Habibia Soofie Masjid, the oldest mosque on the Cape Flats and the largest masjid in Cape Town, will be commemorating the Islamic New Year (1432) by hosting its annual Muharram programme from December 15 to December 19, 2010.

With the Islamic New Year coinciding with the end-of-year festive season, Habibia Soofie Masjid aims to educate the community about the auspiciousness of Muharram by reflecting on the significant religious and historical events which took place during the month.

They will be presenting a five-day programme, where visitors can expect lectures, forum discussions, a main stage for entertainment, exhibition space and a 70-stall trade fair. The main guest speaker is Dr Shaykh Muhammad bin Yahya Al-Husayni Al-Ninowy, a Syrian scholar currently residing in the US. The line up also includes lectures by Moulana Dawood Samson, Hafiz Fuzail Soofie, Shaykha Rukayya Samsodien, as well as open forum panel discussions, which will be tackling contemporary issues. For entertainment, visitors can expect qasaaid, naat by prominent local and national artists, including Inayet Petker, a youth play and lots of activities for children.

The programme marks the city’s biggest Islamic New Year event, and the City of Cape Town has once again come aboard as a partner to provide logistical and event management support. The event sponsors are Jive (Quality Beverages), 1-Up Cash & Carry, Gattis Ice-Cream, Portlands Meat Hyper and Deli, Old Mutual, AlBaraka and Cii Finance.

Habibia Soofie Masjid will be joining Muslims around the world in observing the Islamic New Year in December. Muslims follow the Hijri calendar which is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 months in a year of 354 or 355 days. Muharram, considered a sacred month, is the first month of the year. The 10^th of Muharram, or Day of Ashura, is the most significant day in the month. Muslims believe that many prophets (also recognised in Judaism and Christianity) were relieved from severe difficulties upon this day. The day is also marked by one of the saddest events in Islamic history: the martyrdom of the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, Imam Hussain, on the plains of Karbala (in Iraq).

For more information or programme details, visit www.habibiamosque.org.za or the mosque’s Facebook page.

The Islamic calendar is based on lunar months, which begin when a thin new crescent Moon is actually sighted in the western sky after sunset within a day or so after the New Moon. Hence, the month is either 29 days or 30 days. There are 12 months in an Islamic year, which is either 354 days long or 355 days long, compared to (Gregorian) civil calendar year of 365 or 366 days. Since the Islamic Lunar year has 12 lunar months, it is on an average, 11 days shorter than the (Gregorian) civil year, the Islamic year shifts earlier in each civil year by about 11 days. The 12 months of the Islamic calendar are:Muharram
Safar
Rabi’ al-Awwal
Rabi’ al-Thaani
Jumada al-Ooola (also known as Jumada al-Awwal)
Jumada al-Ukhra (also known as Jumada al-Thaani)
Rajab
Sha’ban
Ramadan
Shawwal
Dhu al-Qa’dah
Dhu al-Hijjah

The Islamic (Hijri) calendar year is usually abbreviated A.H. in Western languages from the latinized “Anno Hegirae” or more commonly known as “After Hijrah.”

It was during the Messenger Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) last pilgrimage in the 10th year of Hijrah (10th year of his migration from Makkah to Medinah), that the decision to introduce a purely lunar Islamic Calendar was made.

Although, the Islamic calendar was introduced in the Christian Era of 632 AD by the Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him), the beginning of the Islamic era for the count of Islamic years was considered and discussed during 639 AD, the time of the 4th year of the Caliphate of Umar(R.A.) who declared that the most important event in establishing the roots of Islam in Madinah is Hijrah (Messenger’s migration from Makkah), therefore let it become the epoch of the era which happened in 622 AD. The actual starting date for the Islamic Calendar was chosen (on the basis of purely lunar years, counting backwards) to be the first day of the first month (1st Muharram) of the year of the Hijrah. However, the era between 1st year to 10th year of the Hijrah was not following this Islamic Calendar; instead the prevailing practices of various kinds of intercalation was followed in Arabia at that time. Different tribes we! re following different intercalations, so there was no uniform calendar. Accordingly, first day of Muharram, 1 A.H. as practiced in Arabia corresponded either April 18 or May 18, 622 C.E. (Julian calendar). However, if one wants a theoretical starting date for Islamic calendar (on the basis of purely lunar months without intercalation, counting backwards) then the first day of the first month i.e. 1st Muharram, 1 A.H. corresponds to July 16, 622 C.E.

The earliest date of Islamic calendar for which a Julian calendar date is exactly known is 9th Dhu al-Hijjah, 10 AH, which corresponds to March 6, 632 C.E. (Friday), when the Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him) performed his last and farewell pilgrimage to Makkah.
Source: By Khalid Shaukat (moonsighting.com)
To Add:

The Arabs in that era named their years after major events, eg. Year of the Elephant, Year of Badr, etc. Problems arose when the muslim population starting growing rapidly. One could promise to pay a debt in (eg) Shabaan, but not specify what year. Could be Shabaan this year, next year, ten years from now! Hence Umar bin Khattaab’s call for a uniform structured calender.