Pre-Islamic calendar

In Pre-Islamic Arabia, a lunisolar calendar was in use with twelve regular months and an occasional intercalary month. [1][2]

Intercalation

Main article: Nasi'

The term for the intercalary month was an-nasīʾ (النسيء). Various interpretations of this word have been given, among them a "postponing". Some sources say that the Arabs followed the Jewish practice and intercalated seven months over nineteen years, or else that they intercalated nine months over 24 years; there is, however, no consensus among scholars on this issue.[3] The Kinānah tribe, during the time of Muhammad, was in charge of authorizing the intercalation; that the Kinānah tribe had taken over this task from the Kindah tribe, which had been Judaized for hundreds of years previously, lends credence to the position that the process of intercalation may have been borrowed from the Jewish tradition.[4] Referring to Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī (d. ca. 442 A.H./1050 C.E.), it has been posited that this intercalation was effected in order to accommodate the scheduling of seasonal trade cycles with annual pilgrimages,[5] as such pilgrimages were occurring at least two hundred years prior to the advent of Islam.

The prohibition of intercalation in AH 10 has been suggested as having had the purpose of wresting power from the Kinānah clan who was in control of intercalation, but there is no consensus regarding this position.

Pre-Islamic month names

Sources for the names of these pre-Islamic months are Al-muntakhab min gharīb kalām alʿarab [6] of Abū al-ḥasan ʿalī bin al-ḥasan bin al-ḥusayn al-hunāʾī ad-dūsā (d. 309 A.H./921 C.E.)(known more commonly as "Kurāʿ an-naml") and Lisān al-ʿarab[7] of Ibn Manẓūr (d. 711 A.H./1311 C.E.).

Number / رقمJāhiliالشهور الجاهليةIslamicالشهور الإسلامية
1muʾtamir or al-muʾtamirمُؤْتَمِر أو المُؤْتَمِرmuḥarramمُحَرَّم
2nājirنَاجِرṣafarصَفَر
3khawwān or khuwānخَوَّان أو خُوَّانrabīʿ al-ʾawwalربيع الأول
4wabṣānوَبْصَانrabīʿ al-ʾākhir or rabīʿ ath-thānīربيع الآخر أو رابيع الثاني
5ḥanīnحَنِينjumādā al-ʾūlāجمادى الأولى
6rubbaرُبَّىjumādā al-ʾākhirah or jumādā ath-thāniyahجمادى الآخرة أو جمادى الثانية
7al-ʾaṣamm or munṣil al-ʾasinnah or al-muḥarramالأَصَمّ أو مُنْصِل الأَسِنّـَة أو المُحَرَّمrajabرجب
8ʿādhilعَإذِلshaʿbānشعبان
9nātiqنَاتِقramaḍānرمضان
10waʿl or waʿilوَعْل أو وَعِلshawwālشَوّال
11warnahوَرْنَةdhū al-qiʿdahذو القعدة
12burak or maymūnبُرَك أو مَيْمُونdhū al-ḥijjahذو الحجّة
(an-nasīʾ)(النسيء)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bonner, Michael (2011). "Time has come full circle": Markets, fairs, and the calendar in Arabia before Islam" in Cook, Ahmed, Sadeghi, Behnam, Bonner, et al. The Islamic scholarly tradition : studies in history, law, and thought in honor of Professor Michael Allan Cook. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2011. ISBN 9789004194359. page 18.
  2. ↑ see also Shah, Zulfiqar Ali and Siddiqi, Muzammil (2009). The astronomical calculations and Ramadan: a fiqhi discourse Washington, D.C.:The International Institute of Islamic Thought. ISBN 9781565643345. page 64.
  3. ↑ Bonner 2011, page 21
  4. ↑ Khanam, R. (editor) (2005). Encyclopaedic ethnography of Middle-East and Central Asia. New Delhi : Global Vision Publishing House. ISBN 8182200628. Page 442.
  5. ↑ Bonner 2011, page 22
  6. ↑ 'Al-muntakhab min gharīb kalām alʿarab Cairo: Dār al-fajr li-n-nashr wa-t-tawzīʿ, 1989.
  7. ↑ Lisān al-ʿarab Beirut: Dār Lisān al-ʿarab, 1970.
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