As it has been stated in the chapter captioned PRAYER TIMES in the
fourth fascicle, one of the units of measurement of time is the year. Two kinds
of years of different lengths are: solar year and lunar year. A solar year is
the duration of time in which the earth makes one tour around the sun: which is
365.242 solar days. Lunar year is the length of time it takes for the moon to
make 12 rotations around the earth: this takes an average of 354.367 solar
days. Therefore, a solar year is 10.875 days longer than a lunar year.
Regarding the starting point of time, two types of calendars are being used: Hegira and Gregorian.
The Gregorian one is supposed to have started at the birthday of the Prophet Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, However, contrary to the
common belief, it is written in, Cosmographia,
by Hasîb Bey, that King Charles IX of France ordered in 970 [1563 A.D.] that
the new year should start on 1 January. The Hegira calendar starts with the
year when our Prophet (sallallâhu alaihi wa
sallam) migrated to the city of Medina. The starting day of the Hegira solar
year is the 20th of the Gregorian September, which was Monday, the 7th of
September of the Roman year, when he entered Medina. This information is
written in further detail in the calendar of Abuz-ziya, dated 1310 [1893 A.D.].
The Persian solar year starts six months before the Hegira solar year, on the
20th of March, which coincides with the Zoroastrian feast. On the other hand,
the starting day of the
Hegira lunar year
is the 16th of July (A.D), the first Friday of the month of Muharram of the
same year. The migration of our Prophet
(sallalâhu alaihi wa sallam) took place in 622 (A.D.). The beginning of the
Hegira lunar year is 196 days (0.54 years) after the completion of the year
Let us
find out the Hegira solar year which coincides with the beginning of the lunar
year 1404. Since a year begins after the last day of the previous year, and if
the solar year had also started on the 16th of July, then the number of solar
years would simply be 1403 x 0.97023 = 1361.23. But, since a solar year starts
0.18 years later than the 16th of July, 0.18 years is subtracted and then 1361
is taken: 1361.05 - 1361 = 0.05. Therefore, the beginning of the Hegira solar
year becomes 0.05 x 12 = 0.6; first month’s 0.6 x 30 = 18th day of the year
1362.
Let us
find out the lunar year which coincides with the beginning of the 1362 Hegira
solar year: If the lunar calendar had started on the 20th of September, too, it
would be 1361 x 1.0307 = 1402.78, and an 0.18 year excess of that number would
be 1402.96 and taking 1402 from it 1402.96 -140 2 = 0.96 and 0.96 x 12 = 11.52;
half of the twelfth month of the year 1403.
Let us
find out the starting dates of the Hegira years which coincides with the
beginning of