Re: Full moon of "ramadan"


Ayman wrote:
> SHAHR RAMADAN - FULL MOON OF SCORCHING HEAT
>
> Every year, a common occurrence is a dispute between followers of
> various sects about when so-called Ramadan starts and ends. This year
> was no exception and some countries ended their so-called Ramadan one
> day before others.

mainly because the crescent becomes visible at differnet times in
different places.


>
> In the so-called Islamic calendar the start of Ramadan depends on the
> sighting of the new crescent moon. The sighting of the new crescent moon
> is not an easy task and only expert observers under optimal viewing
> conditions can see the new-moon crescent. Hence, the vast majority of
> people never sees the new-moon crescent and only sees the 1-2 day old


this is actually the interesting part of the post.


sometime in the 1970's I remember on Turkish TV the director
of religious affairs (muslim) of Turkey, explaning that he advocated
the visibility of so many arc seconds of moon illuminated
and thus defending his declared date for the observance of Ramadan.


this was part of an overall effort to unifyu the Islamic calendar
and that he was going to defend this position in an upcoming
international conference on << ru'yatu~l-hila:l >> i.e.
sighting of the crescent and unifying the calendar. i don't
think the effort was succesful.


> crescent. This difficulty is a major reason for the annual dispute about
> the timing. What many people don't know is that the start of so-called
> Ramadan depends on a myriad of other factors other than the sighting of
> the new-moon crescent.



> One of the factors that affects when present-day so-called Ramadan
> starts depends on when the start of the so-called Islamic calendar was
> set. For example, had its start been set for three years earlier, then
> this year the dating of Ramadan would have been a month earlier. As I
> mentioned above, we know from verifiable archeological evidence that the
> new calendar was established around 638 AD, long after the prophet's



that is hardly "a long time after"


> time. Several generations later, a story circulated that Omar decided
> after consultation with others to make the year of the "hijra" the first
> date of the new era. So the timing of Ramadan today is dependent not
> only on the sighting of the new crescent moon but on an arbitrary
> decision that was made many centuries ago.
>
> As a side note, traditionalists also contend that the prophet first
> started to abstain in the second year after migration/"hijra". So
> according to them this means that 2:185 was revealed early in Yathrib.
> The traditionalists contend that Chapter 9 (where they claim there is
> the alleged calendar modification order) was revealed in the last year
> of the prophet's life. By holding to this traditional view and


this is consistent wth the statement that the pagans and muslims
initally performed the pilgrimage together but towards the end
performed it at different times.


> backdating the so-called Islamic calendar to the alleged first year of
> "hijra" sectarians imply that all his life, the prophet abstained on the
> wrong dates (see Appendix).


it wasn't "wrong" at the time since the verse banning intercalation
wasn't revealed yet.



>
> Another factor that the start of the present so-called Ramadan depends
> on is the order of the months at the time the new calendar system was
> adopted. In "pre-quranic" times, the Arabs didn't use a single standard
> calendar. Arabs used calendars based on 4, 5, and 6-season system. Some
> "pre-quranic" Arabs used the calendar system of the Persians. Others
> used the calendar system of the Jews and some used the calendar system
> of the Romans. The Nabataeans used to align the months with the zodiac
> and hence some Arabs used the star based calendar system. Even the 4
> season system was different than the modern 4 season system that we have
> today. For example, according to Lisan Al-3arab "sayf" was spring,
> "qayth" was summer, "kharif" was autumn, and "shitaa" was winter. Rabi3



if you look at Lane, the original system was:

al-*sh*ita:' (winter) / al-rabi:3u~l'awwal / al-Sayf / al-qayZ /
ar-rabi:3u~*th*-*th*a:ni / al-xari:f

when the 4 season system became common, two different systems formed:

1)

al-*sh*ita:' (winter) / al-rabi:3 / al-Sayf / al-xari:f


2)


al-*sh*ita:' (winter) / al-Sayf / al-qayZ / al-xari:f


the first was that of sedentary, rural or city folk

the second was that of bedouins.


the lexicographers prefered bedouin usage, but modern arabic adopted
urban usage.



> months etymology denotes grazing in spring and fall. In Arabia the rainy
> season, which would promote the growth of grasses for grazing, occurs
> during autumn. This is confirmed by what is known about Arabs using a 6
> season system that split fall into Rabi3 Althani (early fall) and Kharif

ar-rabi:3u~*th*-*th*a:ni: "early fall" and rabi:3u~*th*-*th*a:ni:
(month
name) are different. the first is a noun, the other a proper name.


> (late fall) prior to the so-called Islamic calendar. In this system each
> season lasted two months. The new Omar Calendar that we have today has a
> different order for the months. The arbitrary decision to rearrange the

no proof of that. the name of the seasons are a different matter,
see above.


> order of the months also affects when the present day so-called Ramadan
> occurs.







> Now that we presented the problem, let's look in the great reading for
> the solution.
>
> 2:185. "shahr ramadhan" is when the reading was descended as a guidance
> for people and clarifications from the guidance and the criterion, so
> whomever witnesses "al-shahr", let him abstain it. And whomever was sick
> or traveling so a count of other days. The God wants to facilitate and
> not make it hard on you. And so complete the count and magnify The God
> for what He guided you and perhaps you would be thankful.
>
> A common misconception is that the word "shahr" means month. However,
> the term "shahr" doesn't mean month. According to Classical Arabic
> dictionaries, the Arabs used to call the moon "shahr". But what phase of
> the moon does the word "shahr" imply?



the waxing crescent.


>
> Classical Arabic Dictionaries deal extensively with the etymology of the
> word "shahr". For instance in the discussion of "shahr", they give
> "ash-harat", a derivative of "shahr", as meaning a pregnant woman whose
> belly is round. They also give the meaning of "shahira(t)" as a big wide
> woman. They also give the meaning of "ash-har" as the bright white color
> of flowers. The primary meaning of the word "shahr" is "something
> obvious", "something public", "something wide", and "something bright".


it's the manifesting of th emon

that it meant a waxing crescent is evident from archeaology. it
was also the meaning given to it by most dctionaries. attestations
of it as "full moon" are late and infrequent.


> Hence, all the etymology of the Arabic word "shahr" indisputably and
> clearly points to it being the obvious, wide, round, and bright
> full-moon and not the thin, unobvious, and dim new crescent moon.



whatever you think, the oldest meaning attested is "waxing crescent"


>
> There is no evidence that there was a "pre-quranic" month named
> Ramadhan. The common noun "ramadhan" means "scorching heat". The only
> derivative from "R-M-Dh" in the great reading is the word "ramadhan",
> which occurs only once. Hence, there is no way to compare directly the
> meaning with how it is used in other verses.




>
> Now 2:185 contains the complete information that we need to know when to
> start the abstinence. It is the complete information irrespective of
> what calendar system each nation or group uses because it doesn't rely
> on any calendar system and instead relies on easily witnessed cosmic
> phenomena.
>
> When does scorching heat begin to take place? The time of scorching heat
> starts after the summer solstice. This is the time when the sun is at


roughly a month after the summer solictice.




> Now the next question to ask is about the year. Is the year in the great
> reading solar or lunar?



discussed before.



> serves as a timing device, in this case to time the abstinence.
>
> This would be a good time to find out how the restricted full-moons fit
> in all this. First, let's see the traditional view. The reason for the
> so-called Islamic calendar is always given as verse 9:37:
>
> 9:37. But the "nasi'a" is an increase in rejection, whereby those who
> have rejected are misguide with it. They make it permitted one year, and
> they restrict it one year, to circumvent the count that The God has made
> restricted; thus they make lawful what The God made restricted! Their
> evil works have been adorned for them, and The God does not guide the
> rejecting people.
>
> The whole lunar calendar was adopted to avoid the "nasi'a".
> Interestingly, despite this there is no consensus about what the word
> "nasi'a" means. Some people claim that it is the addition of an
> intercalary month. Others claim that it is the haphazard assignment of
> the restricted "ash-hur" at the beginning of each year. All the


both intercalation and simple declaration of holy or profane
months is attested for pre-islamic times.


an intercalary lunar calendar is attested for pre-islamic times.


> classical Arabic dictionaries say that "nasi'a" means "delay" and that
> the Arabs used to delay the start of the restricted "ash-hur" by making
> the month of Safar restricted instead of Mu7aram. Given the etymology of
> the word that points to "delay" then most probably the dictionaries are
> the most correct and their meaning has nothing to do with changing the
> calendar to lunar, since the arbitrary assignment of a restricted
> "shahr" can be delayed in a lunar calendar just as easily as in a solar
> one.
>
> Another verse that is used to justify a fully lunar calendar is 9:36.
> Here is a translation of 9:36 that is based on our findings:
>
> 9:36. The count of the full-moons with The God is twelve full-moons in
> The God's book the day He created the heavens and the earth; four of
> them are restricted. This is the correct obligation; so do not wrong
> yourselves in them; and fight those who set-up partners collectively as
> they fight you collectively and know that The God is with the
> forethoughtful.
>
> The Georgian solar calendar has some arbitrary periods with 31 days and
> others with 30 and 28/29 days to make them 12. The so-called Islamic
> calendar actually has 12.3 months every year and not 12. Now, people
> will say that in some years the number of full-moons is actually 13.



you cannot have 13 lunations in a solar year.

.