THREAD: DO WE KNOW OUR HISTORY?

One of the BIGGEST misconceptions shared in the Muslim Ummah (unity lol) is that Muharram is the first month of the Hijri Calendar.

I know, unlike the Gregorian Calendar, no one celebrates new year (and rather it's just seen as the first day of a

new month without anything special), however, saying Muharram is the first of Hijri Calendar is not an accurate statement and I want to bring evidences from both Shia and Sunni sources.

Before going to the sources though, Let's analyze the term "Hijri Calendar".

The term itself refers to the hijrah (migration) of Rasool Allah (ﷺ) from Mecca to Medina. It is from this date that the calendar begins. Right now we are in Dhil Hijjah 1439. This means 1439 years ago, (hijri years), Rasool Allah (ﷺ) made his migration. Right, so....

where is the issue you ask? The issue is what month is considered to be the first of the "New Year". Let's see when Rasool Allah (ﷺ) made his migration. According to agreed upon sources, by both Shias and Sunnis, The Prophet (ﷺ) made his migration in the month of Rabi al Awwal.

So shouldn't this alone mean that Muharram is NOT the first of Hijri New Year? If you ask any Muslim today, they will tell you "Muharram is the first of the new year". Let's see what Muslim sources say though on this matter. Was it originally Rabi al Awwal? IF yes who changed it?

Why make the change? How does this impact our life today? This is what I want to be discussing in this very important thread as we enter the month of Muharram.

First of all, we see even on Wikipedia that they admit the following... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijri_year 

Now that we have this

established, let's look into what Muslim sources say about this issue:

1“Omar gathered the people, he asked them from which date should we start of the calendar?” Imam Ali (as) said, "From the day the Prophet (ﷺ) did Hijrah (migrated from Mecca to Medina) and left the people of

shirk. With this he suggested that do not make a bid’ah (innovation) and leave it as it was written down in the time of the Prophet (ﷺ), since it was when the Prophet (ﷺ) set forth to Medina in the month of Rabi al Awwal, he commanded the start of the date (start of the

calendar). But they put it back by a month and two months in advance to what was the (start of) year."

-al Manaqib

2 The Prophet (ﷺ), entered Medina on Mondday, 1st of Rabil al Awwal and the date started from here, later it was turned to the 1st Muharram.

-Unwanul Ma’arif

3 From Imam Sadiq (as): "And the day that Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), emigrated was on the 3rd of Rabi al Awwal. Of course, according to the teachings of Ahlul Bayt (AS), it was none other than archangel Gabriel (as)– on instruction from the Almighty– who cited the beginning of the

Islamic Hijri Calendar as the day the Prophet emigrated from Mecca to Medina.

-Bihar al Anwar

These 3 sources are from Shia books. What about Sunnis? They actually have more hadiths on this matter!

1 The Islamic Calendar is based on the occasion Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) emigrated

from Mecca to Medina. The Prophetic emigration took place on the 3rd of Rabi al Awwal– thirteen years after the start of the holy prophetic mission. It is reported that after his arrival in Medina, the Prophet (ﷺ) ordered that the date system be based on the hijrah

(i.e Rabi al Awwal)

-Tareekh al Tabari

2 When Omar wanted to order the date system, he asked, “From which day should we start the calendar?” Ali who was the most knowledgeable about the Prophetic teachings said to him, “We should start the calendar from the day Allah’s

Messenger (ﷺ) emigrated, and left the land of polytheism.”

-Ibid

3 From Sahl ibn Sa’ad Saadi, Ali said “ When the date started it did not start from the time when Prophet (ﷺ) received revelation nor from the day he died, the date started from when they performed hijrah

(i.e 1st of Rabi al Awwal)

-Sahih Bukhari

4 It is like a difference of opinion in this he stated that Al Hakim wrote in an Eklel from Ibn Shahabl Zohri “That the Prophet (ﷺ) when he came to Medina he ordered the people to start the date/year from the 1st Rabi al Awwal”

-Sharh Baari, Al Askalaani

5 Al Hakim reports from Sayed ibn Musayyab that he said “Omar gathered the people and asked them which date shall we start the year, Ali said “From the date when the Prophet (ﷺ) migrated and left the land of polytheism” and Umar did that. Later Uthman

said “Start from first of Muharram because it is a sacred month and first of year according to the polytheists of Arabia and it is when people come back from Hajj”

Ibid.

So now we know our culprit! Uthman ibn 'Affan changed the calendar! Yet no one talks about this! Why?

Uthman did is own innovation and changed the Hijri calendar yet no one hardly ever speaks of this! To explain this using the Gregorian, say someone comes today and says "Let's make November 1st the beginning of the New Year insteaf of January 1st". That means we lost 2 months

of the first year, but if November 1st comes and the people celebrate new years (after only 10 months), next November will be considered a full year (November to November is 1 year). This is why people do not give this any importance unfortunately but this is where they are wrong

We do not believe in making any changes to the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet of Islam (ﷺ). This is why for example every Sharh al Ramadhan, we Shias publicly speak out against Omar's "good innovation" called Taraweeh (worth noting the only bid'ah of taraweeh is having in jama'ah).

This is just another bid'ah that has sadly happened and became popular of the generations. Does this mean we be silent on this matter? NO WAY! Why?

From Imams Baqir and Sadiq (as):

كُل بِدْعَةٍ ضَلالَةٌ و كُل ضَلالَةٍ سَبيلٌها إلى اَلّنار

Every innovation is misguidance,

and every form of misguidance leads to Hell.

-al Kafi & Al Mahasin

I'm not saying to change the calendar over night, but rather I'm saying let's educate ourselves and discuss this matter with those in charge of various communities and we can see if we can end this innovation.

Let's try to stop this innovation as Imam Ali (as) who both Shia and Sunnis revere tried to do.

Uthman's logic doesn't apply today anyways. Back then the Hajj pilgrims didn't have cars and planes for transportation so they would get back in Muharram, nowadays the Hajj pilgrims

are ALREADY home before Dhul Hijjah is even over! We need to try to pave the way for Imam Mahdi (عجل الله تعالی فرجه الشریف) one way or another, and I am sure this is one of the ways we can do so.

It is clear though that to take away people away from Ashura and Karbala the

nawasib order their followers to celebrate Muharram as the New Year, but that simply is not the reality. We need to educate the people and maybe one day we will over come this sad reality. There is more I want to say but I don't want to take more of your time, Instead I will link

2 lectures on this topic where the speaker goes in FULL detail about this topic and explains it all in a very nice way.

Part 1:

Part 2:

PS: Us quoting Sunni sources isn't an endorsement of Sunni literature. We do not care what their books say, but rather we included those hadiths so that They may be woken up to the reality that Muharram is not the first of the Hijri New Year and that Rabi al Awwal is.

Worthing mentioning, Uthman changed the calendar just as it was in the days of jahiliyah (the days of ignorance before Islam). This again shows us how far Ahlul Saqifah are from Islam.

This coming Muharram is 1439 and not 1440, just like how this November is 2018 not 2019.

This coming Rabi' al Awwal will be 1440, just like how January is the start of 2019.

If you want, I can link some fatawas of various scholars that say this too.

Due to some questions I've received in the DMs, I'm going to continue this thread.

Some people have asked about various narrations that say "Shahr Ramadhan is the first month of the year"

Doesn't this contradict everything this thread is for? Well, the simple answer is no.

These narrations that say "Shahr al Ramadhan is the first day of the new year" are quite clear and they refer to our spiritual calendars (i.e the imams (as) are telling us that our acts of worship for Allah start with Shahr Ramadhan). There is no calendar that actually begins

with the Holy Month of Ramadhan our actions and deed start being recorded and towards the end of the Holy Month our book for that year is complete. This is different spiritual calendar is not the same as the Hijri Calendar. Our spiritual calendars do not have years.

The hijri calendar has a starting date (the month) and a year which is considered year 0. The spiritual calendars do not have actual years, which is why we do not say "Shahr Ramadhan is the first of the new year". As for Muharram, it was the first of the month for the arabs

in the time of jahiliyah, then Islam came and it changed to Rabi al Awwal, then Uthman came and moved it back to Muharram. My goal is to undo Uthman's innovation and to put it back in Rabi al Awwal just as Ahlul Bayt (as) spoke about.

Someone asked me to explain why I care about this topic:

As mentioned in this thread, this is a bid'ah so it must be stopped.

This is more than enough of a reason for me (personally) to care about this topic. Secondly, I cannot say this for sure,

Nor do I have any evidence to support this, but my own conclusion is that when Uthman changed it the calendar from Rabi al Awwal to Muharram he did so knowing full well Muharram will be the death of Sayed al Shohadaa (as) and he wanted to distract the masses.

Just google "Ashura in Morocco" and look how the (misguided) people CELEBRATE and PARTY on Ashura... they are celebrating "The hijri New Year" but they don't know it's Uthman's innovation.

Hope that answers your question as to "Why do I care so much"...

So in conclusion, the 12 months of the Hijri Calendar in order are:

1 Rabi al Awwal
2 Rabi al Akhira (Thani)
3 Jamada al 'Ulaah
4 Jamada al Akhirah
5 Rajab
6 Sha'bon
7 Shahr Ramadhan
8 Dhul Qidah
9 Dhul Hijjah
11 Muharram
12 Safar

Hand written istifta from Sheikh Ishaq al-Fayyadh on Rabee' al Awwal being the first of the new year...

https://twitter.com/ya_karrar110/status/1039439693715255296