The Start of the Hijri Calendar

The Start of the Hijri Calendar

The Prophet's migration was the basis of a great change; it was a focal point in the progress of Islam. Due to this historic event, Muslims were free from shackles and they could live freely and run gatherings. This was of utmost significance at that time. If this migration had not occurred, Islam would have been strangled in Mecca and it would have never had any chance to grow. After the migration, Muslims could establish their political and military organization and Islam grew in the Arabian Peninsula.

However, the following two questions require answer: Who established this calendar for the first time? Since when was it put into effect? Muslim historians unanimously agree that this feat was done by `Umar ibn al-Kha§§¡b after consultation and deliberations with the Holy Prophet's grand companions.[1] However, another research indicates that the initiator for this feat was the Holy Prophet himself. Some great Muslim historians have written that the Holy Prophet, after his migration to Yathrib in Rab¢` al-Awwal, ordered that events should be referred in relation to this day.[2] The documents for this claim are some of the Holy Prophet's letters, documents and communications which are handed down to us and dated from the above date. There are two samples here:

(1) The Holy Prophet signed a treaty with the Jews of Muqn¡ ending with the following statement: Written by `Al¢ ibn Ab¢-±¡lib in the ninth year of Hegira.[3]

(2) In a treaty with the Christians of Najr¡n, we read the following: The Holy Prophet ordered `Al¢ to write down: This treaty is signed in the fifth year of Hegira.[4]

Based on some documents, the recording of events and affairs up to the fifth year of Hegira took place on the basis of months alone. Here are some such documents:

Ab£-Sa`¢d Khidr¢ says: Fasting during the month of Rama¤¡n was enacted as obligatory one month after the change of the kiblah (i.e. the direction faced in prayers) during the eighteenth month of Hegira.[5]

`Abdull¡h Ibn Unays, the commander of the army sent to war against Sufy¡n ibn Kh¡lid writes: I left Medina on Monday, the fifth of Mu¦arram; the fiftieth month of Hegira.”[6]

Mu¦ammad ibn Maslamah, recounting the campaign against the tribe of Qur§¡,[7] writes: I left Medina on the tenth of Mu¦arram and returned on the last night of Mu¦arram, the fiftieth month after Hegira, after a leave of nineteen days.”[8]

For these reasons, the founder of the Hijri calendar was the Holy Prophet;[9] and since, in the reign of `Umar, there appeared some disagreements on the exact dates of some historical events,[10] he formalized this calendar on the sixteenth year of Hegira, and in place of Rab¢` al-Awwal—the month in which the Holy Prophet arrived in Medina—he appointed Mu¦arram as the starting point of the Hijri calendar.[11]