Dr. Hüseyin Kami BÜYÜKÖZER
Today (July 7 – Muharram 1), we are entering the year 1446. We congratulate you on your Hijri New Year.
The Hijri date begins with the migration of Hadrat Muhammad (pbuh) from Mecca to Medina. However, this date was accepted as the beginning of the calendar during the reign of Hadrat Omar. Before him, the Arabs did not have a specific calendar. They showed some important events (Hadrat Ibrahim being thrown into the fire, the incident of the Elephant, etc.) as the beginning of history.
The following two reasons are shown as the reason for such an application: In a debt note presented during the reign of Hadrat Omar, it could not be determined whether the month of Shaban shown as the due date for payment was the previous year or the next year. In addition, in a letter from Abu Musa al-Ash’ari, who was the governor of Basra during the same period, he wanted this problem to be solved urgently, since it was not known which of the papers sent from the caliphate came first and which came next and which one should be acted upon.
For these reasons, the Hijra was the beginning of Islamic history. The Hijri-Lunar year is twelve months. The Arabs called the first month of Muharram, along with Rajab, Dhul-Qadah and Dhul-Hijjah “Al-Ashhur-al-hurum” and they would stay away from war and all kinds of violence during these months.
It has been announced that fasting on the “Day of Ashura”, which coincides with the tenth day of Muharram and when many important events took place, will be a means for the forgiveness of mistakes and sins committed the year before (Riyazu’s-Salihin, II, 509).
It is narrated that many important events took place in history on the tenth day of Muharram, called the “Day of Ashura”. Among these, it is possible to count the following events:
The ship of Noah (pbuh) being saved from the flood and landing on top of Mount Cudi coincides with this day. (As it is known, this event was an event in which the believers in Hadrat Noah were saved by means of a ship and the unbelievers were completely destroyed).
– In addition, the repentance of Hadrat Adam,
– Hadrat Ibrahim being saved from the fire,
– Hadrat Yaqub’s reunion with his son Hadrat Yusuf coincides with this day.
It is among the narrations that the sixteenth day of the month of Muharram was the day when Qudus was determined as the qibla and the seventeenth day was the day when the companions of the Elephant arrived. The month of Muharram also had a special place in the Ottoman period. The number of poetic poems written by poets for this month and called “Muharramiya” is quite large. In addition, since it was the beginning of the new year, in this month, the state officials would come before the sultan to congratulate him on the new year and receive gifts from the sultan called “Muharramiya”.