The month of Muharram: The beginning of the Islamic calendar.

The Shaykh : The month of Muharram also contains a lesson. The Muslims agreed that this month would be the start of their years. This is because, previously, even in the early days of Islam, people did not use a calendar. The Arabs were an illiterate nation; they did not read or write, until this great Book came to them, teaching us writing and wisdom. But before that, they had no specific calendar. They might date events, for example, by the Year of the Elephant, saying, "This happened in the Year of the Elephant." But when did the Year of the Elephant begin? There was no fixed start. However, in the era of 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), when the scope of Islam expanded east, west, north, and south, and letters began arriving at him, he would be confused about whether one letter came before or after another. He said, "We must have a calendar." This was one of the practices of 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). He said, "We must have a calendar," and they consulted one another, as was their custom when matters arose. First, they asked: Where do we start the calendar? From the birth of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), from his mission, or from his migration? If we start from his birth, the Muslims would be following whom? The Christians, because the Christians started their calendar from the birth of 'Isa. The Muslims must be an independent nation with a distinct character, distinguished from others. They said, "If we start from the mission, because with his mission the light began to descend upon this nation , then let it be from the mission." They said, "Yes, this is a good opinion, but no state for Islam appeared during the mission, and we want to date a history specific to whom? To the state of Islam. The state did not exist until after the migration, for after the migration, the Islamic nation had a specific, independent land. So let the start of the calendar be from the migration, through which the Islamic state was formed." Then they differed on another point: Which month? Some said from Ramadan, because the Qur'an was revealed in it. Others said, rather, from Rabi' al-Awwal, because Rabi' al-Awwal is the month in which revelation began to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and it is the month in which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) migrated. They said, "This is a good opinion, but there is something about it. What is it? It is the month in which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) passed away, so it is feared that this would be a commemoration of his death." Then they chose to start the calendar from Muharram, because it is the month in which Muslims return from performing the last pillar of Islam, which is Hajj. So it is as if the month of Dhu al-Hijjah completes the pillars, and we start from the month of Muharram. The Muslims have continued on this path until the disbelievers colonized the lands of the Muslims and changed the calendar. That is why you find that most Muslims in colonized lands have their dates starting with what? The Gregorian calendar. They shifted from the Islamic Hijri calendar to a disbeliever's calendar that has no basis. The cause of this is colonialism. That is why we find scholars in the cities that now use the Gregorian calendar dating by the Hijri calendar and not knowing the Gregorian calendar. Look at the biographies of previous scholars in the Islamic lands: they say this scholar was born in which year? The Gregorian year or the Hijri year? The Hijri year, in the Hijri month, and he died in such-and-such Hijri year, in the Hijri month, up to this point. Until the disbelievers colonized the lands of the Muslims and changed the calendar, and the Islamic calendar was forgotten in these lands. Some of the brothers who came to these lands about twenty years ago or more said, "By Allah, I did not know the Arabic months until I came here," because they grew up with the French months and the Gregorian years. Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) disliked dating by the French months and said: "I dislike dating by Azar", because this is contrary to what the Muslims have followed. The important point is that this month, which I mean Muharram, is the beginning of the Islamic Hijri years. But unfortunately, some Muslims in lands that were safe from the colonization of the disbelievers now date by what? The Gregorian calendar, even though the system of this state and its governance stipulates that the calendar is the Arab Islamic calendar, explicitly. But unfortunately, the grocer sometimes gives you an invoice dated with what? Yes, the Gregorian calendar. Glory to Allah! This contradicts the history of Islam and the history of the state. Therefore, if there were full adherence to the state's system, these people would be held accountable before this becomes the date of the Muslims from distant times. But unfortunately, the weakness of personality in the Muslim man among us is what led to this failure.
And more astonishing than that is that a patient is given a prescription on a paper with the Gregorian date and Latin letters. The patient keeps it and does not know what is written: "Take this medicine on the nineteenth." Nineteen? Well, nineteen, nine. He is a layman and calculates when to use this medicine in Ramadan, because he was told "on the nineteenth," "nine." He also takes it three times, and it is written with a number unfamiliar to him, so the matter becomes confused. If it says "take seven pills" and it is written with a letter he does not know, he thinks seven is six because they look similar. All of this, by Allah, saddens a person because it indicates the weakness of personality.
Our language, and praise be to Allah, is the Arabic language, the language of the Qur'an, the language of the Sunnah, and indeed it is the language of the people of Paradise, as came in some hadiths. How do we neglect it? Why do we not teach these people who deal with our Muslim brothers who came from lands where they do not know the Arabic language? Why do we not teach them? But the problem now is that they have taught us their language instead of us teaching them. They proceed to teach us, and we learn from them. Instead of one of us saying "I do not know," he says "ma fi ma'lum" (there is no information). Yes, which is more concise? Yes, "I do not know" is more concise, clearer, and more truthful, because saying "I do not know" is a denial of knowledge only about yourself, but "ma fi ma'lum" is a denial of knowledge for all people. But unfortunately, instead of us teaching them the Arabic language, they have influenced our tongue. And all of this, as we said, is due to the weakness of personality in us. It is obligatory that this nation have a distinct feature that sets it apart from other nations. There is no harm in dealing with each person according to what he knows. For example, if I am addressing a person who does not know Arabic and I know his language, there is no harm in speaking to him in his language, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered Zayd ibn Thabit to learn the language of the Jews in order to correspond with them and write to them in their language. And he said to Umm Khalid, who had come from Abyssinia and was a small girl wearing a new garment, that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , "Sana" in the Abyssinian language means "good." He addressed her in the language she understood. But this does not mean that I should address the Arab brother in the language of this brother who does not know Arabic, as is the case sometimes.
So we ask Allah to conclude our year with good, acceptance, forgiveness, and pardon, and to make our future in our new year a future filled with victory and joys. Indeed, He is capable of all things.

The questioner : May Allah reward our Shaykh with the best reward and benefit us with what we have heard.

The Shaykh : Ameen

The questioner : And may He fulfill what he prayed for and guide him.