Re: Islamic Calendar Article
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Peace,
Here is the issue as I see it. The Quran is not outdated but we have been looking at this all wrong. The Quran used words like Ramadaan, Kaabah, Mecca and Bakka and Holy months being ma'loomat, and ahillat knowing that the Arabs at the time or those focused on their practices could either choose the universal application of the Quran or not. The Quran says that it also leads astray but it only leads astray those who have wrong in their hearts. It would seem that most of the Arabs of Muhammad's day, or atleast the ones that won out, had wrong in their hearts so they opted for the meanings of words like Makkah and Kaabah that confirmed their established Arab traditions. But this was wrong.
In accordance with the Old Arabic language that the Quran is written in
Ramadaan = A season or lasting time of Heat
shah-r = Literally all the periods of time that it might take from one new moon to the next. It literally is a standard of time based off of a lunation which can vary from 29.27 to about 29.83 days. This calculation takes into account 24 hour days and not sightings of the moon based on days that start from sundown to sundown like the jewish day or sunrise to sunrise like the Quranic day. In which case if the moon was sited during the day time on the 29.27th day the next day wouldn't start until sundown making the month 30 days. So depending on where this 29.27 to 29.83 days cycle ends (and was cited) an old-school Arabic shahr could have been 29 or 30 days.
The Quran prefers the 30 day opinion, when it equates missing a day's fast with feeding a needy person and mising 2 months of fast with feeding 60 people. 584 and 2184 "And an acceptable substitute for those who are able to rough through a daily-fast is the feeding of someone in need."Ka'bat = true honor/glory
Makkat= true destruction
Bakkat= High rank, a cut above the rest, distinguished, crowding
Ahillat= Things that are selected to be consecrated. from haleel, from maa uhilla.
Ma'loomat= tu'lamu= "is to be (should be) dinstinguished, well known, discerned"So if we put all the pieces together we don't need the old Arabic calendar. Because during the hot seasons in any place that we may be we are to fast for 30 days.
"God, with true glory(al-ka'bata), will make (the)sacred houses ((the)sanctuaries Al-baitul-haraamu) an upliftment for mankind" 597
"They will ask you about the consecrations (ahillatun, from haleel, from maa uhilla). Say They are to be timed (mawaaqeet from mawqoot, not meeqaat here) for the benefit of the people" 2189
The consecrations are to be timed for the people and not at random during the Hajj, and instead of that whole entering through the back doors thing that verse can be understood as 'By the pilgrimage! Righteousness isn't entering the houses of God just to make your appearences there(bi'an ta'too al-buyoota bidhuhoorihaa). The righteous individual is the one who is worried about his well-being (attaqaa). So go through the doors of these houses (al-buyoota) and worry about God so that you can succeed." 2189
"The season(s) of pilgrimage should be (are to be) months that will (are to) be well-known, distinguished, discernable" 2197 That means we can chose them, and that we should make them clear and widely known.
"The count of 30 day units as far as God is concerned is to be 12 (no more no less). This was his decree the day he made the heavens and the earth. Four of them should be (are to be) sacred, and that will be (is to be) how it stands. (the standing order/rule)." 936
"And when you are fully vulnerable (bi batni makkata(literally "in the belly of perdition/destruction)), it is God who would hold your forces (yadhand,support,power, backing) back from them and their forces back from you, discounting (min ba'da an, in its sense of ibti&aadan an) the possiblity (or on top of the possibility) that he may empower you so that you can defeat them." 4824
(There are times when both sides in times of struggle are on edge and damages may be fatal to both sides, but it is God through his book (and us following his decrees) and through his divine will that maintains those tentative times of peace that we may need and appreciate)
Taking all this into account the Arabs could have understood Makkah as the city of Makkah and The Ka'bah as the Holy shrine in Mecca. They could have, with reason, kept the traditional months of pilgrimage as they were widely known. (which unkoranically they preferred to understand as literal lunations, and not its other meanings as periods of 29 days or periods of 30 days)
And they could have grammatically and through their unkoranic understanding continued to understand ahillat as moon phases. But with linguistic analysis and analyzing the Quran they didn't have to. The Arabs of that time had all of the tools to understand the Quran right if they would have analyzed the Quran more. As well as those who learned Classical Arabic latter and paid more attention to Christian, Jewish, or tradition Pre-Quranic Arab trends of thought. As well as the Rumorous literature of the Hadeeth. I'm sure some Arabs had it right on but the righteous are always few, amongst all people. In addition to that speakers of languages are often tricked by their own language, often not recognizing the subtle differnces that 1 word can have depending on the context, or the different meanings a word can take on. You can easily take a word like 'light' in english and use it in a way that would confuse the native and make him comfront the fact that he has become accustomed to using one word in a number of different ways, all of which he was not conscious of. That is why the dictionaries like lisaanul-Arab and others, as insightful as they might be are limited by the analytical potential of their authors. Arabs have traditionally used the word shah-r to refer to the period between one hilaal(new crescent) and the other, but have always just associated it with the new moon. Like an english speaker might not realize that a month can also be 28 or 29 or 31 days, because he usually associates it with the average 30. Or he may not realize other subtleties because he usually thinks of the word in the context of the names April, may or june. Most times he automically assumes all of the meanings and then deduces later as he learns more.
But over all despite the mistakes of our forefathers we now have the correct understanding which we see frees takes alot of burden off of us.
Godlbess,
AnwarI still would like it if anyone could come up with examples were the evocative 'a' in bakkata and makkata can over-ride prepositions like 'bi, fee' or possession constructions (al-idaafat)
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salam i stay in a tropical climate..n its hot all yr round..so when is my ramadan?
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Peace be upon you
Peace Jhamza
"...Full Moon of Scorching Heat and the 10 day Fast would fall in late Ramadan or Early Shawwal al Mukkaram, based on when the full moon after the summer solstice occurs...."
I am interested in your above analysis. Can you please elaborate (specifically the reason for 10 days fast and why you think Shawwal can be included for the fast?)
The 30 or 31 days a month is it random or there is a reason behind it?
Also according to these facts, on which date should be the Full Moon of scorching heat and the fast should be for this year.
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Peace brother warner,
I apologize for the delayed reply. I have been going through some hard times and have not been visiting the forum as frequently as I would like to. Following are the corrected links for the relevant discussions
http//www.free-minds.org/forum/index.php?topic=3875.0
http//www.free-minds.org/forum/index.php?topic=2757.0
May Allah guide us all to the straight path and solve all our difficulties and problems.
Peace
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Did anyone read Niazy Ezzel Din's Book about "El Nassee'"? I think he makes some excellent points about the calendar that are very close to your conclusions. In fact, I've been following that calendar for the past 4 or 5 years. Hope if someone has read to get your comments/ideas.
Thanks.
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Peace aboulseoud,
Where can I find that book ? I tried doing a google and amazon.com search but did not come up with any hits.
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Peace,
If you live in a tropic region then I'm sure you have a season where it is hotter than other seasons. If it is the the same all year long then just pick one month out of the year to fast in.
Peace,
I used to disagree with the extreme heat idea. But now I do agree with it. However, there had to be some reconciliation with grammatical features. The only way it works is if shah-ru ramadaana is read s shahru-rramadaana and understood as shah-run ramadaanan, which would equal shah-run saifan, and the alladhee has to refer to the Quran, and the hi in feehi to God/ in it(referring to the month). Therefore shahruramadaana (A month of during heat (literally heat-wise) alladhee unzila feehi al-quraanu (what was revealed in it, was this reading (the Quran).
So definitely I agree that we should fast for 30 days during our summer (extremely/consistently hot) seasons. And if we have to suffer through this to complete this task then we can make it up by feeding someone in need for each day of fasting we miss.
As for a month being 30 days I've discussed this in other posts and shown how the Quran consistenly relates a month (shahrun) to 30 days.
The one case where it would seem it doesn't is not equalling the daily fasting to it's compensation but mentioning compensation for another act (being when separate from out wives out of enmity and animosity, even violently)For a site with this info you can go to
www.quranists.com and go to the link "Times for hajj and Ramadan"Godbless,
Anwar