Thursday 2 January 2020

The Negative Reactions on Greetings of New Solar Year: The Need to Have a Second Thought



Muhammad Qasim Oyèkọ́lá

Introduction
Some years back when I was just a Johnny-just-come in the art of using the Social Media I sent a happy new year greeting and well-wishing message to a Muslim Journalist (not an Ahmadi-Muslim). She did not quickly recognise my contact and she asked who I was. I responded and introduced myself that I was a guest on a national radio program that she produced. I was taken aback when she replied that I was not expected to send such a message to her on the celebration of 'non-believers' festival! Quickly I sent her an apology message! It ended there. But I was disappointed and I asked myself:  how could a journalist, and of course a Muslim, be of such intellectual stance?
Annually, such an encounter as depicted above has been a viral experience of some of us who are not bigots on issues like this. This is far from self-praise.  Very early of 1st January 2019, I sent a similar message on some social media platforms. Lo and behold! One of the recipients tagged my new year post a 'fake'! Again, a Muslim fellow!

Demystifying the Concept of Solar Calendar in Islam
 
Without going into any mathematical or historical discussion on how our solar or Gregorian calendar emerged, it is pertinent to consider some empirical analysis of the lawfulness of the concept in Islam.
To start with, many of our Muslim brothers and sisters on the other side of understanding would always adhere to Hijr Qamari calendar, commonly called Hijra calendar, as the sole year calculations for Muslims! Are they correct? No! And to entertaining such a thought too could be myopic. Clearly does Qur'an sanction the use of the Sun and the Moon for the calculations of time and date! Let us consider the following:

هُوَ ٱلَّذِى جَعَلَ ٱلشَّمْسَ ضِيَآءً وَٱلْقَمَرَ نُورًا وَقَدَّرَهُۥ مَنَازِلَ لِتَعْلَمُوا۟ عَدَدَ ٱلسِّنِينَ وَٱلْحِسَابَ ۚ مَا خَلَقَ ٱللَّهُ ذَٰلِكَ إِلَّا بِٱلْحَقِّ ۚ يُفَصِّلُ ٱلْءَايَٰتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْلَمُونَ
“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-Yunus: 6

وَجَعَلْنَا ٱلَّيْلَ وَٱلنَّهَارَ ءَايَتَيْنِ ۖ فَمَحَوْنَآ ءَايَةَ ٱلَّيْلِ وَجَعَلْنَآ ءَايَةَ ٱلنَّهَارِ مُبْصِرَةً لِّتَبْتَغُوا۟ فَضْلًا مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَلِتَعْلَمُوا۟ عَدَدَ ٱلسِّنِينَ وَٱلْحِسَابَ ۚ وَكُلَّ شَىْءٍ فَصَّلْنَٰهُ تَفْصِيلًا
“And We have made the night and the day two Signs, and the Sign of night We have made dark, and the Sign of day We have made sight-giving, that you may seek bounty from your Lord, and that you may know the computation of years and the science of reckoning. And everything We have explained with a detailed explanation”. 17-Al-Isra: 13

A very keen reader of the above Words of Allah would agree with us that both the sun and the moon are mentioned in the two verses. Between the two celestial bodies, it is the sun that human being makes use before the moon. A Muslim is required to reach certain ages before s/he is required to worship Allah during the months like Ramadan and Dhul Hijja. To make our assertion clearer, it is the sun that determines the calculation of birth date of any child especially in Islam? Or what do we use to determine the day of the child's Aqeeqah rites? The sun or the moon? It is the Sun. And as the age of the child counts, the movement of the sun remains the factor that determines its number!

Furtherance to the above, while the lunar activities determine when we observe fasting in the month of Ramadan, performance of the pilgrimage, Eidul Adha etc, the sun is never made redundant. It still determines when we observe the regular prayers (Salat). It guides us to when we break the fasting. Or do we wait for rising or appearance of the moon in the night before we take iftar? Surely, No. And when we break our fasting at sunset, it means the day of fasting, nay the end of month of Ramadan is counting down. 

Secondly, regardless its Islamic version, is the lunar calendar the sole concept or property of the Muslims? Surely, no! The use of lunar calendar predates Islam! It was also in use in the Yoruba traditional settings before the advent of Euro-Christian culture in our domain.
Yoruba equivalent word for month is Oṣù. Quite interestingly, Oṣù is the Yoruba name of the celestial object that we refer to as crescent while its full version – moon is called Òṣùpá. Kazeem (2016) posits on how Yoruba made use of both lunar phenomenon:





"The next unit of time which the Yorubas derive from celestial-cosmic factors is the month, which is based upon the waxing and waning of the moon. A month is called oṣù (a word derived from oṣùpa, moon). The months in Yoruba culture are: Oṣù-sẹrẹ (January), Oṣù – erélé (February), Oṣù -erénà (March), Oṣù-igbe (April), Oṣù-èbìbí (May), Oṣù-okúdù (June), Oṣù- agẹmọ (July), Oṣù- ògún (August), Oṣù-owérè (September), Oṣù-ọwàrà (October), Oṣù-belu (November), Oṣù-òpẹ (December). Some of these months are named after some deities and some type of crop farming. Thus, religious motivations and activities of deities such as Oṣù- agẹmọ (the month of Agemo), Oṣù- ògún (the month of ògún) are important factors in month-tagging and in the activities that are undertaken in such months. Yet, some other months are named after economic intimations, e.g. Oṣù-òpẹ (month of surplus palms) while some are effects of social constructs. A lunar-phenomenological year that contains twelve months is used in traditional Yoruba culture." [sic.]

It is important to add here that Kazeem's view of Yoruba lunar months that we referred to above  is of a part of Yoruba nation. Ladele et al (2006) add and assert that traditional Yoruba lunar calendar months are thirteen in number and that they count from the 13th month down to the 1st. They further establish that the 13th month being the first in the counting is the equivalent of December of the Gregorian Calendar month!

It gladdens our hearts to learn that the general and original names of the Yoruba lunar calendar months do not have any idolized names; rather they are named with the number of their respective position. We have said earlier that appearances of the crescent also determine the Yoruba calendar. To our surprise, our research has not discovered whether the Yoruba traditional calendar ever had any solar calendar. It is therefore evident that cultures have been using the lunar counting before Islam.
 

Again, Encyclopedia Britannica asserts that Jewish Religion also makes use of lunar counting for its religious activities. It writes:


"Lunar calendars remain in use among certain religious groups today. The Jewish calendar, which supposedly dates from 3,760 years and three months before the Christian Era (bce) is one example. The Jewish religious year begins in autumn and consists of 12 months alternating between 30 and 29 days." 

It is important to note the clause: "The Jewish religious year...consists of 12 months alternating between 30 and 29 days."! Any difference between that and Islamic lunar year? And the former predates the latter.

Hence, Hadhrat Umar (rd) the second Caliph of the Prophet (saw) was not the first proponent of the lunar Calendar; he only introduced it into the Islamic system.

Thirdly, the system of burial; let us consider it a case study under this discussion. While some cultures take to cremation, we Muslims take to grave burial. Is the use of grave for the burial of human being the idea of Muslims? The answer of my reader is as good as mine: No, it isn't. Is it even the idea of human being to use grave for burial? Ordinary bird introduced and taught it human beings. If it was not the idea of Islam to bury our deads in the grave and that it predates Islam, and it was a concept that was introduced from the animal kingdom, why do we use it? Why did the Prophet (saw) recommended it? It was good and nothing can be better than it. It also has the support of Allah. Nay Allah inspired the Raven to teach Cain:

فَبَعَثَ ٱللَّهُ غُرَابًا يَبْحَثُ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ لِيُرِيَهُۥ كَيْفَ يُوَٰرِى سَوْءَةَ أَخِيهِ ۚ قَالَ يَٰوَيْلَتَىٰٓ أَعَجَزْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِثْلَ هَٰذَا ٱلْغُرَابِ فَأُوَٰرِىَ سَوْءَةَ أَخِى ۖ فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ ٱلنَّٰدِمِينَ
“Then Allah sent a raven which scratched in the ground, that He might show him how to hide the corpse of his brother. He said, ‘Woe is me! Am I not able to be even like this raven so that I may hide the corpse of my brother?’ And then he became regretful”. 5-Al-Ma'ida : 32)

Our Muslim brothers and sisters on the other side of understanding should have argued that why did the Prophet (saw) chose the way of 'disbelievers' for the burial of Muslims like that of our beloved Mother Khadijah (rd); after all, surah Maaidah is a Madaniyyah while our Mother Khadijah (rd) slept forever and blessedly during the Makkan era and there was no other injunction in the Holy Qur'an that teaches on how to bury Muslims. But the Best Man ever did not reject the old burial culture; he only modified and Islamised it. He (saw) introduced the Janaazah ritual bath and cleaning, dictated the way to do it and instructed the last dress code for all deceased Muslims.


In view of the above, why are our Muslim brothers and sisters on the other side of this concept do not think in the perspective of the Holy Quran or of the pristine practice of the Holy Prophet (saw) on the issue of Gregorian Calendar? Why do they always intend to throw into the gutter the bathe-water with the baby because the dirt on the baby has polluted the water? whereas, the best step is to get cleaner water to bathe the baby for it is a human being that must be valued and protected! 

However, it must be registered that ours is not to support the idolisation of human beings in whatever form; for that was what ruined the earlier people. Many of the previous communities turned their leaders to idols and they found means of remembrance for them. This, in part is what the Pope Gregory’s Calendar has introduced and enshrined in the global calendars.  The case of Gregorian Calendar and the Muslim world can be likened to the food of Ahlul Kitaab that Quran declares lawful. Despite the lawfulness of their food for consumption every Muslim understands that he or she must pray according to Sunnah before the food is eaten. Therefore, why not adopt the calendar system too and have it worn the garb of Islam and that any time the 12 months complete we also join our fellows joyfully and happily in the greeting each other ‘happy new year’. This will at least foster peaceful relationship and harmonious existence. This is the essence of one leadership or Khilafah in the life of Muslim Ummah. Had the Khilafat of Ahmadiyya been accepted by the entire Muslim Ummah, this issue would have laid to rest for a very long time. Let us remind each other again that a Khalifah of Islam introduced the Lunar based Hijrah calendar for us.
 

THE INTRODUCTION OF A SOLAR CALENDAR:
A GREAT SERVICE OF AHMADIYYA KHILAFAT TO THE MUSLIM UMMAH

Hadhrat Mirza Bashirudeen Mahmud Ahmad (rd) was the second successor to the Holy Founder of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. A very important title he is bestowed with is Fadl Omar. He was bestowed this title not only because he was a second Khalifah like the beloved Hadhrat Omar bin Khattab (rd) the second successor to the Holy Prophet (saw) but also because Allah enabled him to contribute immensely to the growth of Islam through the establishment of a very a well-structured administrative system for Islam through Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Interestingly, Mirza Bashiruddeen Mahmud Ahmad (rd) also introduced a calendar system in Ahmadiyya like his pious Master and leader Hadhrat Umar bin Khattab (rd), but this time an Islamic Solar Calendar.   The Islamic solar calendar was introduced to supplement the Islamic lunar calendar to facilitate the comparative study of the history and progress of Islam[i]. 
 
In 1938, at the occasion of Annual Gathering, Hadrat Mirza Bashiruddeen Mahmud Ahmad (rd) stated that there is a need to adopt an Islamic solar calendar which is based upon the cycles of the sun. This way, he emphasised, we will be able to avoid use of the Christian Era Calendar. In January 1939, Hadrat Khalifatul Masih II (rd) formed a committee for the preparation of the calendar. In January 1940, Hadrat Khalifatul Masih II (rd) accepted the committee's recommendations, and a beautiful Hijri Shams Calendar was published. The Calendar had both the Lunar and solar counting and the Christian days, months and year. The significance of the Hijr Shamsi Calendar, started by Hadrat Khalifatul Masih II (rd) is like the Common Era (C.E). Calendar in which the year starts in January. The names of the months used in the Islamic Solar Calendar reflect various significant events in Islamic history. According to the calendar the year 2020 is equivalent to 1399 Hijri Shamsi (H.SH) and below are the names of the months that are proposed and adopted by the Khalifatul Masih II (rd) to replace the Gregorian months: 

      1. Sulh (January)
      2. Tabligh (February) 
      3. Aman (March)
4.Shahadat (April)
      5. Hijrah (May)
      6. Ihsan (June)
7. Wafa (July) 
8. Zuhur (August) 
      9. Tabuk (September)
10.  Ikha (October)
      11.  Nubuwwah (November)
12.  Fath (December)[ii]

Dear reader, the meaning and the significance of the names of the months shall be left till another time. Therefore, when we Ahmadi-Muslims greet everyone with the same words of ‘Happy New year’, though we may inadvertently mention the Gregorian year, yet it is because the Holy Quran has sanctioned the use of solar system for counting of days and months too like the lunar system. The Sun and the Moon are both of the signs of Allah they belong solely neither to Muslims nor others. Everyone irrespective of orientation benefit from all the creatures of Allah. It would be an unjust step to draw a boundary for the functionality of the foremost attribute of Allah – Rabbul Áalameen (Lord of all the worlds). 

May the blessed prayer of my Beloved Imam, Khalifah of Islam, His Holiness, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, may Allah be his helper that:
“May the new year be blessed”
be accepted for the entire world. Aameen and Aameen.

Thank you for taking your time to read through.


[i] FAZL-E-UMAR: The Life of Hadhrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad Khalifatul Masih II [ra], pg 230
[ii] Welcome to Ahmadiyyat, The True Islam, pg. 490