Iqbal Gora – The History of the Hijri Calendar and Lessons from the Hijrah
AI: Summary ©
The transcript discusses various court cases related to the Prophet's birth and adoption of calendars. The importance of the Bayatul Ahmad Badifani reminded in the Quran and the Sharia of Islam in the numbers is emphasized. The speakers emphasize the importance of understanding the context of Islam's teachings and optimism in achieving goals. The use of the "opportunistic" meaning to others is also emphasized. The importance of making sacrifices and making a contribution to the better life of others is emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
In 17th year of Hajjalah, when Raman Khattab
was
the Khalifa of the Muslimi,
There were 2 people that were involved in
a court case in which one person claimed
that the other person owed him some money
and was not paying him back, in time.
So there was some dispute as to the
payment
and the time of payment. The first individual
said that this person who
took money from me was supposed to pay
me back by Sha'aban and it's already Ramadan.
And the one that was lent money said
that what was meant by this was next
Sha'aban, not this Sha'aban.
This was the first incident in this particular
year, which is important in the discussion of
today's Khutba.
The second incident which happened in the exact
same year was Abu Musa Al Asha Ali
radiAllahu anhu. One of the companions of An
Nabi salallahu alaihi wasalam was made a governor
of the Muslim Inn. He was in charge
of a particular region of Muslims, and those
Muslims would receive certain instructions from the Khalifa,
from Muhammad Al Khattab radiAllahu anha and others.
But he used to mention that,
Yadeena Qutubun Layi Salaha Tariq. There are books
that are coming to us and there's no
date on them. We don't know if you
want these things to be done this year
or the next year. And when these two
incidents happen in the same year, at this
point the Muslims realized the necessity
to establish their own calendar.
And this is the introduction or the start
of when the Hijri calendar was introduced into
this Umma. This was not something known in
the time of Al Nabi sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
but rather it was implemented
later on. And as we know, we find
ourselves right now in the year 1445,
in the 1st month of this particular
year as well.
Prior to this point, they had a very
rudimentary system by which they used to calculate
time because obviously a person needs to try
and calculate years. And the manner in which
they used to calculate years was that they
would look for a particular important event in
a year and that year would be named
by that particular incident.
As an example, Aam al Fil, the year
of the elephant.
As an example,
Aam al Khuzun, the year of grief. The
year of elephant, as we know is the
year that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was
born in. And when there was a particular
incident or in or or year in which
no significant
occurrence happened, they would say, for example, 5
years prior to aamul fil or 3 years
after it or something to that effect, they
would mark their time by these particular
incidents.
In this particular year, 17th year of hijra,
when they got together, they had a discussion,
the senior from among the Sahaba,
among them Umar Khattab as
the leader, among them Ali radhiallahu an as
well, also among them and many of the
other leadership or the the senior among the
companions of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, they
got together
and they said that we need to establish
a calendar.
And they said that what are ways by
which we can establish this calendar, and there
were certain opinions.
One of them they said that let's make
it such that we adopt the calendar of
the Romans or the Persians, and this position
was initially rejected. And the reason for this
is very important as well, and that is
the fact that as Muslimeel we have our
own identity, and they did not want to
take and adopt those particular
calendars. We as Muslims have our own unique
identity, and we need to understand this that
as a great civilization,
we have our own
identity,
and sometimes it's something which is lost, especially
when people move or are born in this
in this country.
The other opinions which floated around among the
Sahaba, some of them they said that we
should mark the date or the hijrah year
by the birth of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. Another opinion was when Iqra Bismi
Rabbikaladi Khalaq, the first verses came down, it
should start there. And another opinion was the
fact that let's mark it by the death
of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, and the
4th opinion,
which is the one that we know which
was adopted, is from the Hijra of An
Nabi salallahu
alaihi wasalam.
The first and second positions were rejected for
certain reasons, and that was because the exact
date is not known as to exactly when
Anani alaihis salam was born and also exactly
when Iqra Bismi'u al Makhan alaihi Khadak came
down. There was some ambiguity there. As for
his death, the Muslims didn't want to make
it such that the new year begins at
a, at a moment of sorrow, at a
moment of grief when we lost An Nabi
when he departed from this world. Thereafter they
adopted the position, it was actually the opinion
of Ali
an initially that let us adopt the position
to make the hijrah start from the actual
hijrah of al Nabi sallallahu alaihi wasalam. When
Umar Khattab radiallahu anhidhi heard this, he said
that, Al hijra ma fallraqadbayinl
haqqwalbaaltil.
Al hijra faulraqatbayinl
haqqwalbatiel fa'alrihubiha.
That the hijrah is a moment by which
truth and falsehood were separated. That at a
point previous to the hijrah, that point Muslims
were in a state of, let's say, humiliation
or subjugation or oppression,
and after this they gained a certain sense
of honor.
So he said, mark that point from when
the Muslims will
well, mark their calendars.
And now there's a number of things that
a person could extrapolate from this.
One of them is the fact that Umar
al Khattab alaihahu anhu was involved in this
particular incident and also Ali radhiyahu anhu as
well was the one that suggested this. And
this is a reminder for those individuals
or those people that might have a certain
idea between these two individuals
and a sense of hatred they may have
had or allegedly had between them. The Ummun
Khattab radiAllahu anin Ali radiAllahu an, they worked
together and they were both companions of Al
Nabi salallahu alaihi wasalam, and they were both
instrumental in the Hijri calendar. Also, some of
the later scholars
actually said that this decision is from the
Quran, is actually a Quranic. And one of
the proofs that they use is that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Quran
that
one of the proofs that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala uses in the Quran or one proof
that you could say it's that this notion
is from the Quran is that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala says that, the Masjid
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala mentions this in Surat
At Tawbah. And the later scholars, they say
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is saying in this
verse that the Masjid that was established from
the 1st day, meaning Masjid Quba, there's a
long story behind this. Abu'amir Rahib, who, when
before the Prophet
came to the city of Madinat Munawura, used
to be famous and the people used to
learn traditions from him about the Christian and
other sources. When An Nabi salawasalam came, he
became jealous that the Aws and Khazr tribes
were now instead listening to the Prophet salawasalam,
so he made his own Masjid known as
Masjid Dirah, so mentioned in the Quran. So
this is a reference to this, but Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
That Masjidah would establish on the 1st day,
and this also goes to show that, again,
later scholars said, this was
Qur'anic idea that the first day should start
at the at the Hijrah, Aban Nabi salallahu
alayhi wasalam.
Nonetheless, the point being here is that also,
'Amrul Khattab was involved in this, and there
are many incidents in which the opinion of
'Amrul Khattab agreed with that of the Quran.
He wanted hijab to come down, Allah Subha'ala
revealed Ayat al Hijab. He wanted Alqal to
become forbidden, Allah Subha'ala revealed those verses as
well. He wanted Maqam Ibrahim for those plea
people that have gone for Hajj and Umrah
to be taken as a place of prayer,
and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala revealed the ayah
So this was the way by which the
Hijri calendar was established. Now as for the
month of Muhallam itself being the 1st month,
there is also some discussion as to this
as well because they had 1 month going
into the other, and there was no actual
start. And there were some ideas floating that
Ramadan should actually be the 1st month. But
there were other opinions, and there's a reason
by which Muharram actually won out. And by
the way, one of the things that the
mushrikeen used to do is that there are
certain months that are sacred in which fighting
is prohibited. And what they would do to
circumvent this is that they would say right
now, for example, it's one of these non
sacred months or and the next month is
going to be sacred. Let's switch around the
calendar. So they used to play with the
calendars in this particular way and the Sharia
of Islam actually made this prohibited.
When it came to Muharram itself, why it
was chosen? There were two main reasons.
One of them is the fact that the
Bayatul Ahmad Badifaniyah, the second pledge of allegiance
by the Ansar happened in the month of
Dhul Hijjah, and the next month is obviously
the,
Muharram now. So they decided to make it
such that this is the 1st month because
the new year is now starting from the
hijrah of An Nabi salallahu alaihi wasallam. And
the second opinion is that when a person
goes for Hajj, it is as though they
are reborn. And when the month of,
Muharram occurs, then it is almost like a
rebirth.
As Muslims take account of yourself before, you
are taking account of, and this was why
this particular two reasons why Muhallam was chosen,
in fact, as the 1st month. We also
know that in Dhul Hajjah, for the day
of Arafah, and the Biyushah says,
it expiates the year previous and the year
coming, meaning that if you fasted the day
of Arafah in the year
2022, 2021,
and 2023, you would have had forgiven. And
likewise, now you start the new year with
fasting, inshallah, many of us are fasting today
as well, the day of Ashura, and you'll
get furoulsatul maldia will expiate the sins of
2022.
So you have 2021, 2022, and 2023,
or in the Hijri calendar, 1445,
1444,
and, 1443 forgiven.
So this is the history of the Hijra
calendar. It was actually introduced in the ikhilaka
of Umar Khattab radiAllahuhan.
Now, there is a certain idea or
a principle behind the Hijra, that there are
actually many lessons a person can derive from
it. There are over a 100 lessons a
person could derive from the Hijrah of An
Nabi salallahu alaihi wa sallam. In today's Khutba,
we'll mention simply 3 of them. We'll mention
simply 3 of them. The first thing to
understand is what does the word hijrah mean?
The words in the Arabic language have a
Lughawi meaning and an Islilahi meaning. They have
an etymological or linguistic meaning and also a
technical
definition as well. And the linguistic meaning of
the word hijrah or the etymologic meaning is
taken from Mahoodatun alalah, Mahoodatun,
minl Hajar wahuatawt
That is taken from the word Hajar which
means to abandon or to leave.
And the istillahi or technical definition
is. It is the movement of a person
or abandoning of a person from the land
of shirk to the land of Islam.
Now there are a number of lessons a
person can derive from the hijrah. Again, we'll
mention 3 of them.
The first of which is to become a
muhajir yourself.
The first of which is to become a
muhajir
yourself. And now a person might have the
perception when you hear this, that being a
muhajir means to leave the place of
disbelief and go to the place of Islam.
And this is not what is actually meant
by this because when you look at the
life of An Nabi salallahu alaihi wa sallam,
when did he make hijra? He did not
make hijra when there was faqisha around him.
He made hijra when there was oppression around
him. That is something that we need to
understand. Sometimes as Muslims, we have this idealistic
notion that we want to leave this place
and go to a place which is only
pure and only full of Islam. Now this
is something which could be potentially good for
you and your children, but you need to
understand that when it comes to certain ideas,
they are actually more Islamic here than there.
That is one idea or one angle that
we sometimes forget. There are many Muslim countries
unfortunately that are more racist than non Muslim
ones including where we are living. There are
many Muslim countries that have more corruption and
bribery than perhaps some countries that we are
living, like we are living in right now.
And there are also some countries in which
a person, if they have a beard, which
is the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam, a person would be thrown in jail
for doing this or even holding the Quran.
So that is one perspective that we need
to understand.
Also, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala in the Quran,
when he mentions the command of hijrah for
people in general, what is the context that
he says it in? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says,
In these verses, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala mentions
Hijrah, and he mentions the reason why people
should make Hijrah. He says in it that
when the angels take a person's soul and
the person that is oppressed themselves, they will
ask this individual,
what is your status or what is your
condition? And this person would say that I
was one that was oppressed in the land,
and thereafter,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that the angels
will say to them, was the earth of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not vast for you
to migrate therein? And here the reason for
hijrah is not one of faqisha,
but rather it is one of oppression taking
place. An Nabi salallahu alaihi wasallam, he lived
in a society in which there was indecency.
People were making tawaf around the Kaaba naked,
there were people committing zina and open, burying
their daughters alive, and all of these things,
but he did not make hijra, he stayed
there because of the fact that he has
the responsibility
of conveying the message of Islam.
And to this point as well is that,
just this week, there were 2 brothers that
were simply praying their prayers in the YMCA,
and a and a and a sister saw
them doing this and became Muslim on account
of this, that we are Shuhada'aalinas,
and if you don't live among non Muslims,
how would Dawah ever take place? This would
be impossible if Sahaba radiallahu anhu Majmarin, they
traveled to areas which were not Muslim for
the purpose of Dawah.
Now when it comes to how a person
can actually be a Muhajir,
how do you actually therefore then become a
Muhajir? And Nabi salallahu alaihi wa sallam, he
mentions this in a hadith and he uses
the lukawi,
translation of this word to give us the
solution to this. And Nabi salalahu alayhi wa
sallam he says, almuhajir
manhajir manhajiramanahaallahuhan.
A Muhaajir is one who makes Hijrah, who
abandons that which Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala forbade
him from doing. So if you are a
person that is earning Haram, your hijrah would
be go to go to earning halal. If
a person has a haram
relationship, your hijra is to make or go
into a situation in which you abandon this
and go only towards halal relationships.
If a person has bad friends, your hijrah
is to make hijrah from those friends and
go to those friends which are better. If
you're a person that has bad character, your
hijrah means to make abandonment of that character
and go to that which Allah Subha Ta'ala
loves.
That is the way that you become a
Muhajir in today's time, and again, there are
many lessons from the Hijra. This is one
of them, become a Muhajir yourself.
The second lesson we'll mention today's Khutbah that
a person could derive from the Hijra of
Nabi salallahu alaihi wa sallam is the lesson
of optimism.
It's the lesson of optimism. For a lot
of people when negativity comes into their life,
they lost their money, they lost family members,
they might have
something happened to their relationship, or anything else
of their health, or anything
pertaining
to this world, they sometimes become angry at
Allah Subha'ala and they go down a path
of pessimism. When you look at the hijra
of Nabi salallahu alaihi wa sallam, he did
not give up. In that moment, he used
to say,
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam at the
time of Hajj would ask the people around
him that isn't there some people that can
take me to their place because the Quraysh
are now preventing me from conveying the message
of my Lord. And in this incident, we
also know in the Hijra of Nabi salallahu
alaihi wasallam who was with him. Abu Bakr
as Sadib radiallahu an, also a counter to
those that on this day attacked the, the
the
the the 2 greatest
individuals from among the Sahab radiAllahu an Majma'in.
But nonetheless, who was with him Abu Bakr
as Sadiq radiAllahu an. And we see that
in this journey, in the famous story, in
which the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and
Abu Bakr as Siddiq are in the cave
of FOUR. As Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala mentions
and references this in the Quran, and Abu
Bakr as Sandeep alayahu an, he looks down
and he says that, You Rasulullah, if the
mushiqeen simply look at their feet, they are
going to see us. What is the response
of an Nabi He
says,
He did not give up, but rather he
gave them words of encouragement. What do you
think Abu Bakr about 2 people and Allah
is the 3rd? La ataghzana innallaha'marna.
Do not grieve Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is
with us. Many of us might also be
fasting this day of Ashura,
and Islam holistically is a religion of optimism.
When we look at this day, what is
the reason that we fast? It's mentioned in
a hadith that when Nabi salalahu alaihi wa
sallam went to the city of Mariyat Munawwara,
he saw the Jewish people fasting on this
day, and they asked that why are we
fasting on this day? They said this is
the day that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala saved
Musa alayhi salaam from Fir'awn, and thereafter the
prophet shalallahu alaihi says, nahnu aula bi Musaminhum.
We are more entitled to Musa than them.
And from this we see that in the
Quran, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala also mentions that
when the Ashab of Musa are in that
situation, that in front of them is the
Red Sea and behind them is the army
of Firaun, they say, Inna la Mudrakoon,
it's over for us, we don't know what
we're going to do. What is the principle
of Islam? Kala inna ma'ayarabi sayhadeem.
Musa alayhis salam, he says, no, with us
is Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la, he will find
a way out for us. And this is
one of the lessons that we take away
from the hijra of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam. And Nabi salalahu alaihi wasallam, when he
went to Madinah to Munawwara
years later, in the 6th year of Hijra,
when they are turned back from Makkah to
Mutawr Umrah in the incident of the treaty
of Hudaybiyyah, they're not allowed to perform their
umrah, and they are going back in a
state of defeat and and and and and
distress. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reveals certain ayat
in the Quran That Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala says,
That they are more beloved to me than
everything that the sun has shining that has
shone upon. And those are the verses in
the Quran
wherein Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, Inna Fattahna
laga fathhamubina.
We will grant you, O Muhammad, a manifest
victory. By the way, this ayah was revealed
in the 6th year of Hijrah. Fathmatkah did
not occur until the 8th year, and Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala uses the past tense as
well. This shows us a number of things.
1 is that tense does not apply to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Number 2 is a
prediction of the truth of the Quran, because
if this did not happen this would have
disproved the Quran as well. But nonetheless, we
see here the prophet was one that exhibit
trace of optimism
and that is part and parcel of what
it means to be a Muslim and what
we take away from the Hijrah of An
Nabi, sallallahu alaihi wasallam, as well. The third
and final point we'll mention in today's Khutba
in regards to what we can derive from
the hijrah of the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam
is that you will not attain anything except
through sacrifice.
You will not attain anything in his dunya
or the akhira without sacrifice. The prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam loved Makkatul Makaruma. In fact,
he did not want to leave it. It's
mentioned that he used to say
that,
how beloved are you to me as a
city? How pleasing and pleasant are you? If
it was not for the fact that my
people drove me out, I never would have
lived anywhere else. And despite this fact, he
made that sacrifice,
and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala makes us a
promise.
It's mentioned in the, Musnadhi Imam Ahmad that
That Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala he does not
if a person leaves something for the sake
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, that Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala he will not do anything except
replace it with something which is, which is
better than it. And An Nabi salalahu alaihi
wa sallam leaving the city of Mecca to
Mutawrah, he made that sacrifice. What did Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala replace it with? He replaced
it with the Ansar, to the point that
in, the battle of Hunayn, when An Nabi
salalahu alaihi wasalam was there in,
in the conquest of Fa'if in a particular
region, And the Muhajirun were being given some
spoils of war, and other people were giving
spoils of war as well, and the Ansari
started to complain. And they said that we
came with you and whatever you want us
to do we are doing. We are your
helpers, and you are giving all of the
spoils of war to the Muhajirun
and other people. What about us? Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, he said
that is it not enough that we are
giving some of these things to open up
people's hearts towards Islam? And also, is it
not enough that they are going back with
sheep and with camels, and you are going
back with Rasulullah,
and he chose to, as we know, pass
away in the city of Madinah to Munawurah.
There's no person that makes a sacrifice except
that they will benefit in this life and
the akhirah. There's no person that makes a
sacrifice except that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will
replace that sacrifice with something which is even
better, than it.
And if a person wants to succeed in
his life, you need to make that sacrifice.
If he wants to become a hafid of
the Quran, sometimes you look at a person
and his master, person has, but you cannot
buy it. It is something
but you cannot buy it. It is something
which is only earned through sacrifice
of waking up every day reciting the Quran
even when you don't want to, and eventually
that person sacrifice
for their children to succeed, sometimes he wants
to make a sacrifice for their children to
succeed, sometimes he wants to make a lot
of money and you end up sacrificing your
own children and not spending time with them,
and later on you wonder why is it
that they don't want to come to the
masjid? Why is it that they have bad
habits? Why do they not love Islam? You
did not make that sacrifice.
The one that makes mujahada, the one that
strives, Allah will be with them and open
up pathways for him, and Allah
is with those that loves to do good.
May Allah make us from those that learn
the lesson from the Hijrah. May Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala make us from those that becomes
a true muhajir by leaving that which he
dislikes. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us
muslimeen who are people of optimism. And may
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala make us from those
that are able to make sacrifices so that
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala can give us better
in this life and in the akhirah for
his sake as well.