New Islamic year 1439 AH
Today is the first day of the Islamic New Year 1439 AH. It is the first day of Muharram, the first month of the lunar Islamic calendar. The Islamic lunar calendar began with establishment of the first Muslim community in 622 AD. 1AH [After Hijra], marked the migration of Prophet Muhammad and the early Muslim community from Makkah to Madinah in Saudi Arabia. The migration was to escape the oppression and violence that the predominantly non-Muslim Quraish tribe of Makkah visited on him and his companions.
Hijri Calendar is the official calendar in many predominantly Muslim countries. The similarities between the Islamic and Gregorian calendars are that both have 12 months of seven days a week each. Days go from sunset to sunset in the Muslim calendar. If the new moon is spotted on the 29th day of the existing month, the next day is decreed to be the start of the next month - and in this case, the New Year. If the new moon isn’t seen, then the month goes on for another day before the next month begins.
The Islamic calendar is lunar, consisting of 12 months in a year of 354 or 355 days to date events among Muslim faithful and is also used by Muslims to determine the proper days of Islamic holidays and occasions such as the annual period of fasting and the proper time for the pilgrimage to Mecca. The 12 months in the Islamic/Hijri calendar was started by the second Caliph Umar in 16 AH/ 637 CE and the first month of the year, Muharram known as the month of remembrance, is one of the most important months in the Muslim calendar and for some, the most sacred month. The word Muharram means “forbidden” and many Muslims fast during this period.
As this is the start of the ‘month of remembrance’, there are solemn and commemorative events rather than joyful celebrations. A public holiday to commemorate the Islamic New Year has been declared in some states. We congratulate Nigerians and Muslims the world over for witnessing the New Year. During this solemn period, it is incumbent to call on Nigerians, religious leaders and their followers to learn to live in peace with the adherents of other religions and to also join hands with the government of President Muhammadu Buhari in its determination to build a peaceful and harmonious country.
Nigerians should also refrain from making provocative statements capable of causing bad blood among them and other Nigerians hence the need for mutual tolerance and peaceful co-existence among Nigerians irrespective of religious affiliations. We hope that Nigerians will realize that now is the time to start anew and inspire our endeavors such that we would be able to rise up to the many challenges the country faces with trust, understanding and mutual respect.
Nigerians should also imbibe the lessons of the Hijrah by leaving sinful practices that have constituted a stumbling block to the progress of Nigeria for a new life and conduct that will add value to the state and the country. There is no better time than now when the Nigerian people are facing many challenges that test our respective beliefs and principles as one united nation.
The new Islamic year provides a reason to celebrate faith, offers the opportunity to contemplate life’s real purpose and grants the chance to reassess your dealings with other people. More importantly, it is a time to strengthen our love for Allah by translating our faith into actions that demonstrate goodwill, obedience, harmony, vitality and hope. While praying for Allah’s divine intervention that we may all find the peace that we seek in ourselves, in our country and in all of humanity, we call on the Muslim faithful to intensify prayers for Nigeria against all manner of afflictions that we seem to be currently undergoing in terms of economic hardship and internal insecurity.