The Islamic Lunar Calendar: Months of Reflection and Celebration

Greetings, dear friends, how are you all? I hope you all are fine and enjoying your day. I wish for you all health, wealth and prosperity.

The Islamic calendar also called lunar or Hijri calendar has 12 months with each month having either 29 or 30 days. When we take both Islamic and Gregorian calendars into consideration, every Islamic month starts 10 day prior to the date at which it starts the previous year in reference to the gregorian calender. Thus every Islamic event Is celebrated 10 days prior to the day it was celebrated last year as per the Gregorian calendar is concerned.
Different months of lunar calender have their own significance as per the Islamic events that have occurred over a period of time when Islam started its journey and people were embracing the religion of equality in huge numbers as they could find peace, prosperity, equality, humility, and a direct connection with the divine.

The different months of the lunar calendar are

1. Muharram
2. Safar
3. Rabi Al-Awwal
4. Rabi Al-Thani
5. Jumada Al-Awwal
6. Jumada Al-Thani
7. Rajab
8. Shaban
9. Ramadan
10. Shawwal
11. Dhul Qadah
12. Dhu al-Hijjah (month of Hajj)

The Islamic calendar starts with the month of Muharram, which has its own significance as it is the same month in which one of the dearest grandsons of our prophet were martyred in the famous battle of Karbala.The battle is known for providing the impetus to the revival of this beautiful religion.
The holiest month, Ramadan, in which Muslims across the world fast through dusk to dawn without even consuming a single gulp of either food or water. The fasting has its own significance as the scientific research has revealed that it decreases or destroys the cancer cells In their early stage. The month helps one to spiritually connect with the God and also to remain stead fast to give one a realisation of how the destitute people live their life who don’t have enough food to eat.

Another significant month of the lunar calendar is the Rabi ul Awal In which our below prophet was born. It was Monday morning on 12th of Rabi ul Awal When our profit physically arrived in this world to come with a message of peace, equality, humility for whole of the mankind. It’s one of the greatest days of the Islamic calendar and whole of the Muslim ummah celebrate this day in their own way.

Our ancestors have been celebrating this day with great enthusiasm and fervour and it’s our responsibility to pass on this religious rite to our coming generations. On this day, we arrange a religious conference in which a number of well-known scholars participate to throw light on various aspects of life and the way we have been guided by our holy book, Quran, and the sayings of our Prophet.

Again, this year, we stuck to our tradition of celebrating this day by inviting people to our Village and know more about our religion and the right path we have been showed by our holy book and our prophet. In this conference, a number of Muslim scholars participated and helped people to know more about our religion and stressed upon helping world to maintain peace and spend life with humility, which has been a foundation of our religion. On this occasion, all the villagers arranged food for all the visitors who come in thousands and we make sure that everyone who ever takes part in the conference has a meal. Different organisations set up their stalls to provide water and other food items to the devotees. They treat it as a service to mankind and consider it as a mark of gratitude towards the Almighty. I too took part in distributing drinks among the devotees, as it was quite hot and to ensure that people were comfortable listening to the scholars, we helped them with cold water and other juices. It was quite a pleasure for me to take part in such an event and for me, it is such an impeccable service, where I could know more about my religion while serving people.

It was a great experience, and I would like to cherish the time I dedicated to serve the mankind for a long time from now on. It would be my best time and so far and i am quite satisfied with the service i have been a part of.