Towards an Islamic Lunisolar Calendar: A Historical Account by Hisham Abad | AHM Curated Collection

Описание: The Islamic “Hijri Calendar” is the only calendar in the history of the past two millenniums which is characterized as a “purely lunar” calendar. Profoundly different from all the calendars of the major civilizations in history, it does not employ any scheme of intercalation to keep its moths synchronized with the climatic seasons of the solar year. My book discusses how a Quranic decree prohibited the intercalation method used in its predecessor, the pre-Islamic lunisolar “Arabian Calendar” which was in vogue in Arabia up to the death of Prophet Muḥammad in 632 CE. Relying on the intimate relation between the defunct Arabian Calendar and the pre-Islamic pilgrimage, I use simple astronomical measurements to establish that the main pilgrimage shrines in Macca were positioned in precise alignments with the sunrise and sunset directions on the Summer Solstice Day. I then uncover the intercalation scheme and the months’ placement of the Arabian Calendar within the solar year using two early sixth-century Byzantine reports, which indicated that the start of the pre-Islamic pilgrimage was always synchronous with the onset of the Summer Solstice. I describe in the book how the prohibition of intercalation was specifically decreed to ban Nasīʾ, the method used by the polytheist of Arabia because it was intimately associated with the worship of the Sun. I then propose introducing other methods of intercalation in the Hijri calendar which do not violate basic Islamic doctrine of monotheism.


---
You can find the online display with links to the titles here: https://express.adobe.com/page/umsJVn...
For Arab Heritage Month, we are honoring and celebrating Arab authors and their outstanding books. We have curated a collection of important titles in Arab American literature and thought. Alongside some of the titles authors provide a glimpse into their work and share their journey as writers of color. Most of these books are available through the MVCC Library.