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1 Pre-Islamic calendar
The predecessor to the Islamic calendar was a lunisolar calendar in that it used lunar months but was also kept synchronized with the seasons by the insertion of an additional, intercalary, month when required. Whether the intercalary month (Nasi) was added in the spring like that of the Hebrew calendar or in autumn is debatable. It is assumed that the intercalary month was added between the twelfth month (the month of the pre-Islamic Hajj) and the first month (Muharram) of this pre-Islamic year. The two Rabi' months denote grazing and the modern Meccan rainy season (only slightly less arid than normal), which would promote the growth of grasses for grazing, occurs during autumn. These imply a pre-Islamic year beginning near the autumnal equinox. But the rainy season after which these months are named may have been different when the names originated (before Muhammad's time) or the calendar may have been imported from another region which did have such a rainy season. On the other hand, Muhammad forbade the intercalary month (released the calendar from the seasons) near the end of his life, which implies a pre-Islamic year beginning near the vernal equinox because that is when the modern lunar year began during his last year.
2 Numbering the years
Abraha, a governor of Yemen, then a province of the Christian nation of Abyssinia (modern EthiopiaThe Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Ityop'iya Amharic ) is a country of northeastern Africa. It has one of the most extensive known histories as an independent nation in the continent. Unique among African countries, the Ethiopian monarchy maintai), attempted to destroy the KaabaThe Kaaba in the mosque known as Masjid al Haram in Mecca (Makkah), is one of the holy places of Islam. It is a small brick building in the shape of a cube. The structure is 50 ft. 24 m), the shorter walls are about 35 ft long (10. 67 m) and the longest w with an army which included an elephantThis page is about the animal, see elephant (disambiguation) for more meanings. Loxodonta Loxodonta cyclotis Loxodonta africana Elephas Elephas maximus Proboscidea is an order including only one family, Elephantidae or the elephants with 3 species: the Sa (possibly several). Although the raid was unsuccessful, the elephant so impressed the Meccans that that year became known as the Year of the ElephantThe Year of the Elephant `Am al-Fil is estimated at 570 AD. According to early Islamic historians such as Ibn Ishaq, the Ethiopian governor of Yemen, Abraha, had built a great church in Sanaa intended to lure the Arabs away from the Kaaba; a man of Qurays, which was also the year that Muhammad was born. (See suraSee also: Sura (disambiguation). Sura is the Arabic term for "chapter of the Qur'an". These are traditionally ordered in roughly reverse chronological order, with Madinan suras coming first and Makkan ones last for the most part. Each sura is divided intot al-Filal-Fil" is also the name of a "sura" by the unsuccessful would-be prophet Musaylimah. Surat al-Fil (The Elephant) is the 105th chapter of the Quran. It is a Makkan sura consisting of 5 ayat. It describes the incidents of the Year of the Elephant, the year.) Although most Muslims equate it with the Western year 570Events First mention of the Spear of Destiny (approximate date). Spoleto becomes the capital of an independent duchy under the Lombards. The Jews of Clermont-Ferrand are forced to convert to Christianity. Year of the Elephant, according to Islamic traditi, a minority equate it with 571Events The Monophysites again reject the Council of Chalcedon, causing another schism. Births Deaths Emperor Kimmei of Japan In Other Fields 571 is the area code for telephone numbers in the Northern Virginia region of the United States. It is overlaid by. Later years were numbered from the Year of the Elephant, whether for the years of the pre-Islamic lunisolar calendar, the lunisolar calendar used by Muhammad before he forbade the intercalary month, or the first few years of the lunar calendar thus created. In 638 (AH 17), the second Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab began numbering the years of the Islamic calendar from the year of the Hijra, which was postdated AH 1. The first day of the first month (1 Muharram) of that proleptic Islamic year, that is, after the removal of all intercalary months between the Hijra and Muhammad's prohibition of them nine years later, corresponded to July 16, 622 (the actual emigration took place in September). The first surviving attested use of the Hijri calendar is on a papyrus from Egypt in 22 AH, PERF 558.
