Islamic Calendar Celebrates Hijrat (Migration): Quran Advises Muslims To Migrate From A Disturbed Land
By
New Age Islam Staff Writer
4 August
2023
1. Migration
played an important role in the history of mankind.
2. All of
humanity is said to have migrated from Africa and populated different parts of the
world.
3. Prophet Noah
migrated with his community.
1. 3.The Aryans
migrated from Central Asia to Europe and South Asia.
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The Islamic
calendar starts with Hijra and it was marked as the beginning of Islamic
calendar The Hijra took place during the month of Muharram and so the Islamic
year starts from Muharram, the most sacred and eventful month. The Islamic
calendar was introduced during the caliphate of Hadhrat Umar when a dispute
occurred between two people and the day of transaction between them could not
be ascertained. Hadhrat Umar had consultations with his companions including
Hadhrat Ali r.a. and all agreed on Hijra as the beginning of the Islamic
calendar.
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Also Read: When
And How Did Hijrah Announce The Start Of The Islamic Calendar Year?
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Hijra or
the migration of the prophet pbuh and his companions to Madina was an important
event in the history of Islam. In Madina, the Muslims acquired a distinct
identity as a religious community. The migration was a major turning point in
the lives of Muslims as they found a way forward and new avenues of progress
and development. The date of the birth of the prophet or the date of his
prophethood was not as important to the Muslims as the date of Hijra because
Islam had developed in the Muslims a sense of collective achievement. Migration
was a collective step towards forming a community based on Islamic ideals.
Hijra calendar was not introduced by Hadhrat Umar arbitrarily but with the
consultation with his companions.
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Also Read: When
Did The Islamic Hijri Calendar Begin?
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Why Do We Count The Age Of Islam From The Beginning Of The Hijrah And Not From The Beginning Of The Revelation And The Call?
29-07-2012
Question
176819
My question
is I have noticed when a non Muslim asks about the age Islam after prophet hood
we as Muslims answer only with the years after Hijrah, my question is why do we
always leave out the first 13 years of prophet hood before Hijrah. I know the
year of Hijrah was a great year yet we all know that prophet hood started 13
years before this so when answering why don’t we mention this like now we are
1433 AH yet when answering why don’t we say Islam after prophet hood is 1446
adding the 13 years before the period. insha allah you can explain why we dont
add the first 13 years into our answer.
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Also Read: Islamic
Solar Calendar: Eclipsed by Politics and Ideology
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Biography
of the Prophet
Answer
Praise be
to Allah.
No doubt
the years that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) spent in
Makkah before the Hijrah (migration to Madinah), when he was calling people to
the path of his Lord, enduring persecution and patiently putting up with the
annoyance and accusations of the foolish, could be considered as part of the
age of Islam; indeed they are among the greatest years of Islam because during
this time the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was relying
completely upon his Lord, thinking positively of Him, and patiently bearing
persecution for His sake.
This is
something that no wise person would doubt and no one would deny it at all,
whether he is Muslim or otherwise.
But the
reason why the people adopted the Hijri calendar as a means of defining the
year in which a particular event took place, which is something that people
need to do, is that this date is the one that the Sahaaba unanimously agreed to
take as the beginning of their calendar. This decision was made at the time of
‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), because it is the actual
date of the founding of the Islamic state, when the Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) and migrated and settled in Madinah, and the people
gathered around him and supported him, and he built the mosque, and other
events that followed the Hijrah. So the features of the Islamic state began to
develop and it took on a clear form geographically, socially, militarily and
politically. Before that the Muslims did not have a state or any political
system to unite them.
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Also Read: The
Jewish Calendar
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The Sahaaba
(may Allah be pleased with them) reached a unanimous decision in 16 AH – or, it
was said, 17 AH or 18 AH – during ‘Umar’s caliphate, to make the Islamic
calendar begin with the year in which the Hijrah occurred. That was because a
case was referred to Ameer al-Mu’mineen ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him)
concerning a contract that one man had with another, saying that what he owed
him became due in Sha’aban.
‘Umar said;
Which Sha’aban? The Sha’aban of this year we are in now or of last year or of
next year? Then he summoned the Sahaaba and consulted them about adopting a
calendar from which they could determine when debts became due and the like.
Someone
suggested adopting the Persian calendar, but he did not like that. Someone else
suggested adopting the Byzantine calendar, but he did not like that. Others
suggested dating it from the birth of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him), or from the beginning of his mission, or from his
migration (Hijrah) or from his death.
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Also Read: Awwal
Muharram (First Day of Islamic Calendar) — A Day of Celebration
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‘Umar (may
Allah be pleased with him) was inclined to choose the date of the Hijrah
because it is known when it occurred, and they agreed with him.
The point
is that they made the beginning of the Islamic calendar the year of the Hijrah,
and they made the first month of the Islamic year Muharram, as was narrated
from them. This is the view of the majority of imams, so that people could
conduct their business on that basis, with no confusion.
See:
al-Bidaayah wa’n-Nihaayah, 3/251-253
Al-Bukhari
narrated in his Saheeh (3934) that Sahl ibn Sa‘d said: They did not start the
calendar from the beginning of the Prophet’s mission or from his death; they
only started it from the time of his arrival in Madinah.
Al-Haafiz
Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The incidents that are connected to the life of
the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and that could have been
taken as the start of the calendar are four: his birth, the start of his
mission, his migration (Hijrah) and his death. They thought it was best to
start the calendar from the Hijrah, because in the case of his birth and the
start of his mission, there would be uncertainty with regard to the exact year.
As for the time of his death, they chose not to use it because remembering it
would renew their grief. So there was no choice left except the Hijrah. And
they chose to regard Muharram as the first month of the year rather than Rabee‘
al-Awwal because the plan to migrate started to take shape in Muharram. The
oath of allegiance (Bay‘Ah) – that was the precursor to the Hijrah – had
taken place during Dhu’l-Hijjah, and the first new moon after the oath of
allegiance and the decision to migrate was that of Muharram. So it was
appropriate to make it the first month of the year. This is the best
explanation I have come across as to why the year starts with Muharram.
Al-Haakim narrated that Sa‘eed ibn al-Musayyab
said: ‘Umar assembled the people and asked them what the first day of the
calendar should be. ‘Ali said: (It should start) from the day when the
Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) migrated and left
the land of shirk. So ‘Umar did that. End quote.
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Also Read: Reflections
on Hijrah and the Muslim Calendar
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The one who
says that the age of Islam started with the Hijrah is referring to the calendar
and what the people agreed upon of creating a system so that people could know
the dates of events and define the times of contracts, the dates of visits by
delegations, and the like. This is something on which the people agreed during
the caliphate of ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) and it has remained so
up until the present day. The start of this calendar marks, as ‘Umar intended,
the establishment of the (Islamic) state, which only began with the Hijrah.
As for the
beginning of Islam itself and people’s awareness of it, we do not need to point
out that this took place before that time. Indeed the meaning of the word Islam
in general includes the religion that Allah approved for His slaves and with
which He sent His Prophets and Messengers. But this is not what we are
discussing here.
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Also Read: Awwal
Muharram (First Day of Islamic Calendar) — A Day of Celebration
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We do not
believe that anyone could imagine that Islam only began with the Hijrah and
ignore the years of da‘wah during which the Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) and those who were with him in Makkah strove to establish
the faith. No one would say this.
And
Allah knows best.
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