days that the Arabs have added or omitted from the lunar year.

There was no agreement on the reason these days because some believe that it was subject to an increase or decrease in the calculation of the moon's orbit around the Earth. Others say it was a way around the number of holy days if the Arabs wanted it.

Islam has banned the days of the Prophet later because of the great disparity that can lead him to calculate the time of Islamic rituals and events.

Month names

The names of the months were associated either with the chapters that coincided with them, or with the activities of the Arabs in each of them, or with the sanctity of the combat that took place there.

For example, the spring I and spring spring each other agreed to spring when called. Jumada I and Jumada II agreed with winter when it was called (the word is derived from the inertia of water). The month of Ramadan comes from darkness, that is, from the heat that intensified when he was appointed.

The sacred months of Al-Qada symbolize the withdrawal of Arabs from the war. Dhu-l-Hijjah was the month of Hajj. The mahram is derived from the ban on fighting. Rajab derives from Rajab al-Nsal for his arrows, that is to say to remove them at the time of the ban on fighting.

As for Zero, it is linked to the fact that the Arabs go to war until the houses turn yellow, that is to say without their people. Shaaban symbolizes the beginning of the Arab-Arab division between war and trade after their stay in Rajab.