Ma'al Hijrah August 20th 2020 - A Public Holiday

This is posted via The Onion Router. 

Non Muslims may find this a tad bit difficult to follow. It is not very long. This will give you some idea of religious hagiography. (Hagiography means the veneration of "holy people" etc).

(Disclaimer :  I gathered the following from various sources on the Net. The references are given and you can check them out your self. I dont have any opinion on this - just extracting information from the Net.) 

OSTB : Today 20th August 2020 is a public holiday in Malaysia. The reason being today also coincides with the 1st day of the Arabic new year which is known as the 1st day of the month of  Muharram, in the year 1442 AH. 

Also known as Ma'al Hijrah. 

Obviously Muharram is the 1st month of the Arabic calendar. 

1442 AH means 1,442 years after the Hijrah (AH). 

After Hijrah or (AH)  kicks off from the year in which the prophet is said to have migrated (or Hijrah) from Mecca to Medina - an event that is believed to have taken place in the year 622 AD of the Gregorian Calendar.

Ok here is another point to note. The Arabic calendar is said to have been introduced in 638 AD by Umar ibn Al-Khattab. This is 16 years AFTER the Hijrah happened. 

(Just like the 'christian calendar' is believed to use the term AD (anno domini) beginning in the SIXTH century AD ie 500 years after Christ).

Here is some background about the Hijrah (or Hegira) from the  Wikipedia here:

"The Hegira (or Hijrah meaning "departure" or "migration") is the journey of the prophet and his followers from Mecca to Yathrib, later renamed by him Medina, in the year 622 AD.

In May 622, after being warned of a plot to assassinate him, the prophet secretly left his home in Mecca to emigrate to Yathrib, 320 km (200 mi) north of Mecca, along with his companion Abu Bakr.

Yathrib was soon renamed "Medina", meaning "the city".

The Hijrah is also identified with the start of the Arabic calendar, which was set to ..19 July 622 in the Gregorian calendar."

OSTB :  The prophet's migration journey or hijrah from Mecca to Yathrib is said to have taken 11 days. Here is the same Wikipedia page:

After staying (in the cave) for three days, the prophet and Abu Bakr resumed their journey ... After eight days' journey, the prophet entered the outskirts of Medina on 24 May 622, but did not enter the city directly. He stopped at a place called Quba', a place some miles from the main city, and established a mosque there.

OSTB :  There are differences among the various writers about the exact date that the Hijrah took place. 

For example here are some different dates that I took off Wikipedia (for those who are interested they do provide their references).

1. Some writers say the Hijrah took place between 21st June, 622 AD to 22nd July, 622 AD. 

Yet others (like Fazlur Rahman Shaikh) say the Hijrah took place  "ranging from 31 May 622 to 22 November 622."

Please see here : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegira#Muhammad's_hijra

Dates of events
The following table lists the dates of various events of Muhammad's Hijrah as mentioned by 

• Muhammad Hamidullah
• F. A. Shamsi and 
• Fazlur Rehman Shaikh 

Fazlur Rehman has listed other dates for the arrival of Muhammad in Quba' in his work, as proposed by modern scholars,   ranging from 31 May 622 to 22 November 622.

These dates are discussed by Al-Biruni, Alvi, Ibn Sa'd, Abu Ja'far and Ibn Hisham. 

• Annual celebration of the Hijrah has long been assigned to 1 Muharram, the first day of the Muslim year, 
• causing many writers to confuse the first day of the year of the Hijrah with the Hijrah itself, 
• erroneously stating that the Hijrah occurred on 1 Muharram AH 
• even though the first visit to Medina for Friday prayers actually occurred on 12 Rabi' I .

OSTB : Please note the last point above :  

• even though the first visit to Medina for Friday prayers actually occurred on 12 Rabi' I .

The Arabic calendar has 12 months and they appear in the following sequence, beginning with the 1st month called Muharram.

As you can see above the sequence of the 12 months in the Arabic calendar are:

1. Muharram
2. Safar
3. Rabi' al-awwal
4. Rabi' al-thani
5. Jumada al-awwal
6. Jumada al-thani
7. Rajab
8. Sha'aban
9. Ramadan
10. Shawwal
11. Dhu al-Qi'dah
12. Dhu al-Hijjah

OSTB : If the prophet took 11 days to get from Mecca to Medina in his Hijrah it means he should have arrived in Medina around 12th day of the month of Muharram.

But the writers say that upon arrival in Medina the prophet built a mosque, the Quba Mosque which became known as the first mosque ever built. (The writers say it was a simple stone structure and was built very quickly). And the writers say that the first Friday prayers were held by the prophet in this Quba Mosque "the first visit to Medina for Friday prayers actually occurred on 12 Rabi' I  Awwal". 

If you look at the twelve arabic months again you will notice that there is one full month (SAFAR) between the month of Muharram and the month of Rabiul Awwal. 

So how did the prophet start on the 1st of Muharram and arrive 11 days later in Medina in the month of Rabbiul Awwal, by-passing a whole month of SAFAR in between? 

The month of SAFAR is not accounted for.  

Yet another version says 12th Rabiual Awwal was a Monday https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quba_Mosque#In_ahadith :

"Masjid Quba (Arabic: مسجد قباء) is where the Prophet (ﷺ), accompanied by Abu Bakr (رضي الله عنه), first stayed in Madinah after emigrating from Makkah. They arrived on Monday 12th Rab’i al-Awwal, fourteen years after Prophethood and this date marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar (Hijra), (16th July 622 CE). A mosque was established here by the Prophet (ﷺ), the first to be built in Islam.

According to records, its first stones were positioned by the prophet as soon as he arrived on his emigration from the city of Mecca to Medina, and the mosque was completed by his companions. The prophet spent 14 days in this mosque praying qaṣr (Arabic: قَـصْـر‎, a short prayer) while waiting for Ali to arrive in Medina... Also going along with traditional saying, this mosque is said to be where the first Friday prayer was held, led by the Prophet".

OSTB :  I found all this by surfing the Net. You can do the same by yourself.  This is what is written about these events by the different writers.