WE HAVE ENTERED the sacred month of Muharram and with it a new Islamic year, 1445 AH.
We do not celebrate the new Hijri year like we see other nations do with fireworks or drunken parties or grand melas or resolutions we don’t intend to keep.
But in a world dominated by the secular framework, we need to make an effort to connect to and explore our own calendar for as we will see our deen, history, and identity are related to this calendar.
Calendars have become part of our lives. People populate them with things that are important to them- birthdays, anniversaries, important meetings, gatherings, and events.
Nations populate calendars with their important historical and religious events so binding the people to a shared identity. In Britain, for instance, the calendar will have Easter and Christmas, the Bank Holidays, St George’s day, the King’s Coronation, etc. Other nations will have Independence Day, Victory Day and Language Movement Day, etc.
Whilst we are familiar with these calendars, we may be less familiar with our own calendar which has been removed from our daily lives apart from the two Eids and Ramadhan.
Rather, for the Muslims, it is a matter of being connected to and being aware of the Islamic signs and it is a matter that links this ummah to its heritage.
There is much more than just Ramadhan, Hajj and Eid that is linked to the Islamic calendar.
Zakah is calculated on the lunar calendar. The iddah of a widow is four lunar months and ten days. The iddah of a menopausal woman is three lunar months. If the signs of bulugh (puberty) are absent, the age of puberty is calculated according to the Hijri calendar and not the Gregorian one. The kaffarah (expiation) for certain sins is fasting two Islamic months consecutively. Fasts like Ashura and Arafah are all linked to the Islamic calendar.
But our calendar is much more than religious activities.
What is interesting is that we did not always have a calendar. In the time of the Prophet ﷺ, the years would be named according to some significant event.
For instance, the Prophet ﷺ was born in the Year of the Elephant. He became a prophet in the Year of Revelation. His wife Khadijah (ra) died in the Year of Sorrow etc.
It was at the time of Umar al Khattab (ra) in 16AH when the khilafah was expanding, that not having a calendar proved an administrative dilemma for the Muslims. In the time when messages were sent by horse and camel, knowing which instruction came first and which later became confusing.
Umar (ra) gathered the sahabah. Whilst the Muslims were familiar with the Roman, Persian, and Jewish calendars, they were able to think independently and create a calendar that reflected their needs and aspirations rather than just imitate those nations.
What is most intriguing is that the Islamic Era did not start with the victories of Islamic wars, nor with the birth or death of the Prophet ﷺ nor even with the Revelation of the Quran itself.
It started with the Hijra.
What was so significant about the Hijrah? As Umar (ra) himself said: “The Hijrah has separated truth from falsehood, therefore, let it become the beginning of the Era.”
The Hijrah was about change. Change from weakness to strength. Change from fear to security. Change from few to many. Change from individual dawah to universal dawah. Change from a group of Believers to an Ummah. Change from Islam being in the hearts and minds of the Believers to Islam being manifest all around. The Hijrah saw the establishment of the State in Madinah, and through it Islam was protected, implemented, and propagated.
Our entire history is in relation to this Hijri calendar.
Today, knowing about the Hijrah and its significance is more important as we as a people have been cut off from our history, and deliberately so.
It is only when we go back into the past and find out where we once were, that we will know that we were not always at this low level that we find ourselves in today. That we once had attained a higher level, did great things, contributed to society, civilization, science etc. When we know this history, we know that if we did it once before we can do it again. We find the incentive, the inspiration, and the energy necessary to do what our forefathers formerly did.
That is why we (and especially our children) need to be aware of our history. It is our story. It is what gives us our identity. It gives us purpose.
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