Happy New
Hijra Year
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
CA
January 20th marked the first of Moharram, the
beginning of the new Hijra year 1428, according
to the five-year Islamic calendar announced by
the Fiqh Council of North America and endorsed
by the Islamic Society of North America.
In a bid to end the controversy over the beginning
of the month of Ramadan and Eid celebrations,
the Fiqh Council of North America, last August,
announced a five-year Islamic calendar based on
astronomical calculation abandoning the traditional
method of actual sighting of the crescent.
However, the ISNA’s bid to create unity
in the American Muslim community failed the first
test, when in September last, majority of Islamic
centers and mosques in the US and Canada refused
to adopt ISNA’s Islamic calendar and followed
the traditional method of announcing the beginning
of the month of Ramadan locally on the basis of
the sighting of the crescent.
In its decision, the Fiqh Council said that Muslims
living in North America and Europe face more problems
due to starting Ramadan at different timings and
celebrating Eids on different days. The issue
of moon sighting is causing problem of discord
among Muslims and is a bone of contention all
over the Muslim world. Hence the Council, in a
bid to save the Ummah this enormous wrangling
and bickering over the sighting of the new moon,
decided to abandon the traditional method and
announced a five-year Hijra calendar on the basis
of astronomical calculations.
Probably this is the second time in the 1400 years
of Islamic history that an attempt is being made
to abandon actual moon sighting for taking a decision
on the beginning of the new Islamic months.
In the 10th century AD a calendar based on astronomical
calculations was instituted by the sixth Fatimid
caliph Abu Ali Al-Mansur Al-Hakim (985–1021).
It is therefore sometimes referred to as the Fatimid
or Misr (Egyptian) calendar. It was rejected by
the scholars of the time as an unacceptable innovation.
According to some historical accounts of the Fatimids
in Libya, the Qadi of Barqa was put to death in
953 for observing the fast of Ramadan by sighting
the new moon instead of following astronomical
calculations.
It is believed that the Fatimid practice in using
astronomical conjunction as the starting point
for Ramadan was not due to the complexity of calculating
physical sighting but rather to their belief that
their doctrines were scientific. Other than the
Fatimid practice, there is no evidence that Muslims
have ever advocated calculation in lieu of sighting
until the 21st century.
Probably, with the exception of Saudi Arabia,
the Islamic calendar is not followed by the 1.3
billion or so Muslims for their day-to-day routine.
They follow the Georgian calendar in mundane affairs
while the Islamic calendar is used in religious
matters such as the beginning of the month of
Ramadan and celebration of Eidul Fitr and Eidul
Adha.
In 637 AD, 16 years after the Hijra or migration
of the Prophet from Mecca to Madina, the second
caliph Omer Ben Khattab instituted the new Hijra
or Islamic year. The first of Muharram 622 AD,
which coincided with the 16 of July 622 AD, began
year one of the Islamic era.
The Islamic or Hijra calendar of 12 lunar months
is determined by observation of the new moon with
no effort by intercalation (addition) or other
means to synchronize the lunar year with the solar
year.
A lunar month may vary from 29.26 to 29.80 days.
The average Lunar month is 29.530588 days or slightly
more than 29.5 days. Twelve average Lunar months
are equal to 354.3670 days while the solar year
is 365.2422 days. Therefore, the Islamic calendar
gains ground in relation to the Solar Calendar
at the rate of about 11 days a year or about one
year in every 33 years.
Since no effort is made to link the Islamic calendar
with the solar year the Islamic months do not
correspond with a particular season. A lunar month
is not less than 29 days or more than 30 days.
But in the solar calendar the days of months vary
from 28 to 31.
Like Muslims, Jews followed a calendar based upon
naked-eye observation of new moons for more than
a thousand years. However, persecution of the
Jews under the Roman Emperor Constantius (337-361)
in the name of Christianity prevented communication
among the Jews about the observed calendar, and
forced them to switch on to an entirely computed
calendar. This forced Rabbi Hillel II to promulgate
the fixed computed calendar in 358. Its computations
were designed to simulate the practical constraints
of the observed calendar (including postponements
and intercalations) as closely as possible. The
Jews never returned to their original tradition
of following a purely lunar calendar determined
by eyewitnesses; instead, they continue to determine
the new moon calculation.
Two other major world calendars which used lunar
dates for religious and cultural festivals are
Chinese and Hindu calendars but both are now lunisolar
like the Jewish calendar, i.e. synchronized with
the solar calendar.
The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar based
on calculations of the positions of the Sun and
Moon. Months of 29 or 30 days begin on days of
astronomical New Moons, with an intercalary month
being added every two or three years. Although
the Gregorian calendar is used in the Peoples'
Republic of China for administrative purposes,
the traditional Chinese calendar is used for setting
traditional festivals and for timing agricultural
activities in the countryside. The Chinese calendar
is also used by Chinese communities around the
world.
As a result of a calendar reform in AD 1957, the
National Calendar of India is a formalized lunisolar
calendar in which leap years coincide with those
of the Gregorian calendar. In addition to establishing
a civil calendar, the Calendar Reform Committee
set guidelines for religious calendars, which
require calculations of the motions of the Sun
and Moon. Tabulations of the religious holidays
are prepared by the India Meteorological Department
and published annually in The Indian Astronomical
Ephemeris. Despite the attempt to establish
a unified calendar for all of India, many local
variations exist. The Gregorian calendar continues
in use for administrative purposes, and holidays
are still determined according to regional, religious,
and ethnic traditions.
Most religious holidays occur on specified lunar
dates but a few occur on specified solar dates.
The Gregorian calendar regulates the ceremonial
cycle of the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches.
The ecclesiastical calendars of Christian churches
are based on cycles of movable and immovable feasts.
Christmas is the principal immovable feast, with
its date set at December 25. Easter is the principal
movable feast, and dates of most other movable
feasts are determined with respect to Easter.
Now reverting to the ISNA universal calendar,
in August 2006, ISNA announced a five-year universal
Islamic calendar based on astronomical calculations.
ISNA’s criterion for beginning the new month
is moon birth before 12:00 Noon GMT. In response
to my query, Syed Khalid Shaukat, national coordinator
and moon sighting consultant to ISNA, explained
that the moon born before 12:00 Noon GMT (say
on a Friday) means it is born in every town of
the world before Friday begins. It will be about
18 to 30 hours old near the International Date
Line on the evening of Friday. So, it would be
visible somewhere on earth on Friday. In some
months, it will be visible in California and Hawaii
(Muharram 1428). In some months it will be visible
in Alaska (Rabi2 1428). In some months it will
be visible in the whole North America (Rabi1 1428,
Jumada2 1428, Safar 1429, Rabi2 1429). In some
months, it will be visible in Hawaii (Rajab 1428).
In some months it will only be visible in South
America or Polynesian Islands (Dhul-Hijja 1427,
Shawwal 1428).
So the practical implication for Muslims in North
America is that the new moon for the months of
Ramadan, Shawwal and Zel Hijja will not be SEEN
in N. America by the calculated ISNA dates for
2006-2011.
ISNA calendar did not attract much attention in
the Muslim countries but many mosques and Islamic
centers in Europe and North America adopted it.
However, ISNA failed in its primary objective
of promoting unity in the Muslim community at
least outside the Islamic World. According to
my research most of the Islamic centers and mosques
ignored the ISNA calendar for beginning the month
of Ramdan and Eidul Fitr last year and Eidul Adha
earlier this month.
Interestingly, the 56-member states Organization
of Islamic Countries (OIC) in 1997 passed a resolution
on a unified Hijra calendar for the beginning
of lunar month and the unification of Islamic
holidays. However, no Islamic country dared to
ignore the tradition of announcing the beginning
of the Islamic months through moon-sighting committees.
Even Saudi Arabia which relies on astronomical
calculations for its official lunar calendar relies
on the decision of moon-sighting committee for
religious events.
(Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Executive Editor
of the online magazine American Muslim Perspective:
www.amperspective.com)
