Islamic Calendar The Hijri era was established during the caliphate of Umar, with the first year falling in CE . A date in the Hijri calendar is followed by the letters AH . The Hijri year is a lunar year of days, months (Muharram to Dhul Hijja) of or days. Each day begins at sunset and each month with the sighting of the crescent moon.
The Hijri year is about days shorter than the solar year. Therefore, none of the Islamic religious festivals, including the Ramazan fast, Id and hajj , corresponds in any way to seasons. There is no easy way to match the dates in the Hijri calendar with the dates in the Gregorian calendar (established by Pope Gregory XIII in CE ). One can calculate the rough equivalents between the Islamic (H) and Gregorian Christian (C) years with the following formulae: (H × / ) + = C (C – ) × / = H The survival of a religion rests on the survival of the community of believers.
The community has to be consolidated internally and protected from external dangers. Consolidation and protection require political institutions such as states and governments which are either inherited from the past, borrowed from outside or created from scratch. In Medina, Muhammad created a political order from all three sources which gave his followers the protection they needed as well as resolved the city’s ongoing civil strife. The umma was converted into a wider community to include polytheists and the Jews of Medina under the political leadership of Muhammad.
Muhammad consolidated the faith for his followers by adding and refining rituals (such as fasting) and ethical principles. The community survived on agriculture and trade, as well as an alms tax ( zakat ). In addition, the Muslims organised expeditionary raids ( ghazw ) on Meccan caravans and nearby oases. These raids provoked reactions from the Meccans and caused a breach with the Jews of Medina.
After Pilgrims at the Kaba, illustration from a fifteenth- century Persian manuscript. A pilgrim (haji) touches the black stone (hajr al-aswad) while angels (malaika) watch . a series of battles, Mecca was conquered and Muhammad’s reputation as a religious preacher and political leader spread far and wide. Muhammad now insisted on conversion as the sole criterion for membership of the community.
In the harsh conditions of the desert, the Arabs attached great value to strength and solidarity. Impressed by Muhammad’s achievements, many tribes, mostly Bedouins, joined the community by converting to Islam. Muhammad’s alliances began to spread until they embraced the whole of Arabia. Medina became the administrative capital of the emerging Islamic state with Mecca as its religious centre.
The Kaba was cleansed of idols as Muslims were required to face the shrine when offering prayers. In a short space of time, Muhammad was able to unite a large part of Arabia under a new faith, community and state. The early Islamic polity, however, remained a federation of Arab tribes and clans for a long time.