Women With Attitudes Muslim Calender Page The Muslim Calender is made up of twelve LUNAR months. It is Twelve days shorter than the Gregorian calender. Therefore, Ramadan moves through all four seasons about every 33 years. Ramadan falls in the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. While many Muslim's sects insist on the physical
sighting of the moon, there is no such requirement in the Quran.
The much-anticipated start of the month can now be based on the very accurate
astromomical calculations.
Understanding The Islamic Calendar and Others The Islamic Calendar, is as old as Islam. It dates
back to the oldest known civilization. God in the Quran tells us that ,
our religion, Islam, is the oldest and same religion known to mankind.
All God's prophets and messengers came with the same message of submission,
to submit to the One and
Reviewing the history of calendars show that, when God created the universe, He created the Lunar and Solar calendar. It might be interesting to know that God used the
word "MONTH" 12 times throughout the whole Quran and the word "DAY" 365
times throughout the whole Quran.
HISTORICAL REVIEW Historians have been talking about the calendars as a creation of man, completely ignoring the reasons behind the perfect system in the sky that enabled man to mark his days, weeks, months and years. They missed the fact that the calendars are a deliberate design of the One and ONLY Creator, God Almighty. Throughout the existence of mankind, people have
been aware of the special rhythms of the sun and the moon. The rudiments
of a calendric system may have been constructed as long ago as 2000 BC,
when stone alignments were
ANCIENT CALENDARS The ancient Sumerians devised the first known lunar
calendar about 5,000 years ago. The Moon's phases occur over an easily
observed interval, the month; religious authorities declared a month to
have begun when they first saw the new crescent Moon. During cloudy weather,
when it was impossible to see the Moon, the beginning of the month was
determined by calculation.
A lunar year is not suitable for agricultural purposes. To keep in step with the Sun, lunar-solar calendars were formed by adding an additional (leap) month when the observation of crops made it seem necessary. Hundreds of such calendars, with variations, were formed at various times in such different areas as Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, India, and China. Romans, during the late republic, used various
lunar-solar calendars. These calendars were supposedly based only on observation,
but in fact they were influenced by political considerations. The Roman
calendar was in error by several months during the reign of Julius Caesar,
who recognized the need for a stable, predictable calendar and formed one
with the help of an astronomer, Sosigenes. The year 46 BC was given 445
days, to compensate for past errors, and every common year thereafter was
to have 365 days. Every fourth year, starting with 45 BC, was to be designated
a leap year of 366 days, during which February, which commonly had 28 days,
was extended by one day. The rule was not correctly applied, but the calendar
was corrected by Augustus Caesar by AD 8.
GREGORIAN CALENDAR The Julian leap-year rule created 3 leap years too many in every period of 385 years. As a result, the actual occurrence of the equinoxes and solstices drifted away from their assigned calendar dates. As the date of the spring equinox determines that of Easter, the church was concerned, and Pope Gregory XIII introduced what is now called the Gregorian calendar. Wednesday, Oct. 4, 1582 (Julian), was followed by Thursday, Oct. 15, 1582 (Gregorian); leap years occur in years exactly divisible by four, except that years ending in 00 must be divisible by 400 to be leap years. Thus, 1600, 1984, and 2000 are leap years, but 1800 and 1900 are not. The Gregorian civil calendar is a solar calendar,
calculated without reference to the Moon. However, the Gregorian calendar
also includes rules for determining the date of Easter and other religious
holidays, which are based on both the Sun and the Moon. The Gregorian calendar
was quickly adopted by Roman Catholic countries. Other countries adopted
it later, sometimes choosing only the civil part. It was not adopted by
the Soviet Union until 1918; Turkey did not adopt it until 1927.
YEAR BEGINNING The year used to begin at different times in different
localities. The Roman year began in March; December, whose name is derived
from the Latin word for "ten," was the tenth month of the year. In 153
BC, Roman consuls began taking office on January 1, which became the beginning
of the year. This practice was retained in the Julian and Gregorian calendars,
although other starting dates continued to be used; England and its colonies,
for example, used March 25 and the Julian reckoning until 1752. Thus, George
Washington was officially born on Feb. 11, 1731, Old Style (O.S.); this
is Feb. 22, 1732, Gregorian, or New Style (N.S.).
WEEK The Babylonians used a nonastronomical, 7-day interval,
the week, which was adopted by the Jews. The seventhday, the Sabbath, was
given a religious significance. Independently, the Romans associated a
cycle of 7 days with
YEAR In ancient calendars, years were generally numbered
according to the year of a ruler's reign. About AD 525, a monk named Dionysius
Exiguus suggested that years be counted from the birth of Christ, which
was designated AD (anno Domini, "the year of the Lord") 1. This proposal
came to be adopted throughout Christendom during the next
The year before AD 1 is designated 1 BC (before
Christ). Dionysius had referred the year of Christ's birth to other eras.
Modern chronology, however, places the event at about 4 BC. The 1st century
of the Christian Era began in AD 1, the 2d in AD 101; the 21st will begin
in 2001.
THE HEBREW CALENDAR The Hebrew calendar in use today begins at the
Creation, which the Jewish scholars calculated to have occurred 3,760 years
before the Christian era. The week consists of 7 days, beginning with Saturday,
the Sabbath; the year consists of 12 lunar months--Tishri, Heshvan, Kislav,
Tebet, Shebat, Adar, Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Ab, and Elul--which are
alternately 29 and 30 days long. Because a year is some 11 days longer
than 12 lunar months, a 13th month ve-Adar, is added seven times during
every 19-year cycle
THE ISLAMIC CALENDAR (HIJRA CALENDAR) The Islamic Calendar began at the day and year
(July 16, 622, by the Gregorian calendar) when the Prophet Muhammed emigrated
from Mecca to Medina. There are 12 lunar months of alternate 30 and 29
days, making the
The Islamic day as we can now appreciate is the
same day used by the oldest civilization, the same as the Hebrew day. It
begins at sunset and ends at the next sunset. In the Story of Creation,
in the Bible, it says : "And there was evening and there was morning one
day." Evening marked the beginning of the new day. In the Quran, God always
mentions the night before the day.
HOW TO CALCULATE THE NEW ISLAMIC MONTH To calculate when a new lunar month begins we need
to know two facts, the first is the exact time of the birth of the new
moon, and the second fact is the exact time of the sunset of the same day.
The new lunar month begins theoretically at the birth of the new moon,
but begins practically at the first sunset to follow the birth of the new
moon. God already gave us enough knowledge to calculate the beginning of
the first day of Ramadan for the next
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