Islamic Hijri Calendar - Shaykh Mustafa Abu Rayyan

The Islamic Hijri Calendar

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَصَفِيُّهُ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ وَخَلِيلُهُ أَرْسَلَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَى النَّاسِ كَافَّةً بَشِيرًا وَنَذِيرًا فَبَلَّغَ الرِّسَالَةَ وَأَدَّى الْأَمَانَةَ وَنَصَحَ الْأُمَّةَ وَكَشَفَ الْغُمَّةَ وَتَرَكَنَا عَلَى الْمَحَجَّةِ الْبَيْضَاءِ لَيْلُهَا كَنَهَارِهَا لَا يَزِيغُ عَنْهَا إِلَّا هَالِكٌ فَصَلَوَاتُ اللَّهِ وَسَلَامُهُ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَأَصْحَابِهِ وَمَنِ اهْتَدَى بِهَدْيِهِ وَاسْتَنَّ بِسُنَّتِهِ وَدَعَا بِدَعْوَتِهِ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّينِ

أُوصِيكُم وَنَفْسِي بِتَقْوَى اللَّهِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ اتَّقَوْا وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ مُحْسِنُونَ

My brothers and sisters, I start by praising Allah for indeed Allah is worthy and deserving of our constant thanks and gratitude and praise. And I send blessings and salutations upon our beloved messenger Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم.

What Date Is It Today?

I want to share with you a topic that is of great importance, but before I do that I'm going to ask you all a question and I want you to silently ponder over it. What date is it today? Some of you might be thinking, what is the Imam talking about? It is the 18th of September. But what I mean — what is the Hijri date? The Islamic calendar? What month are we in? What is the date of the month that we are in? Which month did we just pass?

This is the Islamic calendar, the Hijri calendar, that the Muslim Ummah have used since the time of the Companions. So many of our acts of worship are connected to these months. Allah spoke about them in the Quran. Allah did not speak about January, February and March. Allah spoke about Muharram and Rajab and the sacred months and the 12 months of the Hijri calendar. But we don't find them important enough — this is why your average Muslim probably has not memorized them.

And the blame is not upon the individuals necessarily, although we should all look at ourselves and see where we can improve. This is a societal problem where the Muslim Ummah generally don't care about their history, don't see it as important, although so many aspects of our religion are dependent upon the Islamic calendar. It's not hard to memorize 12 months. It's not difficult to download an app. It's something that we can all do and keep track of what month we're in.

Today is the first of Safar. That means we just finished the month of Muharram, which was a sacred month. The past 30 days were sacred.

The Twelve Months and the Four Sacred Months

Allah says in the Quran:

Allah said that the months — the عِدَّةُ الشُّهُور, the number of months according to Allah — are 12 months, فِي كِتَابِ اللَّهِ, in the book of Allah, since the day Allah created the heavens and the earth. The yearly calendar since the day Allah created the heavens and the earth was from Muharram until Dhul Hijjah — that was the Islamic calendar, the Hijri calendar. مِنْهَا أَرْبَعَةٌ حُرُمٌ — among these 12 months are 4 that are sacred.

When Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه was explaining this ayah — what does it mean that these 4 months are sacred, and which months are they — he said the sacredness in them means that the good that you do, you will get more reward for it. Meaning, the خَيْر that you did the last month — and I'm not talking about August, I'm talking about Muharram that just finished — the good that you did, you will get more reward for it. And the sin that you do in it is worse, because you are sinning in a sacred month.

The same way we have sacred places — do you behave the same when you're in a Tesco and when you are in a Masjid? No, because you understand the sanctity of the Masjid. Do you behave the same when you are in London or Birmingham or if you are in Mecca? No, because you understand the sanctity of Mecca. It's the same with time. Not all times are equal. The month of Ramadan — we behave differently. We should behave differently in the sacred months as well. But first you have to know when they are.

Which months are they? The Prophet ﷺ told us and said the four sacred months are three that are consecutive: Dhul Qa'dah, Dhul Hijjah and Shahrullah al-Muharram. Dhul Qa'dah is the eleventh month. Dhul Hijjah is the twelfth month — it is also the month that we do Hajj, it is also the month that has Eid ul-Adha in it, it is also the month that has Yawm al-Arafah in it. And then Shahrullah al-Muharram — the one month that has just passed, we just finished it. Today is the first of Safar. The one month that the Prophet ﷺ called Shahrullah al-Muharram — the month of Allah, Muharram.

And the Prophet ﷺ said about that month, Muharram, that you should fast more in it than any other month except Ramadan. Now if you're aware of this, you will gain these rewards. You will show an appreciation to your religion, to your heritage, to that which the companions used as their calendar and their dates.

How the Arabs Marked Time Before the Hijri Calendar

Now, a question that we might ask ourselves is: how did this start? The Arabs, even during the time of the Prophet ﷺ, did not use a calendar year. So how did they mark events and dates and births and such things? Through events. A huge event would happen — a battle would happen, or an invasion like the invasion of the Kaaba by Abraha with the elephants. The Year of the Elephants. So they would say, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was born in the Year of the Elephants. Abu Bakr was born two years after the Year of the Elephants. This happened five years before. So they would mark it with events.

Now, they had the months still, but they didn't have a calendar year where they would say today is the first, the second, the third. They didn't have a year, but they knew about the months. And the Arabs also knew about the sacred months — this is even before the Prophet ﷺ was a messenger. These months were known. And what did they used to do with these four sacred months? They knew they were sacred, and they would not battle or wage war in these sacred months.

Now, the Quraish, being the people that they were, sometimes they would want to go into battle but then they would say, well, what do we do, it's a sacred month? And then they would say, you know what, let's just decide it isn't, and they would just move the months up and down depending on their liking. And Allah speaks about this in the Quran.

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that these months were known. Allah tells us that He gave us the sun and the moon:

So that you may know and be able to calculate years and time. And the Islamic calendar is of course based on the moon. So this is how it works: when the moon appears first and you can barely see it — which is why we have the moon-sighting discussions — this is when the month starts. When it's full moon, this is when it's about the 14th or the 15th. Then it starts getting smaller again, and when it fully disappears, the month has ended. So it's something that you can visually see. That's how we calculate the months — through vision. And you can actually see the moon cycle.

Ayyam al-Bid — The White Days

Why is this so important? The Prophet ﷺ advised us to fast on the 13th, the 14th and the 15th of every month — Ayyam al-Bid — when the moon is at its fullest. How will you know when it's Ayyam al-Bid or not? You have to keep track of the Hijri calendar.

How the Hijri Calendar Was Established

Now I'm going to briefly give you the history of how it came to be. After the death of the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr became the Khalif and then he died, Umar ibn al-Khattab became the Khalif of the Muslims. The Muslim land expanded and sometimes they would send letters to each other. There was a great companion by the name of Abu Musa al-Ash'ari who would receive letters from Umar ibn al-Khattab, and when he would receive these letters he would say, "You need to do this or that in Sha'ban" — and he wouldn't know: is it the Sha'ban that is next month, or are you talking about the following year? Because the distance was so long, they wouldn't know which Sha'ban is being referred to.

There was also an incident that occurred with Umar ibn al-Khattab — two men disagreed about when a debt had to be repaid. One said, "We agreed on Sha'ban." The other said, "Yes, but not this Sha'ban — next Sha'ban." So this caused confusion, which was why they needed to actually use a calendar year.

Then Umar ibn al-Khattab acted upon a verse in the Quran — that their affair is something that they consult each other about. He consulted his fellow companions and said, "What should we do? We need an Islamic calendar. Clearly we are in need of it, because it's causing a lot of confusion." Some of the companions suggested, "Well, there are other societies and cultures that already have calendar years, such as the Romans and the Persians — let's use theirs." Umar didn't like that. He said, "We can make our own. Why would we use theirs when we already have our own months? Let's make our own calendar year."

Then they started discussing: from which month do we start the year? Some said the most important month of the year — Ramadan — should be the first month of the year. But before we even get to the month, they discussed: at what point should the Hijri year start? When should we start counting from? Some said the birth of the Prophet — that should be year zero, and then we go on from that. Some said no, we should count it from his death, وَفَاتِهِ. They had a back and forth.

And Umar ibn al-Khattab and Uthman ibn Affan — and I believe it was Ali ibn Abi Talib, or some of the other companions — agreed that we should make the first year of the Islamic calendar the Hijra of the Prophet, the migration of the Prophet.

Why the Hijra Was Chosen as Year One

Why? There are many great moments — you could have chosen the Battle of Badr, you could have chosen the Conquest of Mecca, you could have chosen his birth. Why the Hijra? Because the Hijra was the turning point for Islam. This was when the Prophet ﷺ and the Muslims went from being people that were struggling, that were fleeing — things started going up, getting better. Yes, there were some difficulties — the Prophet got injured in the Battle of Uhud, they were surrounded in Khandaq — but the Prophet finally had a community. Islam started spreading. Things were looking upwards.

And Allah references in the Quran that — at what you might assume was the Prophet's ﷺ weakest moment, when he was hiding in a cave with Abu Bakr and they were afraid for their lives — when they went to the Battle of Tabuk and many companions refused or didn't join the Prophet ﷺ, Allah said: if you don't want to aid the Prophet ﷺ, Allah already aided him. When?

Allah is saying: I have already aided him, I have already saved him at his lowest point — when he was in the cave, when he was with his friend Abu Bakr. This is when Abu Bakr is referenced in the Quran as the صَاحِب of the Prophet ﷺ. إِذْ يَقُولُ لِصَاحِبِهِ — when he said to his friend, to his companion, to Abu Bakr: لَا تَحْزَنْ — do not worry, Abu Bakr. إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَنَا — Indeed, Allah is with us.

So the Hijra was a turning point for the Prophet ﷺ — fleeing from Mecca where they wanted to kill him, to Medina where they would give their lives for him. This is why it's such an important event, and that's year one of the Islamic calendar, which is why we call it the Hijri calendar.

This is such an important aspect of our religion. So many times of worship and occasions of worship are connected to it. So we should definitely give it more importance.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ مِنْ كُلِّ ذَنْبٍ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

Second Khutbah — Appreciating the Hijri Calendar

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَبِهِ نَسْتَعِينُ عَلَى أُمُورِ الدُّنْيَا وَالدِّينِ وَالْعَاقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ وَلَا عُدْوَانَ إِلَّا عَلَى الظَّالِمِينَ

We have spoken about how the Hijri calendar came to be, and how it is referenced in the Quran, and that it is calculated through the moon sighting. But in the end, what I want from myself and all of you is that we start appreciating it more.

Yes, we live in a society where the Gregorian calendar — named after Pope Gregory — is the main calendar. January, February, March, April — and these months are in reference to old gods that used to be worshipped. Like March — the god of war, and so on. Even though that is not the case now, now they are in reference to nothing. But you know what is in reference to something? Muharram, Rajab, Rabi' al-Awwal, Rabi' al-Thani — each one of them has significant meaning in Islam, and as Muslims we should learn about them.

So I want you to make some time and memorize them. Today is the first of Safar — and just so that you know, there isn't any specific type of worship prescribed for Safar. Although the Quraish used to think that this month was an unlucky month, and the Prophet ﷺ said there is no such thing — there is no ominous thing in Safar. And the Prophet ﷺ used that as an opportunity to teach that we as Muslims don't rely on luck charms, nor do we worry about unlucky things — a broken mirror, a black cat, a rabbit's foot, an amulet — none of that. Our reliance and our trust is in Allah:

And upon Allah — put your trust. So other than that, there is no specific worship for Safar. But the other months definitely have occasions of worship — you have Ashura that we just passed, you have Sha'ban which is the month before Ramadan, you have Ramadan, you have Dhul Hijjah, you have Rajab which is a sacred month. And if you remember these things, you can change certain things and aspects of your daily worship and adjust them to these months, insha'Allah.

Which is what I want from you all to do insha'Allah — memorize them and remember them and actually try and follow the calendar.

I ask Allah to forgive our sins and to make us of those that appreciate their religion and their history. I ask Allah to make us of those that benefit from these occasions of worship, to make us of those that have their عِزَّة and honor for their religion like the Companions did. I ask Allah to forgive all of our sins and to make us of the people of Jannah. Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alamin.