Grade 4 Fiqh Book (PDF) - Shia Multimedia

Chapter 1: Review of Grade 3 Topics
1.1 The Islamic months
In Islam we follow the lunar (moon) calendar rather than the Solar (Gregorian) calendar.
To follow the lunar calendar, we use the shape of the moon to
work out which day of the month it is. When there is a new
moon only a very thin crescent is visible to us and tells us that it
is the beginning of a new Islamic month. As the month wears on
the moon gets more and more visible so that the crescent gets
larger. By the middle of the month the crescent becomes a full
moon. Thereafter, the crescent gets smaller again until it is no
longer visible until it is time for the appearance of the new
moon.
It takes 29 or 30 days for the moon to go through all its phases, so the Islamic month has 29 or
30 days, while the calendar month has 30 or 31 days.
Following the lunar calendar means that all the Islamic months fall in different seasons as the
years go by. So if one year Ramadhan is in summer when the days are long (and therefore the
fasts are long too), then some years later Ramadhan will fall in winter when the days are short
(and the fasts too).
The Islamic year begins with the saddest month – Muharram. In this month we remember the
sacrifice that Imam Hussein (a) and his family made to save Islam.
The Islamic months from first to last are:
MUHARRAM, SAFAR, RABIUL AWWAL, RABIUL AKHAR, JAMAAD UL AWWAL,
JAMAAD UL AKHAR, RAJAB, SHABAN, RAMADHAN, SHAWWAAL, DHULQA’ADA,
DHULHIJJA
8 Grade 4 Fiqh