The story of Hijrah

What is Hijrah: Hijrah comes from the Arabic word meaning migration. It was the migration of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in 622 AD from Makkah to Yathrib (old name for Medinah) which saw the start of the spread of Islam civilization.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) went out from Makkah on the last Thursday of Safar, 622 AD or 1,429 years ago. He hid in the Thur Cave, an isolated place outside Makkah to avoid being detected by the Quraish, who have been trying to kill him. Hiding in the cave was the Prophet’s strategy where the Quraish thought that he went straight to Medinah. Prophet Muhammad went out of the cave after several weeks there in early Rabiul Awal.

The Hijrah calendar is use by many Muslim countries to determine the main events in Islam. It is based on the lunar calendar and has a total of 354 days annually.

Why Hijrah: Why was the event where Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) made the hijrah selected as the start of the Muslim year? Why not either on the dates of his birth or death, the Isra’ Miraj or other significant Muslim events?

The answer: One of the reasons was that Hijrah is the milestone for Muslims. The starting point where Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his friends spread Islam to the world.

Who started it: The second Khalifah Rashidin, Saidina Umar Al-Khatab (634-644 AD). One reference said that one Governor asked Saidina Umar on which year was his orders to the Governor. This gave Saidina Umar an idea to start a year which should be used for Muslims. At that time, there were a number of calendars used by the different Arab races such as the Elephant Year, the Persian calendar and the Romanian calendar. The names of the 12 months in the Hijrah year are either based on the season or events affecting the old Arab.

Muharram

Muharram is derived from the Arabic word haram. It is the first month of the Muslim calendar of Hijrah. In the old Arab days, it was forbidden to fight in this month as Muharram is one of the four holiest months in Islam (the other three are Zulkaedah, Zulhijjah and Rajab).

One of the most significant days in Muharram is Ashura. The religious significance of Ashura, as is relevant to Sunni Muslims who form the majority (85%) of Muslims, can be summarised from a report regarding Prophet Muhammed as follows:

” Prophet Muhammed arrived in Madinah and found the Jews observing fast on the day of ‘Ashura… They said: “It is the day of great (significance) when Allah delivered Moses and his people and drowned Pharaoh and his people, and Moses observed fast out of gratitude. And we also observe it.” Then Prophet Muhammed responded: “We have more right, and we have closer connection with Moses than you have”; so he observed fast and gave us orders to observe it.” [Reported by Ibn Abbas, Ref: Sahih Bukhari and Muslim]

The Shi’a believe the above hadith to be a fabrication by the Ummayads, after the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, as a part of their campaign to turn the 10th of Muharram into a day of rejoicing. These traditions are of the same genre as those which say that it was on the 10th of Muharram that Noah’s ark rested on Mount Ararat, the fire became cool and safe for Abraham, and Jesus ascended to the heaven. In the same category came the traditions exhorting the Muslims to treat ‘Ashura as a festival of joy, and to store one’s food-grain on this very day as it would increase one’s sustenance and bring the blessings of Allah to the household.

The day of Ashura also has the historical significance of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, which however took place well after the demise of Prophet Muhammed, and should not be confused with the religious significance of Ashura. However the Shia Muslim community attributes religious significances to the day of Ashura connected with this event.

So, the best practice to do in this month is to fast both either on the 9^th and tenth of Muharram (i.e. on the 18^th – Friday; and 19^th – Saturday of January 2008) OR the tenth and eleventh of Muharram ( Saturday and Sunday).

Selamat Tahun Baru Hijrah 1429

A new year message (in Malay) I received a few minutes after the new year from my sister, SA; the best one I received: Selamat Tahun Baru Hijrah. Semoga kita dapat berhijrah ke arah yang diredhai Allah swt. Muhasabah diri serta memperbaiki sebarang kekurangan supaya mendapat rahmat dariNya jua. Amin.

I still read the end and beginning of the year prayers. There is nothing wrong with a doa or prayer I believe. After all, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said a prayer is the Muslim’ weapon. I strongly believe that if we are sincere with our doa, Allah swt will listen to our prayers. I will talk about doa in my upcoming post.

I have searched everywhere and true, I couldn’t find any sunnah or teaching of the Prophet on the Doa Awal and Akhir tahun. One reply which I got from an ustaz on my own enquiries on these two prayers was that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) didn’t celebrate the new year Hijrah as it was only started after his death. But the ustaz said that there’s nothing wrong to pray for one owns well-being.

Read my very recent post on these prayers, which received over three hundred hits yesterday; Doa awal and akhir tahun, plus a comment from one Abdullah.

Brunei Darussalam celebrated the new year of Hijrah just a couple of hours ago where His Majesty The Sultan And Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam along with Their Royal Highnesses The Crown Prince and Prince Abdul Malik joined His Majesty’s subjects at the awesome Jame’ Asr Hassanil Bolkiah in Kiarong to welcome the new year.

Hijrah awards were presented by His Majesty. The Tokoh Ugama award went to Pehin Ustaz Haji Hamid bin Bakal who received among them a cash of Br$20,000. The other two recipients for another award were Awang Haji Metussin bin Haji Timbang and Awang Haji Zainal @ Abu Bakar bin Idris who each received a Br$10,000 cash and others.

I hope that the spirit of the new year will bring in much betterness in life, in this world and the lifeafter, amin.  Migrating because of Allah is one of the keys to richness as Allah said in the Quran:

“Artinya : Barangsiapa berhijrah di jalan Allah, niscaya mereka mendapati di muka bumi ini tempat hijrah yang luas dan rizki yang banyak” [An-Nisaa : 100]

Laughter is the best medicine

Laughter is the best medicine. I agree. [Hence this latest category – Jokes]

Prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon him) is known to joke around. One day in a gathering, he saw an old man among them. He began to preach and said: ‘In heaven there would be no old men, only young ones.’ Upon hearing this, the old man started to cry.

Prophet Muhammad then said: ‘Don’t worry old man. In heaven everyone would be of the same age, no one would be too young and none will be too old.’ With that, the old man smiled.

Sometimes when I am feeling down, I will think of a joke and even the lousiest one could put a smile on my face. Here are some as gathered from the ‘1,000 of the world’s funniest jokes’ book. Well, I am not going to post all 1,000; but some of them which I find are funny. Have a laugh guys … lots of LOLs…..

Piano Tuner: I’ve come to tune the piano.
Music Teacher: But we didn’t send for you.
Piano Tuner: No, the people who live across the street did!

Waiter, how long will my pizza be?
We don’t do long ones Sir, only round ones.

Doctor, I think I’m going to die!
Nonsense, that’s the last thing you’ll do!

Teacher: Where was the Queen crowned?
Gary: On her head?

Why did Snoopy resign? [Snoopy is my favorite cartoon, along with Garfield]
He didn’t want to work for Peanuts anymore!

This match won’t light!
That’s funny, it did this morning!

When do you stop at green and go at red?
When you’re eating a watermelon.

John kept pestering his parents to buy a video recorder but they said they couldn’t afford one. One day, John came home clutching a brand new video recorder.
‘Wherever did you get your money from to get that?’ asked his father. ‘It’s all right Dad,’ he replied. ‘I swapped the Tv for it.’

What do you get if you cross a werewolf with a hyena?
I don’t know but if it laughs I’ll join in.

First zombie: Do you still hold your girlfriend’s hand?
Second zombie: Yes, but I wish the rest of her would visit more often.

Waiter, this soup tastes funny.
Then why aren’t you laughing?

Dentist: Try to relax. I’ll pull that aching tooth in just five minutes.
Patient: How much will this cost?
Dentist: That will be £100.
Patient: That much for just five minutes’ work?
Dentist: Well, if you prefer, I can pull it very slowly.

Will put up some more later… shared jokes welcomed :p