Significance of Islamic calendar on planning for the hereafter
By UMARU MUHAMMAD SHEHU
EVERY nation has it own calendar through which it calculates time, special events and occasions peculiar to its history and civilization.
Hence, nations with different civilizations and religions would hardly adopt the same system of calendar. It was the highly-ranked religious men of each nation who calculated the months and dates of its calendar year. This was the case with the Roman calendar, the Jewish and the Persian one.
It was the members of the Sanhedrin (the highest judicial and ecclesiastical council of the ancient Jewish nation) who calculated the months and days of the Jewish calendar. The Pontiffs in the Roman civilization calculated their calendar and the Magis calculated theirs.
Pope Gregory XIII instituted the Gregorian calendar as a revision of the Julian one in order to correct the dates of significant religious occasions (primarily Easter) and to prevent further drifts taking place in the dates.
Muslims also have their own calendar. The muslim calendar based purely on lunar cycles, was first introduced by the second Caliph, Umar Bin Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him).
Umar Bin Al-Khattab refused to adopt a system of dating, which was peculiar to any other nation and wanted to introduce a system specifically for the muslims nation. Hence, he decided to take the great event of Hijrah migration (emigration) of Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wassalam) from Makkah to Medinah as the starting point for the muslim calendar.
The beginning of the muslim calendar is indicated by faith and was pure and free of the contamination afflicting other systems where the months took on the names of idols they worshipped.
Taking the cycles of the moons as signs of the beginning of the months of the muslim calendar was a product of divine guidance. No one was (or still is to interfere in the number or names of the months of that calendar or decide when leap years occur and so on.
Allah, the Almighty says: (He it is who made the sun a shining, brightness and the moon a light, and ordained for it mansions that you might know the computation of years and the reckoning. Allah did not create it but with truth: He makes the signs manifest for a people who have knowledge (Yunus 10:5).
According to this verse, the article ‘it’ is (in) “ordained for it mansions’ refers to the moon (mansions here refers to the stages or cycles of moon). This indicates that it is Allah, the Almighty, who designated the cycles of the moon to be the criterion by which people can calculate time. Allah, the Almighty, has also designated how many months there are in the year. He, the Almighty, says: (the number of months in the sight of Allah is twelve in a year) so ordained by Him the day He created the heavens and the earth; of them four are sacred: that is the straight usage. So wrong not yourselves therein, and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together. But know that Allah is with those who restrain themselves) At-Tawbah 9:36.
Moreover, there is reference in the Holy Qur’an to some months and days, such as Ramadan, Friday and Saturday. The names of the rest of the months were referred to in the Sunnah.
The muslim calendar remained in use (on the political level) throughout the muslim world until the muslim countries were occupied by foreign colonial powers and the muslims began to lose their identity. The muslim caliphate then collapsed in the hands of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who issued a decision to the effect that the Gregorian calendar was to replace the Muslim one. Henceforth, the Gregorian calendar has been in use (on political level) throughout the muslim world.
It is high time to take the Islamic calendar into consideration and be unified in determining the beginnings and ends of lunar months in order to keep the unity of the muslim ummah. As all acts of worship are based on this calendar such as the beginning of the month or Ramadan, the day of Arafat act.
Likewise, Islamic events are based on the Islamic calendar such as the two Eids.
The life of every human being in general and muslims in particular is daily reduced towards the inevitable end of all creatures which is death.
It is one of the required principle for Muslims to believe death, and equally believe in eternal life after death and the fact that every creature will be held accountable for all that he or she did throughout the earthly life. So, prior to standing before the Almighty Allah, to be questioned on all our deeds, there is, for now, a major and crucial question that we should ask ourselves.
This question presents itself to all of us, and for our own good. It has to be precisely and honestly answered.
The question is thus, what has the muslim Ummah gained in say, 1423, 1424, 1425, 1426, and 1427 A.H.?
Before attempting to answer this question, one should ask oneself “what benefits have I gained for myself and those around me all these past years?
The Almighty Allah says in His Ever-Glorious Qur’an: And each of one you will come into Him on the Day of Resurrection, along (Maryam 19:95) and he will come unto us, alone without his wealth and children (Maryam 19:80). This is at the individual level, as everyone will meet Allah alone to receive either reward or punishment, according to his or her deeds.
So, how should one evaluate oneself for at least these past five years? How many good deeds one acquired and how many bad ones were recorded. Have you increased your Iman or is it lagging behind?
Now you are free to answer these questions either honestly or falsely. But tomorrow, your free-will will disappear and vanish. The Almighty Allah says: And they are set before your creator in ranks (and it is said unto them): Now verily have you come unto us as We create you at first. But you thought that we had set no tryst for you. And the Book is placed, and you see the guilty fearful of that which is therein, and they say: What kind of a book is this that leaves not a small thing nor a great thing but has counted it.
And they find all that they did confronting them and your creator wrongs no one (Al-Kahf 18:48-49). On the Day of Judgement, there will be no more false statements, and only the truth will prevail. There will be no place for cheating, lying or cunning.
If you could see when they are set before their Creator. He will say: Is not this real? They will affirm it is real. He will say: Taste now the retribution for that you used to disbelieve. They indeed are losers who deny their meeting with Allah, until, when the hour comes on them suddenly, they cry: Alas for Us, that we neglected it! They bear upon their back their burden. Ah, evil is that which they bear! (Al-An’am 6:30-31).
All these verses show our real stand before Allah the Almighty on the Day of Judgement.
Amazingly, when we are about to be examined on some topics in this present life of course, we expect some questions to be raised. Though we are not sure about what willl be asked, we do our best to study very well in anticipation. Yet we are given the questions we will be asked by the Almighty Allah in the Hereafter, we know them all, starting with the questions in the grave and ending with standing on a bridge between paradise and hell after the reckoning is done.
What if you sit with yourself and start to verify your previous actions and weight all your past deeds in an attempt to purify your intention, in order to make the new year 1428 AH and beyond far better than the previous ones. Contd on page 10