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Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān

Calendar (884 words)

System of fixing the divisions of time (q.v.), adapted to the purposes of communal life. References in the Qurʾān related to calendar include the terms waqt/ mīqāt which mean, among other things, fixed or appointed time (e.g. q 2:189; 4:103; 7:143; 44:40; 78:17); the computation of years and numbers (li-taʿlamū ʿadad al-sinīn wa-l-ḥisāb, q 10:5; 17:12; see numbers and enumeration ); and the division of the year into twelve months (q.v.): “The number of months with God is twelve in accordance with God's decree on the day he created the heavens and the earth; of which four are holy months” ( q 9:36).

There is no reference in the Qurʾān to the pre-Islamic system of anwāʾ (see pre-islamic arabia and the qurʾān ), which was used by the Arabs to estimate the passage of time and to predict the state of the weather (q.v.). In this system, the year is divided into precise periods on the basis of the rising and setting of certain stars (see cosmology in the qurʾān ). According to tradition, this system was considered anathema in Islam. The most relevant qurʾānic allusion to calendar-related computation is the phases of the moon ( manāzil al-qamar, q 10:5; 36:39). q 10:5 reads: “It is he who gave the sun (q.v.) its radiance, the moon (q.v.) its luster, and determined its phases so that you may compute years and numbers…” Qurʾānic exegesis as well as the exact scientific computations of calendars identify 28 such phases. The definition of these phases, however, is based on a combination of the ¶ pre-Islamic system of anwāʾ with the system of lunar phases. Thus the solar zodiac is divided into 28 equal parts defined by the rising and setting of certain stars or constellations. Each of these parts is a station, or phase, and in rough measure the moon occupies one of these stations each day of the lunar month. At the end of a lunar month, the moon would have traveled through all 28 stations; in other words, the moon would have completed one revolution along the solar zodiac (Qurṭubī, Jāmiʿ, viii, 310; xv, 29-30).

The official Islamic calendar is lunar with year one coinciding with the year 622 c.e., the date of Muḥammad's emigration ( hijra, q.v.) from Mecca (q.v.) to Medina (q.v.). This calendar was adopted during the reign of the second caliph ʿUmar (q.v.; r. 13-23/634-44). Later sources, however, suggest that the use of the lunar calendar is already prescribed in the qurʾānic references to the phases of the moon. For example, in the commentary on q 10:5 mentioned above, al-Qurṭubī (d. 671/1272; Jāmiʿ, viii, 310) maintains that after mentioning the light of the sun and the moon, the Qurʾān uses the singular ( qaddarahu, not qaddarahumā). This is taken to indicate that only the lunar calendar is meant to serve as the basis for computing the official months or “new moons” (ahilla, q 2:189) and for determining the dates for important religious activities such as fasting (q.v.) and pilgrimage (q.v.). Unless otherwise specified, time stipulations in legal contracts and documents are based on the hijra lunar calendar (see law and the qurʾān ).

On average, the lunar months alternate between 29 and 30 days. Although the beginning of the lunar month is determined by sighting the new moon, numerous methods were developed to compute the exact length of the lunar months, to determine the days of the lunar year in relation to the solar year and to perform calendar ¶ conversions between different eras. Tables of varying details were also compiled to facilitate this conversion. In fact, in contrast to earlier Greek sources, Islamic astronomical handbooks often started with discussions of calendar computations and conversions between different eras (for example, Persian, Coptic, Syriac, Chinese-Ughur, Jewish and Hindu calendars). In addition to the basic computational techniques, numerous works also provide additional information covering calendar-related subjects, such as the length of day and night (q.v.); patterns of weather and wind (see air and wind ); dates and descriptions of Christian, Jewish and Indian festivals as well as agricultural practices (see agriculture and vegetation ) at various times of the year. See also day, times of .

Primary

Qurṭubī, Jāmiʿ

Secondary

E.S. Kennedy et al., Calendars, in D.A. King and M.H. Kennedy (eds.), Studies in the Islamic exact sciences, Beirut 1983, 652-709

D.A. King, Astronomy in the service of Islam, Aldershot 1993

id., Islamic mathematical astronomy, Hampshire 1993

id., Mīḳāt, in ei2, vii, 26-32

L. Nabiron, Notes on the Arab calendar before Islam [orig. pub. in ja (Apr. 1843)], trans. C. de Perceval, in ic 21 (1947), 135-53

C. Pellat, Anwāʾ, in ei2, i, 523-4

M. Rodinson, al-Ḳamar, in ei2, iv, 517-9

id., La lune chez les Arabes et dans l'Islam, in La lune, mythes et rites, Paris 1962

Cite this page

Dallal, A., “Calendar”, in: Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington DC. Consulted online on 07 January 2017 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1875-3922_q3_EQSIM_00067>