The new Islamic year of
1436 has just begun, marking the time that has passed since the migration of
the Prophet Muhammad and his companions from their home city of Makkah to the
new township of Yathrib: later called the City of the Prophet and now named
Al-Madinah in his honour.
Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar following the
month of Hajj, being the 12th month of the Islamic calendar.
Muharram means sacred or made sacred, which is further qualified as
‘Al-Haraam’, meaning again sacred or
forbidden.
The twelve names of the months in the Islamic calendar each have
their own characteristics, denoting their relative importance, purpose and the
obligations required of us during their timelines.
Muharram is one of four months which were originally marked out as ‘sacred’ on the day Allah
created the heavens and the earth and designed the twelve months of the yearly
cycle.
Let us look at the relevant Qur`anic verse which reads: ‘The
number of months in the Sight of Allah is twelve, so ordained by Him the Day He
created the heavens and the earth; of them four are sacred, that is the right
religion so wrong not yourselves therein, and fight the Polytheists (of Makkah)
all together as they fight you all together. But know that Allah is with those
who restrain themselves’. S9 V36
By emphasising ‘that is the right religion’ the Qur`an highlights the corrupt practices of the Polytheists of
Makkah when they ignored the ‘state of the sacredness’ of these months and
acted only in accordance to their whimsical desires and their tactical planning
for invasion and wars.
Allah (SWT) has marked out those four months as sacred and any transposing
of those sacred months is called as ‘further stubbornness in the state of
disbelief’.
The Qur'an elaborates the purpose of them being marked out as
sacred by saying ‘so wrong not yourselves therein’ ; i.e. to either eliminate
wars and their causes without any legitimate provocations, or to keep their effects to the minimum.
The Islamic calendar started from the year in which Prophet
Muhammad and his companions were compelled to leave Makkah and emigrate to what
is now the City of ‘Al-Madinah’. The Prophet arrived in Quba, outside the city
of Madinah on Monday 12th Rabi al-Awwal, the third month of Islamic
calendar and was warmly welcomed by its people.
When, in the time of the second Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattaab, the
political establishment started taking shape and a need for dating official
records and dealings emerged, the Caliph consulted his eminent colleagues. A
host of suggestions was proposed by different companions of the Prophet.
However, what attracted the most attention, and the approval of the people, was
the Hijrah, which was regarded as the event that stood out most prominently in
the life of the Prophet’s divine mission and
as the most important sacrifice made in the way of Allah in safeguarding
the belief in Almighty the Creator and sustainer of the worlds.
All the companions of the Prophet agreed to mark this most notable
event as the beginning of their
calendar, which is now called as the Hajri (or Hijrah) calendar.
As a result, every year, when a new Islamic calendar starts, it
reminds (or should remind) Muslims of the sacrifices that have been made by the
Prophet and his companions in preserving the integrity and uncompromising
purity of this divine guidance. God is the ultimate reality or what the Qur`an
terms as ‘Al-Haqq’. The manifestation of
His reality is all around; from the existence and functioning of man, to the
sustenance of all other creatures and maintenance of this existence. The
Prophet Muhammad would not deviate from this very essential message of Islam to
the people and chose to leave his home city of Makkah to seek refuge rather
than to accept any compromise about the reality of this foundational belief in
God.
Starting the Islamic calendar with a sacred month, in which we are
guided not to wrong ourselves, sends out a very positive and beneficial message
to people and makes it very easy to declare to the world our 'new year's
resolution’: Do no wrong!
One wonders why this simple guidance provided to our religion has
failed to impact on many of its followers, many of whom don’t seem to have any
annual plans or resolutions to create positive changes to their lives and to
the lives of people around them or under their rule.
People who hold any authority, over anybody, need to reflect on
the impact of their many (and often what are seen as deliberate} blunders that
have created chaos and conflicts in the Muslim lands and the Muslim Ummah and
come up with solutions. A starting point like the month of Muharram provides
them with such an opportunity. Unfortunately, there is a definite lack of
positive and character building leadership in most Muslim societies. Power
grabbing, dislodging others by deceitful means, coupled with the ill-informed
and uncompromising characters of those seeking to run religious institutions
and those undeserving of the right to authority, is a commonplace phenomenon
in Muslim lands.
Why do we continue to fail to become involved in collective
actions in the year to come which can benefit the Muslim nations, mend their
ways and directions, guide them to the positive collaboration with the rest of
the world on a programme of nation building, mutual understanding and the
creation of a healthy world? Why there
is no time in our lives for reflection and collective thinking?
We need to reflect on our negativity and mistaken ways to make
positive changes to our lives. That is the way ahead, in my opinion, if we are
to make any progress, change the destiny of the Muslim Ummah and serve the
purpose of Islam. Spoken words have no importance or merit unless and until
they are believed and practised by all.
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