Saudi Arabia Dumps Islamic Calendar - Will They Cancel Muharram New Year ?

I want to start off here by saying "I TOLD YOU SO".  In 2005 in my first book 'To Digress A Little' I wrote about the Islamic calendar aka the "Arabic calendar" which does NOT WORK. 

What does that mean?  Folks, the Islamic / Arabic calendar cannot tell time.   

A calendar must do three things (at least). It must tell you : 

i. your present location in time (today, this month, this year)
ii. future time (next year, next month, 10 years from now etc) and
iii. time that has passed (last year, 50 years ago etc) 

The Islamic / Arabic calendar fails in all three regards.  

This is because the calendar is solely lunar based,  where the months migrate through the solar year.  The arabic lunar year is always about 11 days shorter than the solar year.  

This year the bulan puasa (bulan Ramadhan) may fall in June.  

Next year and onwards the bulan puasa (Ramadhan) will be in May, April, March, February etc.  

The Arabic months "migrate" through the solar year.  Such a calendar CANNOT tell practical time for practical use.

Before writing this in my book (in 2005) I had also raised the issue in  one of my newspaper columns. One group of retards wrote a long reply to me.  

I had highlighted the point that the Islamic / Arabic calendar is quite useless WITHOUT pegging it or referencing it to the normal,  solar based Gregorian calendar.

For those of you who are having difficulty understanding this, ponder these questions :  When is Monday? Answer : After Sunday, before Tuesday.

Here is another question : When is the 1st of January?   Sounds silly enough?

Ok now try this but without referring to the Gregorian calendar at all.

When is the 1st of Ramadhan? (1st day of fasting month). 

Or when is the 1st of Syawal (Hari Raya Puasa?)

We wont know. Unless you say something like :

"this year the 1st Ramadhan (bulan puasa) falls on 7th June.    

Or 1st of Syawal (Hari Raya Puasa) falls on 5th July." 

To make sense the Islamic / Arabic calendar MUST be pegged or referenced to the Gregorian calendar.   Only then can it tell time.    

Without pegging it to the Gregorian calendar, the Islamic / Arabic calendar CANNOT tell you the time.

Worse if you are a farmer, a fisherman or a sailor.  

Every year the North East Monsoon starts in November (Gregorian calendar).   

Not the same in the Islamic / Arabic calendar? 

Last year the N'East monsoon began on a different Arabic month. 

This year it may begin in a different Arabic month. 

Next year it will begin in a different Arabic month.

Whereas in the Gregorian calendar the N'East monsoon begins in November of every year. It is fixed. 

If your apple trees in Australia fruit in January (summer) every year, then you can plan your sales, your marketing with the apple juice factory, ordering fertilisers etc for this year, next year and the years after that.  Apple farmers can plan their future.  It is fixed - in Australia apple trees fruit in January.

Now, without any referencing at all to the Gregorian calendar, how do you plan yourpurchases of fertilisers, sales of apples etc for the next three years using the Islamic calendar alone ?  You cannot.

So the retards who tried to rebut my point said, 'Who says we cannot peg the Islamic calendar to the Gregorian calendar?'   That was their best answer. And the retards think they are being clever.

This morning a friend sent me this news link  from Kompas Indonesia :

 

 

http://internasional.kompas.com/read/2016/10/03/09003491/arab.saudi.resmi.gunakan.kalender.masehi

RIYADH, KOMPAS.com — Terhitung mulai Sabtu (1/10/2016), Pemerintah Arab Saudi secara resmi menggunakan kalender dengan penanggalan Masehi untuk menggantikan kalender Hijriah yang sudah digunakan sejak negeri itu berdiri pada 1932.

Keputusan penggunaan kalender Masehi itu disepakati dalam rapat kabinet yang digelar pertengahan pekan lalu.

jumlah hari dalam tahun Hijriah yang selama ini digunakan di Arab Saudi 11 hari lebih pendek ketimbang jumlah hari dalam perhitungan tahun Masehi.

Kalender Hijriah terdiri dari 12 bulan dengan 29 atau 30 hari tergantung dengan penampakan bulan. Secara total, satu tahun Hijriah berjumlah 354 hari .  . 

It says the Saudis have discarded the Islamic calendar in favour of the christian Gregorian calendar.   

I am wary of hoaxes with news like this.   I did a search and found the same news in other websites.  They say it was reported by Al Arabiya News.   

Here is the English version from a (Nigerian??) online paper :

 

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/saudi-dumps-islamic-calendar/164857.html

Saudi dumps Islamic calendar

birthplace of Islam shifted to western Gregorian calendar on Sunday

Islamic lunar calendar is 15 days shorter than 365-day solar year 

Saudi kingdom began  use of Islamic calendar since 1932, Al Arabiya reported.

austerity measures and need to conserve funds caused shift. 

Saudi workers now need to work more days to earn salaries 

government employees will get less annual salaries than used to receive.

Nigeria has earmarked Tues 5 Oct to mark the Islamic year, which began on 1 Oct

Read more at http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/saudi-dumps-islamic-calendar/164857.htm#5UiAIgqKru6YuCV4.99
 

If this is true, it also means the Saudis have dumped the Islamic calendar to save money. The Islamic lunar based year has 354 days when compared to a 365 day solar year.  

It takes 354 days for the moon to orbit the earth twelve times (lunar year).
It takes 365 days for the earth to orbit the sun (solar year).

So shifting to the solar year saves the Saudis paying "more" salaries for a shorter working year (lunar) year.   

At the end of the day money talks louder than religion even in Saudi Arabia. No money no religion.  I TOLD YOU SO.  

I have a question : What happens to Awal Muharram or the Islamic New Year in Saudi Arabia?  From now onwards do they start "celebrating"   1st January as their New Year? 

Lastly, they say that the Islamic calendar was "invented" AFTER the death of the prophet.     It did not exist during the Prophet's lifetime.    This means the Prophet never followed this so called Islamic calendar.    It did not exist during his lifetime.  

p.s. To all the retards,  comments using abusive language, four letter words,  inexplicable,  brain dead explanations etc will be deleted. Please take note.