Determination of the Islamic Calendar - Mufti Minhajuddin Ahmed | Islamic Reminder | Jummah Khutbah

The Islamic Lunar Calendar: Its Basis, History, and Lessons

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the Master of the Messengers, and the Seal of the Prophets, and upon his pious and pure family, and upon those who follow them with goodness, and support their call to the Day of Judgment.

My dear respected brothers and sisters, elders and youngsters, Peace be upon you. We have now entered a new Islamic year — 1440 — 1440 years since the Hijrah of Rasulullah ﷺ.

This is our Islamic lunar calendar, which it is wajib upon us to maintain and to remember, and not to give it up and forget it. The Gregorian calendar, we use it for our civil needs, and this is the calendar of the land that we live in, and nothing is impermissible or haram about it in the least. And we can maintain that — the Deen does not prohibit using that solar calendar.

But at the same time, for many of our religious functions, to be able to perform them correctly, we have to maintain the lunar calendar. This is wajib al-kifayah — this is fard — on the Ummah to maintain.

The Purpose of the Moon's Phases

Allah says in the Quran:

They ask you regarding the months — they ask you regarding the moon — and the Ahillah, Ahillah being the plural of Hilal, the crescent. Their question was: why is it so small, and then it becomes big, and then it becomes small again? It disappears, becomes a full moon, then it slowly decreases until you can barely see it, then it disappears altogether. Why does the cycle continue? This was regarding the natural phenomena that they observed in the sky.

Allah changed their attention and said: do not worry about what is happening — I will answer to you why it happens. "Tell them that the purpose of why this happens is so that it is a means of determining the time for people, and determining the date of Hajj." So this is the reason why this happens.

Science Tells Us How — The Deen Tells Us Why

In general, this gives us a broader principle regarding our Deen. The Deen of Allah, instead of going into the natural phenomena of how things happen, tells us why it happens. The realm of science is to discover and to do research on what is happening in the universe — how the weather patterns come, the study of meteorology, the study of physics and the physical forces of nature around us, the chemical properties of the creation we learn in chemistry, the study of life in the form of animals and plants in biology, and how all of these systems work. This is the subject matter of science.

But why? Why are we here in this world? What is the purpose of our creation itself? This is not answered by science. Rather, this is answered by the Deen of Allah, by Divine Revelation, by Wahi. The Wahi will tell us what is the purpose of our creation. And the Wahi is the one that informed us what is the purpose of the moon and the changing of the moon.

How it occurs is very simple — we can learn in science class that the light from the sun comes onto the moon and the moon is reflecting that sunlight onto us. Allah indicates towards this, and later-day scholars saw it — subhanAllah:

Allah gives a different name for the light of the sun and He gives a different name for the light of the moon. Why did Allah use a different word? الشَّمْسَ ضِيَاءً — the sun has its own source of light. وَالْقَمَرَ نُورًا — and the moon is reflecting the light. And again He says the reason why this happens is so that you can determine the months.

The Twelve Sacred Months

There are a few points that we can note about the calendar. One of them is that this is a unique Islamic khususiyyah — a distinction — that we have. Allah speaks about the calendar in the Quran. One ayah I already quoted. Another ayah is:

Verily, عِدَّةَ الشُّهُورِ — the count of the months in the eyes of Allah since the time He created the heavens and the earth — is 12 months in the year. Among these 12 months, 4 months are sacred. And Rasulullah ﷺ identified for us which are those 4 months.

In these 4 months — even in the Jahiliyyah — Muharram, which is the first month of the year, then Rajab, and towards the end of the year we have Dhul Qa'dah and Dhul Hijjah. After Dhul Qa'dah and Dhul Hijjah the new year starts. So these 3 months are together — ثَلَاثٌ مُتَوَالِيَاتٌ — 3 months together. And Rajab al-Fard, that's why it's called Rajab al-Fard — by itself. So these are the 4 sacred months.

The Jahiliyyah Practice of Nasi' — Tampering with the Calendar

In these months, even in the Jahiliyyah time — when robbing, plundering, pillaging, hijacking, highway robbery — this was the norm in the era of Jahiliyyah. They would take a break from the fighting for these 4 months so that they could conduct business in commerce and trade. Otherwise, if they were always worried about security it would become difficult for them to go about their daily lives. So they all agreed on this.

So these 4 months they used to take a break from fighting. But what would happen is if they really wanted to start a war — or in the middle of a war and the sacred month came around — this was a problem. So the way the Jahiliyyah mind addressed the problem is they would get together and say: "Rajab is starting but we're still fighting. Let's just change the month and call it — since after Rajab is Sha'ban — we officially call it Sha'ban. And the following month we'll just delay Rajab. So Rajab comes later."

This is called Nasi'. Allah Ta'ala speaks about it in the Quran:

They would play around with the calendar. They would say: "Now we declare it Safar. We declare it Jumadal-Ula, Jumadal-Thani" — whatever other month they would want. And then when the actual place of that month would come they would say: "Now it's Rajab, because we're done fighting." So this was mentioned by Allah Ta'ala in the Quran. And they kept on playing with the calendar, mixing it up so much so that it was all confused.

SubhanAllah — when the 10th year of Hijrah occurred, when Rasulullah ﷺ came to Makkah al-Mukarramah with the Sahaba — 10,000 Sahaba — for the Hajjat al-Wada', in that final khutbah he asked the people: أَيُّ يَوْمٍ هَذَا؟ أَيُّ شَهْرٍ هَذَا؟ — "Which month is this? Which day is it?" So everyone, they thought he was going to change the date, change the month, say something else. They said: "Allah and His Messenger know best."

So he said that this month is the month of Dhul Hijjah and this date is the 9th of Dhul Hijjah — the day of Arafah — when he was giving his speech. And he said that they kept on messing around the calendar of Jahiliyyah, kept on turning it around, messing it up, until over a period of time it has now come back to the original real date. By chance they kept on changing it and adjusting it so that finally — just as it was the first day Allah created the heavens and earth — the correct date is now restored. And it is up to you to maintain that date. This was the instruction of Rasulullah ﷺ.

The Origin of the Hijri Year Numbering

So this is one thing — the importance of the calendar. The second thing I wanted to mention is: what is the basis of the beginning of the year? We know that 1440 is the year of Hijrah — but when did this begin?

In the time of Rasulullah ﷺ, the months were there but the year number wasn't there. The method they used to date events in the time of Rasulullah ﷺ was 'Aam al-Fil — the Year of the Elephant. They would say "the year of the elephant," so everything was dated based on the Year of the Elephant. That was the biggest incident which occurred in that year and was imprinted on the minds of the Arabs — everyone knew about it.

The Story of the Elephant — 'Aam al-Fil

Abraha, the governor of Yemen, felt jealous — why are all the Arabs focused towards Makkah, going and making Hajj there? This is in the Jahiliyyah times — they used to make Hajj as well. So he said: "Makkah is a barren land, there is not a blade of grass there. We have beautiful Yemen — mountains and greenery, such a beautiful place — and the Arabs should come here, all the Arabs from the whole peninsula should come to Yemen instead of going to Makkah." So he built a big cathedral and announced that everyone should do Hajj here from next year — the Hajj will take place in Yemen, not in Makkah anymore.

So the Arabs were very angry by this — "How dare you compete with Makkah," which was beloved to them. So one of them, to show his anger — and I'm giving the disclaimer: this is not the right thing to do, this is not proven from the Sunnah, this is not proper etiquette — went there, urinated and defecated in that house to disgrace it, and then burned it down. This is haram to do that.

So Abraha became enraged: "You desecrated my place of worship, you defecated here, you urinated here, you burned it down — I will destroy the Ka'bah." And for the first time — he was in Yemen, across the Red Sea from Africa — he imported the African elephant into Arabia. Because the African elephant is not indigenous to Arabia. If you go into the Arabian desert you won't find herds of elephants roaming around in the desert. So he brought the elephants over with a huge army, and this was something new — they had never seen it before. And he came to march against Makkah.

And that was the whole story. Allah mentions in the Quran:

"Do you not see how your Lord dealt with the people of the elephant? Did He not destroy their plan? And He sent upon them birds in groups — Ababil — pelting them with stones of baked clay, and He made them like eaten straw."

A lot of people think that Ababil is the name of the species — "the Ababil bird." It is not. طَيْرًا is "bird," Ababil means they came in big groups. They were pelting the army with stones that penetrated the armour, the flesh, and the bones of the elephants and the soldiers, and destroyed the entire army. So this squadron of طَيْر came, discharged their payloads on this army — and then where did they originate from? Where did they refuel? And how did they return to which base? No one has the knowledge of the army of Allah except Allah. No military intelligence can go and do espionage and find out where this army came from.

So this is known as the incident of the elephant, and this was a big incident which was an indicator of a great thing that was going to happen. What happened that year? That was the year of the birth of Rasulullah ﷺ. He was born in the Year of the Elephant.

So if you look in the books of Tarajim — the biographies of the Sahaba — like Tabaqat of Ibn Sa'd, or Al-Isti'ab fi Ma'rifat al-Ashab of Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, or Al-Isabah fi Tamyiz al-Sahabah of Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani — in these books they will say things like: "Abu Sufyan was born 20 years before the Year of the Elephant." This was their way of demarcating the calendar. Abu Bakr al-Siddiq was born 2.5 years after the Year of the Elephant. Rasulullah ﷺ was born in the Year of the Elephant. Abu Bakr al-Siddiq died after being Khalifah for 2.5 years — both lived to 63. So this was the calendar during Rasulullah's time.

How 'Umar Established the Hijri Calendar

He didn't have time to change it. Then Abu Bakr al-Siddiq — 2.5 years — he was worried about the Riddah and the Murtaddin and all of the other problems, uniting the Arab tribes under the banner of Islam. He didn't have time to worry about the calendar.

When it was the Khilafah of 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him — that's when they said: "Let us re-examine this. This doesn't make sense — 'how many years before the Year of the Elephant, how many years after the Year of the Elephant.' We should have a new starting point for the Islamic calendar." So they made mashwarah about it:

They decided their matters through mutual consultation. Some said: "Let's just keep it with his birth — instead of saying 'Year of the Elephant,' say 'Year of the Birth of Rasulullah.'" Some said: "No, our calendar should start 40 years after that — Bi'thah — when he was given Nubuwwah, Prophethood — when Jibreel, peace be upon him, came and embraced him three times and said:

Some said: "From his passing away — it's a new era." And others said this and that. But the final mashwarah that was accepted was: the turning point in the history of this Ummah — this fledgling Ummah, this young Ummah — that really changed the fortunes and set the tone from which the whole history would develop, is the establishment of the independent Muslim state that was established in Madinah al-Munawwarah after the Hijrah. So let us begin our calendar from that day.

So they made mashwarah and — subhanAllah — this is what was decided by 'Umar al-Faruq, the second Khalifah of Islam. And from that day on this was an Ijma' of the Sahaba — they all agreed upon it. And Rasulullah ﷺ told us: "Follow my Sunnah and follow the Sunnah of my rightly-guided Khulafa'." And now we are 1,440 years since the time of the Hijrah of Rasulullah ﷺ.

Lessons of Hijrah

This teaches us many lessons — amongst which, as the time is concluding, is the great importance of Hijrah, of migration for the sake of Allah. Hijrah is to leave one's homeland, leave the comfort of one's home, to go for the sake of Allah — to practice the Deen, to learn the Deen, to teach the Deen, to give Da'wah towards Allah. In the case of the Muhajireen of Makkah, they left Makkah to be able to practice the Deen. They are those who have been expelled from their homes for no other crime besides the fact that they say: "Our Rabb is Allah."

And for others, the Hijrah will continue. There is a hadith: "There is no Hijrah after Fath" — which means that there is no obligation of Hijrah from Makkah al-Mukarramah. Some people say: "Oh, there is no Hijrah ever after Fath." That is absolutely not the case. Some say there will be Hijrah — it will be nafl or wajib, but never fard. No, that's not the case either. It could still be fard if — may Allah protect us, and I would say: if someone else is, may Allah protect them — in a country where they are not able to practice the Deen and there is a tyrant not allowing them to practice the basic fundamentals of the Deen, then it will become fard for them to make Hijrah from that land, if they have the ability to do so.

Allah Ta'ala says in the Quran: Allah will send the angels to take out the souls of those who are doing Zulm and oppression upon themselves. The angels say: "What was wrong with you? Why did you not obey Allah?" They will say: "We are weak and oppressed in the land." The angels will reply: "Was not the land of Allah spacious enough, so you could go and migrate to another land?"

Now of course this also means that as long as it is permitted for them to migrate — if they are compelled and not able to migrate, that's an exceptional circumstance — then they will be forgiven, because Allah will not make you responsible beyond that which you can bear. So fard Hijrah can continue till the Day of Judgment. This hadith only means that from Makkah it was fard to migrate to Madinah — and after Makkah has now entered the fold of Islam and has been liberated, has been conquered, now it is not fard to migrate from Makkah anymore. That's all it means.

So it teaches us the importance of Hijrah. And there is a Hijrah from the land of war to the land of Islam, from the land of disbelief to the land of faith. There is also a Hijrah where you don't permanently leave your home — you temporarily leave your home. Why do you temporarily leave your home? For Da'wah to Allah, to invite towards Allah. You temporarily leave your home to go and learn the knowledge of Deen. Whoever leaves his home to seek knowledge, he is in the path of Allah.

Imam al-Shafi'i on Travelling for the Sake of Allah

Imam Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i, the great scholar — Imam of Fiqh and Imam of Hadith, founder of the Madhab of Shafi'i — he was also a great poet. He talks about leaving one's home and travelling for the sake of Allah. He says:

"I see verily that if the water stops flowing it becomes stagnant, it becomes corrupted, it becomes dirty — and if it flows it will remain pure and clean. If you travel — go and make safar for the sake of Allah — and do not be worried that you are leaving your beloved ones behind. You will find others to compensate for the loss — new beloveds who will be your friends in this journey, who will make it easy for you to bear the loss of the beloved ones you left behind. The true enjoyment of life is an exertion for the sake of Allah."

The poem is much longer and gives you different examples from nature — but I will stop here as the time has concluded.

Du'a and Closing

May Allah allow us to appreciate the sacrifices of our elders — that they made Hijrah for the sake of Allah. And may Allah protect us from ever having to do involuntary Hijrah. And may Allah give us the tawfiq to make the voluntary Hijrah — the short-term Hijrah for Da'wah, for Ilm, for Fi Sabilillah, for Hajj, for Ibadat — to leave our homes for the sake of Allah, to follow the footsteps of our elders.

They had to do the involuntary one in the worst circumstances, leaving behind their life savings. But we are not being tested to that level — and we ask Allah never to test us to that level. We ask Allah to grant us 'afiyah and safety in this land, and to protect the Muslims throughout the world who are in difficult circumstances. And may Allah make this coming year of Muharram mubarak for us, and bless it, and make it a better year than the past years, and allow us to draw closer to Him in this year.

وَآخِرُ دَعْوَانَا أَنِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ