Jan Feb 2010 - Ahmadiyya Gazette Canada

Hijri Shamsi Calendar
By Zia H. Shah M.D
“Allah it is Who made the sun radiate
a brilliant light and the moon reflect a
luster, and ordained for it stages, that you
might learn the method of calculating the
years and determining time. Allah has not
created this system but for a purpose. He
expounds the Signs in detail for a people
who have knowledge.” (Al Qur’ān 10:6)
As the Homo sapiens evolved, few
basic root words of Arabic were
revealed to them. They began
to communicate with each other
better.
They saw that when the sun is
out, there is light out there; they
called it a day and the dark phase
they called it night. They started
counting the days. They had
no idea that there is something
called midnight. So, a new cycle
started at sunset as it continues
to be in the Hebrew calendar.
They also began to see the changing
cycles of weather and realized that
they come at a regular frequency and
they wanted to be able to predict them
and communicate about them and that
gave rise to the need for calendars.
The ancient civil Egyptian calendar
had a year that was 365 days long
and was divided into 12 months of 30
days each, plus 5 extra days at the end
of the year. The months were divided
into 3 “weeks” of ten days each; an
arrangement remarkably similar to the
French Republican Calendar invented
Hijri Shamsi Calendar
nearly 5,000 years later. Perhaps, it was
in Egypt that the first calendar started.
All reckoning and all calendars depend
on the movements of the sun and the
moon. The moon moves round the
earth and thereby we are able to know
the measure of months. The earth
moves round the sun and also rotates
on its own axis, thus enabling us to
measure our years as well as our days.
The Holy Qur’ān says:
He it is Who made the sun radiate a brilliant
light and the moon reflect a lustre, and
ordained for it stages, that you might know
the number of years and the reckoning
of time. Allah has not created this but in
truth. He details the Signs for a people who
have knowledge. (10:6)
In the Holy Qur’ān, the first indirect
mention about the calendar is with the
mention of Kaaba and the Hajj in the
times of the Prophet Abrahamas, who
lived approximately 4000 years ago:
And remember the time when We
assigned to Abraham the site of
the House and said, ‘Associate not
anything with Me, and keep My
House clean for those who perform
the circuits, and those who stand up
and those who bow down and fall
prostrate in Prayers; ‘And proclaim
unto mankind the Pilgrimage.
They will come to thee on foot,
and on every lean camel, coming
by every distant track, ‘That they
may witness its benefits for them
and may mention the name of
Allah, during the appointed days,
over the quadrupeds of the class
of cattle that He has provided for
them. Then eat ye thereof and feed
the distressed, the needy. ‘Then
let them accomplish their needful
acts of cleansing, and fulfill
their vows, and go around the
Ancient House.’ (Al Qur’ān 22:27-30)
The Muslim celebrations are based
on the lunar calendar, but, before
we can study lunar calendars, let us
understand the solar calendar in some
detail.
THE SOLAR
CALENDARS, THE
LEAP YEARS AND POPE
GREGORY XIII
Leap years are years with 366 days,
instead of the usual 365. Leap years are
22