The art of inculcating Islamic values in our lives is to understand the timetable of our Deen.
What is it that our creator wants from us at? What times? This should be the drive of an obedient slave. For us to develop into ‘good Muslims’ we need to bring the Islamic culture into our life. What better way than to start with the Islamic calendar.
A month of great importance and significance in the Muslim calendar has dawned upon us. The first month of the Islamic calendar and the mark for the beginning of the Islamic Year. The Month of Muharram is a beautiful time for us to make the resolutions we need to make for us to become better Muslim. The unfortunate reality is that most of us don’t know anything about the Islamic calendar. Big or small, learned or not, the truth is Muslims have detached themselves from the Islamic Calendar and are only able to relate to it during the month of Ramadhan or Dhul Hij’jah. This article is focused on one issue and that is to revive the usage of the Islamic Calendar in our lives.
Indeed, The number of the months with Allah is twelve months by Allah’s ordinance in the day that He created the heavens and the earth. Four of them are sacred (9:36)
The months of Islam are essential to us as Muslims, to be informed of the various events in our calendar. If we are able to make this a part of our daily lives we will automatically become better Muslims insha-Allah.
Some tips to parents on how to bring the Islamic Calendar in our homes and into our daily usage.
- Talk to the children about the Islamic calendar and its importance. You can have monthly reminders on the virtues of each month. Simply read this journal to prepare for your reminder.
- You can design a homemade Islamic calendar for the year. You can get guidance from any Islamic calendar online.
- Memorise the months in Islam Nasheed as per this video.
- Find your birth date on the Islamic calendar and follow your Islamic age. Usually makes you feel slightly older.
- Look for the moon on the 29th of each month. You never know you might just find it.
- Use Islamic dates to refer to different events. E.g. I went to the doctor on the 11th of Dhul Hijjah which corresponds with the 25th of September.
- Write the Islamic date down in the house in a place visible to all.
By adopting the Islamic calendar one will be following the Sunnah of the Messenger (May Allah bless him) and the prescribed calendar of our creator as is evident from the aayah above. Our children will be looking forward to the important dates in the calendar such as Eid etc.
Resolutions
The New Year is a time for optimism and hope. Let us not dwell on the time wasted, rather let’s focus on making our future brighter. Setting goals of where we want to be next year this time if Allah blesses us with life, is an effective way to achieve that. The one resolution we can all make today is that we will try to follow our Calendar more purposefully this year insha-Allah.
