Hideyuki Ioh The Calendar in Pre Islamic Mecca Arabica 61 2014 471 513

Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513
brill.com/arab
The Calendar in Pre-Islamic Mecca

Hideyuki Ioh
Tokyo Jogakkan College, Department of International Liberal Arts
Abstract
In pre-Islamic times, pilgrimages were made to sanctuaries in various regions of

Arabia. Feasts connected with idolatry and annual fairs were held at convenient sea-
sons of the year. To keep all these events in order, a lunisolar calendar was used, and
the calendar adjuster of the Banū Kināna was charged with intercalation (nasīʾ). They
inserted a leap month according to the same cycle as the Jewish calendar. Though it
was exceptional, in emergency situations (e.g. the war of Fiǧār), they would postpone
a sacred month, set to guarantee the safety of pilgrims. In the first decade of hiǧra
calendar, in fact, three leap months were inserted immediately after ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa of 1/623,
3/625, and 6/628. On the occasion of the pilgrimage lead by Abū Bakr in 9/631, the leap
month was not inserted, and in the following year at the Farewell Pilgrimage,
Muḥammad formally abolished intercalation. The day that Muḥammad arrived in
Medina was, if the account reported by Ibn Isḥāq is correct, 28th June 622, and the
battle of Badr was 2 months earlier than in the standard correspondence.
Keywords
Pre-Islamic calendar, nasī ʾ, hiǧra calendar, Jewish calendar, sacred month, Muḥammad,
Farewell Pilgrimage, Mecca
Résumé
À l’époque préislamique, des pèlerinages étaient faits aux sanctuaires de diverses

régions de l’Arabie. Des festins en lien avec l’idolâtrie et des fêtes annuelles avaient lieu
tout au long de l’année selon les saisons. Pour garder l’ordre de tous ces événements, un
calendrier luni-solaire était utilisé, et un régulateur de calendrier de la tribu Kināna
était en charge des intercalations (nasīʾ). Un mois intercalaire était introduit selon le
même cycle que le calendrier juif. En cas d’urgence (par exemple la guerre de Fiǧār), le
© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��4 | doi 10.1163/15700585-12341319

472 ioh
mois sacré – établi afin d’assurer la sécurité des pèlerins – était reporté, bien que cela
fût exceptionnel. En fait, durant la première décennie du calendrier hégirien, trois
mois intercalaires furent insérés immédiatement après le mois de ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa des
années 1/623, 3/625 et 6/628. À l’occasion du pèlerinage dirigé par Abū Bakr en l’an
9/631, le mois intercalaire ne fut pas introduit, puis lors du Pèlerinage de l’Adieu,
Muḥammad abolit formellement les intercalations. La date où Muḥammad arriva à
Médine, si la description d’Ibn Isḥāq est exacte, fut le 28 juin 622 de l’ère chrétienne et
la bataille de Badr eut lieu deux mois plus tôt que dans la conversion standard.
Mots clés
calendrier préislamique, nasīʾ, calendrier hégirien, calendrier juif, mois sacré,

Muḥammad, Pèlerinage de l’Adieu, La Mecque
Preface
Mecca was one of the religious centers of the Arabs in the pre-Islamic period.
Sacrificial feasts, harvest festivals, and many kinds of polytheistic rituals took
place in various regions throughout the Arabian Peninsula. Sacred months
were set during the pilgrimage period in different areas of the peninsula, and
all kinds of fighting and killing were prohibited to ensure the safety of pilgrims
and merchants coming from great distances.
Each pilgrimage and trading at the annual fair (sūq) took place during a
specific season every year. This was because of the need to deal with merchants
from outside the peninsula and also due to geographic factors, such as seasonal
winds or harvest periods.
The society of that time was vastly different from that of the Islamic era,
when Mecca became the only place of pilgrimage. In order to maintain order,
calendars in pre-Islamic Arabia had to follow the seasons.
Looking at other areas, the Sassanid dynasty of Persia had a unique
solar calendar. Solar calendars such as the Julian calendar, which designated
21 March as the date of the vernal equinox at the council of Nicea in 321,
and other ecclesiastical calendars (e.g. Coptic, Syrian, and Abyssinian) had
been dominant around the Arabian Peninsula. These solar calendars as well as
the Jewish calendar placed religious events in specific seasons of the year,
when people gathered for pilgrimages and trade. The Arabs who traded
with the Mediterranean areas, Abyssinia, and Persia, absorbing various kinds
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

The Calendar in Pre-Islamic Mecca 473
of religious knowledge from the Jews and the Christians, would not have been
indifferent to these calendars.1
As is well known, the hiǧra calendar (the Islamic calendar) is a lunar calen-
dar. In the lunar calendar, one year consists of 354.367 days (29.531 days in
12 months) and differs from the solar calendar (365.242 days) by approximately
11 days. Consequently, a specific month does not correspond to a specific sea-
son. The prophet Muḥammad formally designated this lunar calendar in his
later years at the time of the Farewell Pilgrimage (ḥaǧǧat al-wadāʿ). On the
other hand, the pre-Islamic Meccan calendar was a lunisolar calendar, in
which a month was intercalated (making a 13-month year) roughly every three
years to keep the seasons and the months in correspondence.
The Jewish calendar is also a lunisolar calendar, developed under the influ-
ence of the Babylonian calendar. It has seven leap months in 19 years to resolve
the discrepancy between the lunar calendar and the solar calendar, and its
year originally started around the vernal equinox. As will be seen below, the
Jewish calendar may be closely connected with the pre-Islamic Meccan
calendar.
Studies dealing with pre-Islamic South Arabian inscriptions have revealed
the systems of a number of local calendars in the Yemen,2 and recent epi-
graphic work on the Ḥimyarite calendar proves that a lunisolar calendar with
a leap month had been in use in Ḥimyar as well.3
The Prophet Muḥammad’s abolition of the intricate traditional (lunisolar)
calendar and adoption of a pure lunar calendar was meant to change the tradi-
tional pilgrimage and trading system in the peninsula.
The months of the hiǧra calendar are as follows.4
1 On the calendars used around the Arabian peninsula, see F.C. de Blois, “Taʾrīkh (I.1.v-vii)”,
EI2.
2 Cf. A.F.L. Beeston, Epigraphic South Arabian Calendars and Dating, London, Luzac, 1956;
C.J. Robin, “Décompte du temps et souveraineté politique en Arabie méridionale”, in Proche-
Orient ancien : temps vécu, temps pensé, ed. F. Briquel-Chatonnet and H. Lozachmeur, Paris,
Jean Maisonneuve [Antiquités sémitiques, 3], 1998, p. 121-151.
3 N. Nebes, “A new ʾAbraha inscription from the Great Dam of Mārib”, Proceedings of the Seminar
for Arabian Studies, 34 (2004), p. 228. On the Ḥimyarite calendar, see also I. Gajda, Le royaume
de Ḥimyar à l’époque monothéiste: L’histoire de l’Arabie du Sud ancienne de la fin du IV e siècle
de l’ère chrétienne jusqu’à l’avènement de l’islam, Paris, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-
Lettres [Mémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 40], 2009, p. 255-273.
4 The hiǧra calendar that is generally used these days has 30 days for odd-numbered months,
29 days for even-numbered months, for a total of 354 days in addition to 11 leap days that are
inserted in 30 years. In other words, a 355-day year is inserted 11 times in 30 years. This system
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

474 ioh
1st al-muḥarram
2nd ṣafar
3rd rabīʿ I
4th rabīʿ II
5th ǧumādā I
6th ǧumādā II
7th raǧab
8th šaʿbān
9th ramaḍān
10th šawwāl
11th ḏū l-qaʿda
12th ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa
The current month names of the hiǧra calendar were presumably used as-is, at
least in the Ḥiǧāz area, in the pre-Islamic Period.5
1 Pilgrimages and Annual Fairs in Pre-Islamic Arabia
Pre-Islamic Arabia had abundant camels (which brought ten times the price of
sheep), palms, gold and silver mines, perfumes, and other resources. In their
caravan trade, the Meccan merchants imported all sorts of goods, such as
horses, cereals, wine, oil, weapons, clothes, jewelry, and perfume, as well as
slaves.6 However, the Meccan merchants didn’t have a monopoly since there
was no dominant tribe at the time Muḥammad began his mission.
Annual fairs took place at the pilgrimage sites, allowing pilgrims and mer-
chants opportunities for trade in daily necessaries and luxuries, in addition to
was reportedly established by Ulugh Beg (d. 853/1449), and it drifts only 1 day every 2600
years.
5 The original meanings of the names given to each month were explained etymologically in
al-Masʿūdī, Murūǧ al-ḏahab wa-maʿādin al-ǧawhar (Les prairies d’or), ed. and transl. C. Barbier
de Meynard et A. Pavet de Courteille, revised by C. Pellat, Paris, Imprimerie impériale, 1971,
III, p. 417-419; al-Bīrūnī, Kitāb al-Āṯār al-bāqiya ʿan al-qurūn al-ḫāliya, ed. C.E. Sachau, Leipzig,
Otto Harrassowitz, 1923, p. 60; id., The Chronology of Ancient Nations, ed. and transl. C.E.
Sachau, London, W.H. Allen, 1879, p. 70-71. Cf. F.C. de Blois, “Taʾrīkh (I.1.iii-iv)”, EI2.
6 Concerning the commodities which the Meccan merchants imported, see e.g. H. Lammens,
“La république marchande de La Mecque vers l’an 600 de notre ère”, Bulletin de l’Institut
Égyptien, 5/4 (1910), p. 47 ff; F.M. Donner, “Mecca’s Food Supplies and Muhammad’s Boycott”,
JESHO, 20 (1977), p. 254 ff; P. Crone, Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam, Oxford, B. Blackwell,
1987, p. 150.
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

sacrificial animals and garments necessary for the pilgrimage, as well as the
hides of the sacrificed animals.
Ibn Ḥabīb, Yaʿqūbī and al-Marzūqī contain valuable accounts of the fairs
that took place throughout the Arabian Peninsula7, and Azraqī has some
detailed information about the fairs that were held near Mecca.8 Although
these sources record the month in which each fair took place, the key question
is in which season of the year a given fair was held. Muḥammad participated in
the Farewell Pilgrimage in the 12th month, ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa 10/March 632. Therefore,
we can assume that the ḥaǧǧ in the pre-Islamic period took place in spring
every year. During the pilgrimage, trade was conducted at the fairs of ʿUkāẓ
(north of al-Ṭāʾif), Maǧanna (north of Mecca, on the way to Ǧiʿrāna and ʿArafa),
and Ḏū l-Maǧāz (near ʿArafa).9
In the Ḥiǧāz region, the three sacred months of ḏū l-qaʿda, ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa, and
al-muḥarram (or ṣafar I, cf. chapter 2, below) were designated, during which
pilgrims of the ḥaǧǧ had the chance to visit the shrines of the region’s three
goddesses: al-ʿUzzā (at Naḫla), al-Lāt (at Ṭāʾif), and Manāt (near Qudayd in the
coastal area of the Red Sea); and also the Kaʿba of Mecca. There were many
more idols in the Ḥiǧāz, such as Saʿad in Ǧidda and Suwāʿ located north of
Mecca.10 Not only the Qurayš of Mecca but also all the tribes of the area played
an important role in maintaining the safety of pilgrimage fairs and rites.11
7 Ibn Ḥabīb, Kitāb al-Muḥabbar, ed. I. Lichtenstädter, Hyderabad, Dāʾirat al-maʿārif

al-ʿuṯmāniyya, 1942, p. 263-268; al-Yaʿqūbī, Taʾrīḫ, ed. M. Th. Houtsma, Leiden, Brill, 1883, I,
p. 313-315; al-Marzūqī, Kitāb al-Azmina wa-l-amkina, Hyderabad, Dāʾirat al-maʿārif
al-ʿuṯmāniyya, 1332/1913-1914, II, p. 161-170.
8 Al-Azraqī, Aḫbār Makka, ed. F. Wüstenfeld, in Die Chroniken der Stadt Mekka, Leipzig,
F.A. Brockhaus, 1858 (reprint: New York, G. Olms, 1981), I, p. 129-132.
9 According to al-Azraqī, Aḫbār, p. 129, 131, ʿUkāẓ (administrated by the Banū Qays b. ʿAylān
and Banū Ṯaqīf) was held for the first 20 days of the 11th month of ḏū l-qaʿda, Maǧanna (by
the Banū Kināna) was for the last 10 days of ḏū l-qaʿda, and Ḏū l-Maǧāz (by the Banū
Huḏayl) was for the first eight days of the 12th month of ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa. Al-Marzūqī, Azmina,
II, p. 167-168 reports that ʿUkāẓ was administrated by the Banū Tamīm.
10 Regarding the pagan gods in Arabia, cf. T. Fahd, Le panthéon de l’Arabie centrale à la veille
de l’Hégire, Paris, Librairie orientaliste P. Geuthner, 1968. On the other hand, recent
investigations encourage a reconsideration of the ordinary views on polytheism and
idolatry in the pagan Arab society. See esp. G.R. Hawting, The Idea of Idolatry and the
Emergence of Islam, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 88 ff.
11 Ḥums, an organization that controlled the rites of the pilgrimage, is mentioned in several
sources (e.g. Ibn Ḥabīb, Muḥabbar, p. 178-179; Ibn Hišām, Kitāb Sīrat rasūl Allāh, ed.
F. Wüstenfeld, Göttingen, Dieterichsche Universitäts Buchhandlung, 1858-1860, p. 126-129;
al-Azraqī, Aḫbār, p. 118-131), but information about them is very limited. See M.J. Kister,
“Mecca and Tamīm”, JESHO, 8 (1965), p. 132-141; U. Fabietti, “The Role Played by the
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

476 ioh
At Naṭā in Ḫaybar a fair took place in al-muḥarram, and we can assume that
not only the resident Jews but also the neighbouring Arab tribes gathered
there.12
Assuming that ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa, when the pilgrimage around Mecca took place,
was in spring during the pre-Islamic period, the 3rd month, rabīʿ I, in which the
fair of Dūmat al-Ǧandal (where the idol Wadd was enshrined) took place, was
in early summer. Since it came at the end of the wheat harvest in Syria, flour
was offered to the Syrian idol Uqayṣir.13 Syria had a long history of holding fairs
and festivals around the summer solstice, including Dayr Ayyūb, Buṣrā (Bostra),
and Aḏriʿāt. Dayr Ayyūb was reported to be held 25 days after the Pleiades
disappeared,14 around the summer solstice in June. Large numbers of trading
ships gathered along the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea, taking advantage
of west wind in summer.15 Ġaza as well as Buṣrā is mentioned by the historical
sources as the main destination of Meccan caravans.16 Nawrūz, the first day of
Organization of the ‘Ḥums’ in the Evolution of Political Ideas in Pre-Islamic Mecca”,

Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 18 (1988), p. 25-33.
12 Many nomadic Arab tribes, including Ġaṭafān, had close connections with the oases in
Ḫaybar. The neighbouring Jewish oases, Wādī l-Qurā, had similarly strong relations with
an Arab tribe, ʿUḏra (al-Bakrī, Muʿǧam mā staʿǧama, ed. Muṣṭafā al-Saqqā, Beirut, ʿĀlam
al-kutub, 1983, I, p. 43; R. Simon, Meccan Trade and Islam, Budapest, Akadémiai Kiadó,
1989, p. 83).
13 Ibn al-Kalbī, Kitāb al-Aṣnām, ed. Aḥmad Zakī Bāšā, Cairo, Maṭbaʿat al-amīriyya, 1914,
p. 48-49.
14 Al-Marzūqī, Azmina, II, p. 169-170. Al-Marzūqī (d. 421/1030) being a relatively later
philologist, these accounts might reflect the facts in 10th-11th centuries.
15 A. Le Gras, General Examination of the Mediterranean Sea: A Summary of its Winds,
Currents, and Navigation, transl. R.H. Wyman, Washington, Government Printing Office,
1870, p. 145, remarks “the prevailing winds on the Mediterranean and Red Seas, which are
favorable from March to the end of October for navigation from Europe to the east, are
contrary during the winter season”. For the navigation in the Mediterranean, see also
J.H. Pryor, Geography, Technology, and War: Studies in the Maritime History of the Mediter
ranean 649-1571, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992, p. 12 ff; D.M. Varisco,
Medieval Agriculture and Islamic Science: The Almanac of a Yemeni Sultan, Seattle and
London, University of Washington Press, 1994, p. 220.
16 On Meccan caravans to Ġaza, see al-Wāqidī, Kitāb al-Maġāzī, ed. M. Jones, London,
Oxford University Press, 1966, I, p. 200; al-Ṭabarī, Taʾrīḫ al-rusul wa-l-mulūk, ed. M.J. de
Goeje et al., Leiden, Brill, 1879-1901, I, p. 1561. Muḥammad’s great grandfather, Hāšim died
in Ġaza on a commercial trip (Ibn Hišām, Sīra, p. 87). Antoninus Martyr who visited Ġaza
about AD 570 informs us “Gaza itself is a magnificent and delightful city; its inhabitants
are most respectable, eminent for liberality of all kinds, and lovers of pilgrims”.
See Palestine Pilgrims’ Text Society: Of the Holy Places Visited by Antoninus Martyr, tr.
A. Stewart, London, [Palestine Pilgrims’ Text Society, 1], 1896 (in The Library of the Palestine
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

the Persian solar year, was originally observed at the summer solstice, and in
Iraq traditional feasts were also held around summer solstice in the Islamic
period.17
Apparently, Mušaqqar,18 a fair in the Persian Gulf region (held in the 6th
month, ǧumādā II) was in autumn, and the fairs of Aden and Ṣanʿāʾ (9th month,
ramaḍān) were in winter. The reason these fairs took place in sequence from
Ṣuhār, Dabā (7th month, raǧab), through Šiḥr (8th month, šaʿbān) to Aden
(ramaḍān), is that the monsoon blows from the Indian continent to the
Arabian Peninsula in autumn and winter. Ships sailing from Oman and India
to the Yemen took advantage of this wind,19 and in winter, they took advantage
of the seasonal wind of the Red Sea that blows from Aden to the direction of
Mecca.20
In pre-Islamic Arabia, a cycle of fairs going around the Peninsula clockwise
had been established as being the most favorable for trade. Therefore, we may
conclude that the 12-month lunar calendar was adjusted periodically by
inserting a leap month to ensure the fairs occurred in the proper seasons. The
following diagram on the next page illustrates the cycle.
The two journeys mentioned in sura Qurayš, “For the ilāf (agreement, pres-
ervation, security, etc.) of Qurayš, for the ilāf of their journey in winter and
summer” (Kor 106, 1-2), are thought to describe the activities of Qurašī mer-
chants who visited Syria in summer and the Yemen in winter.21
Pilgrims’ Text Society, New York, AMS Press, 1971, II), p. 26. For more details on Meccan
merchants in Syria, see Crone, Meccan Trade, p. 115-119.
17 Cf. A. Sprenger, “Ueber den Kalender der Araber vor Moḥammad”, Zeitschrift der Deutschen
morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 13 (1859), p. 159-160; R. Levy-[C.E. Bosworth], “Nawrūz”,
EI2.
18 The idol Ḏū l-Labbā was enshrined there and its guardian was the Banū ʿAbd al-Qays (Ibn
Ḥabīb, Muḥabbar, p. 317).
19 R.B. Serjeant affirms that the merchants travelling by sea from the Persian Gulf must have
taken advantage of the monsoon which brought them to Šiḥr about November. See his
“Hūd and Other Pre-Islamic Prophets of Ḥaḍramawt”, Le Museon, 67 (1954), p. 126.
20 Currents caused by the wind flow the same direction as the wind. Cf. A. Lucas, Red
Sea and Indian Ocean Cruising Guide, Huntingdon, Imray, Laurie, Norie & Wilson, 1985,
p. 22-25; Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Pilot, Taunton, The United Kingdom Hydrographic
Office, 200715, p. 19-20; Varisco, Medieval Agriculture, p. 222.
21 Among historical sources, see e.g. Ibn Ḥabīb, Kitāb al-Munammaq, ed. Ḫ. Aḥmad Fāriq,
Hyderabad, Dāʾirat al-maʿārif al-ʿuṯmāniyya, 1964, p. 31-36 and 262-263; al-Wāqidī, Maġāzī,
I, p. 197 (Ethiopia in winter). However, the battle of Badr occurred in ramaḍān. The event
was caused by Muḥammad’s intention to raid the caravan led by Abū Sufyān coming from
Syria to Mecca. It seems likely that in those days there was a journey to Syria that departed
around in ǧumādā I and returned in ramaḍān (during autumn and winter). See Ibn
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

478 ioh
summer
3rd month
Dūmat al-Ǧandal
Basl
spring 11th-12th month 6th month autumn
Ḥiǧāz Mušaqqar
7th month
Ḥubāša
11th month
9th month Ḥaḍramawt
Ṣanʿāʾ
winter
(Expedition to Mecca: spring in the age of Abraha)
Figure 1 Timing of the pilgrimage fairs in pre-Islamic Arabia
Basl22 in the figure represents the eight sacred months uniquely established
by the Banū Murra (sub tribe of Ġaṭafān), who inhabited the area east of
Medina. They seem to have utilized the sacred months for traveling to the pil-
grimage fairs in each area of the Peninsula.
The fair of Ḥubāša took place near Tabāla and Ǧuraš, where some famous
pagan shrines existed.23 It took place in the 7th month, raǧab, which was no
doubt the sacred month in this region as well as in the vicinity of Mecca, where
the local feast of raǧab (ʿumra) was once held.24 In Ḥaḍramawt, a fair took
place in the same month as ʿUkāẓ, and even Meccan merchants reportedly
visited there from afar.25
Hišām, Sīra, p. 421 and 427 ff; al-Ṭabarī, Taʾrīḫ, I, p. 1271 and 1282 ff. In Jerusalem, the great
feast was held in October. See al-Masʿūdī, Murūǧ, III, p. 405.
22 Ibn Hišām, Sīra, p. 66.
23 The idol, Ḏū l-Ḫalaṣa in Tabāla had a temple in which divination arrows were performed
(Ibn al-Kalbī, Aṣnām, p. 34-36). According to Yāqūt, Muʿǧam al-buldān, Beirut, Dār ṣādir,
1957, II, p. 210-211 (s.v. Ḥubāša), Muḥammad, who was employed by Ḫadīǧa, visited this fair.
24 The pre-Islamic Meccan feast ʿumra had been celebrated in a great scale even in the
Islamic era in raǧab. See Kister, “Rajab is the Month of God . . .”, Israel Oriental Studies, 1
(1971), p. 191. Its prosperity in the Middle Ages was reported in detail in Ibn Ǧubayr, Riḥla
Ibn Ǧubayr, Beirut, Dār ṣādir, 1988, p. 106 ff.
25 The fair’s name is al-Rābiya. Qurayš was guarded there by Ākil al-Murār family of the
Banū Kinda (al-Marzūqī, Azmina, II, p. 165). The Banū Kinda possessed the idol Ḏarīḥ in
al-Nuǧayr of Ḥaḍramawt (Ibn Ḥabīb, Muḥabbar, p. 318).
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

In Arabia, the adjustment of calendars by inserting leap months and setting

sacred months is called nasīʾ, and the calendar adjusters who carry out these
functions are called nāsiʾ or munsiʾ.26 According to Tafsīr of al-Ṭabarī, the
Arabic root N.S.ʾ means “increase” or “extension,” and its usage includes exten
ding longevity or increasing the walking speed of camels. It also has derivative
expressions such as “milk diluted with water” or “pregnant woman.”27
The function of nasīʾ was passed down among the Banū Kināna, who held
the title qalammas for about 60 years. The last calendar adjuster, Abū Ṯumāma,
who converted to Islam, performed this duty for 40 years and was the great-
grandson of the first member of the family to assume this role.28 The Banū
Kināna inhabited mainly the area west of Mecca in the coastal areas along the
Red Sea and were known as the administrators of the fair of Maǧanna. It was also
reported that they shared the worship of the idol al-ʿUzzā with Qurayš.29 The
Banū Mālik b. Kināna (to whom the qalammas family belonged) and the Banū
Mirkān b. Kināna had an idol called Saʿad in Ǧidda.30 The Banū Kināna played
an important role in the pilgrimage fairs and rites in the sanctuaries of the Ḥiǧāz.
Every year, around the end of the ḥaǧǧ, the calendar adjuster would chant at
the Kaʿba to make his declarations about the calendar: “I make no mistakes and
have no sins, and whatever I say will not be retracted”. Moreover, he would
come to Minā riding on a donkey to make such declarations.31
During one pilgrimage period, pilgrims would find out whether the follow-
ing year’s pilgrimage was to come after 12 months or 13 months. The decision of
the Kinanite calendar adjuster, then, naturally would have been made known
widely to Arabs all over the peninsula by the pilgrims and the merchants.
26 The leader of the Sanhedrin in charge of calendaring in the Jewish society was also called
nāsī. Cf. A. Moberg, “An-Nasīʾ in der Islamischen Tradition”, Lunds Universitets Arsskrift,
1/27/1, Lund-Leipzig, 1931, p. 1-54; id., “Nasīʾ”, EI and EI2 .
27 Al-Ṭabarī, Ǧāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān, ed. Ṣidqī Ǧamīl al-ʿAṭṭār, Beirut, Dār
al-fikr, 1995, X, p. 167.
28 Ibn Hišām, Sīra, p. 30; Ibn Ḥabīb, Muḥabbar, p. 156-57; al-Masʿūdī, Murūǧ, III, p. 116-117; Ibn
al-Kalbī, Ǧamharat al-Nasab, ed. Nāǧī Ḥasan, Beirut, ʿĀlam al-kutub, 1986, p. 164-165.
Al-Azraqī, Aḫbār, p. 125, however, mentions that the Banū Kinda originally had served as
calendar adjusters and then Mālik b. Kināna who married a Kindite princess, succeeded
in that function. The Banū Kinda in the Yemen and Ḥaḍramawt reportedly embraced
Judaism in pre-Islamic times, and their calendar hence should have been a lunisolar
calendar as that of Ḥimyar (see I. Shahīd, “Kinda”, EI2 ).
29 The guardian (sādin) of al-ʿUzzā was the Banū Sulaym. See Ibn Hišām, Sīra, p. 55; Ibn
al-Kalbī, Aṣnām, p. 22.
30 Ibn Hišām, Sīra, p. 53; Ibn al-Kalbī, Aṣnām, p. 37.
31 Ibn Ḥabīb, Muḥabbar, p. 157; al-Ṭabarī, Ǧāmiʿ, X, p. 169.
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480 ioh
The calendar adjuster had something to do with the Abraha’s famous expe-
dition to Mecca in the Year of the Elephant (the year in which the prophet
Muḥammad is believed to have been born).32 It may not be so surprising that
the Ethiopian Christians invaded Mecca, one of the religious centers of the
pagan Arabs. A number of idols which originated from the Yemen possibly
took refuge in the Kaʿba of Mecca.33
Competing pilgrimages were another problem. Abraha built a church in
Ṣanʿāʾ, intending to induce Arab pilgrims visit this church, and wrote about his
intention to Negus, the Ethiopian king. Hearing about this story, one of the
calendar adjusters went to the church and defiled it.34
Indeed the biggest religious feast for Christianity is Easter, which occurs in
spring (it is celebrated on Sunday following the full moon after the vernal equi-
nox). That is, the vernal Christian feast in the Yemen coincided with the ḥaǧǧ
in the Ḥiǧāz. Maintaining order among the Arab tribes in the pre-Islamic
Period depended on maintaining the cycle of pilgrimages, and Abraha’s expe-
dition was intended to change this traditional system unilaterally.35 The calen-
dar adjuster’s reaction can be understood as stemming from his role of
controlling the cycle of pilgrimages all over the peninsula.
32 The actual date of Abraha’s expedition to Mecca is discussed in considerable detail in M.J.
Kister, “The Campaign of Ḥulubān: A New Light on the Expedition of Abraha”, Le Muséon,
73 (1965), p. 426-436; L.I. Conrad, “Abraha and Muḥammad: Some Observations Apropos
of Chronology and Literary Topoi in the Early Arabic Historical Tradition”, Bulletin of the
School of Oriental and African Studies, 50 (1987), p. 225-230; C.J. Robin, “L’Arabie à la veille
de l’islam : La campagne d’Abraha contre la Mecque, ou la guerre des pèlerinages”, in Les
sanctuaires et leur rayonnement dans le monde méditerranéen de l’Antiquité à l’époque
moderne, ed. J. de La Genière et al., Paris, Diffusion de Boccard [Cahiers de la Villa
“Kérylos”, 21], 2010, p. 213-242; id., “Arabia and Ethiopia”, in The Oxford Handbook of Late
Antiquity, ed. S.F. Johnson, Oxford-New York-Auckland, Oxford University Press, 2012,
p. 284-292.
33 In Mecca not only the pagan Arabs but also Christians (e.g. Waraqa b. Nawfal) and Jews
existed. Inside the Kaʿba, lay the pictures of Abraham, Jesus and Mary (al-Azraqī, Aḫbār,
p. 111-114). The Ḥiǧāz was an area which allowed various kinds of beliefs.
34 See esp. M.J. Kister, “Some Reports concerning Mecca: From Jāhiliyya to Islam”, JESHO, 15
(1972), p. 63-66.
35 According to Ibn Ḥabīb (Munammaq, p. 68), Abraha’s army included the Banū Ḫaṯʿam
and the Banū Ḥāriṯ b. Kaʿb from the southern Arab; these two tribes did not acknowledge
the sanctity of Mecca nor make a pilgrimage to Kaʿba. The Banū Ḥāriṯ b. Kaʿb, christianized
from early times, resided in Naǧrān, while Ibn al-Kalbī, Aṣnām, p. 44 states that they had
the Kaʿba in Naǧrān and worshipped it. The Banū Ḫaṯʿam was one of the tribes that
worshiped the idol, Ḏū l-Ḫalaṣa in Tabāla (Ibn al-Kalbī, Aṣnām, p. 35-36).
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During the life of the prophet Muḥammad, the cycle of fairs and the timing
of the expeditions were no doubt closely related to each other. For instance,
Muḥammad’s expedition to Dūmat al-Ǧandal was in rabīʿ I;36 and his expedi-
tion to Ḫaybar was in muḥarram.37 The expedition to Tabūk was undertaken
“in a hard season when the heat was intense, the land was in a drought and
fruit was ripe.” Thus the expedition must have taken place in summer around
rabīʿ I, 9 /June-July, 630.38 The expedition of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib to the Yemen was
in ramaḍān, 10/December, 631.39
During the apostasy (ridda) wars, Usāma b. Zayd made an expedition into
Syria immediately after the death of Muḥammad (rabīʿ I, 11/June, 632),40 and
returned two months after he set off. Then Abū Bakr appointed 11 generals,
including Ḫālid b. al-Walīd who was deployed against Ṭulayḥa, and their armies
were dispatched all around the peninsula.41
Since historical sources give no detailed months or days related to the activi-
ties of these generals and armies, we can only make a rough estimate that the
armies were sent around in ǧumādā II (around September). One of the gene
rals, ʿIkrima, was initially deployed against Musaylima, but he headed to ʿUmān
(Oman) before the arrival of Ḫālid b. al-Walīd, and then moved to Dabā, Mahra,
Ṣanʿāʾ, and Ḥaḍramawt. It is interesting to note that the ʿIkrima’s various batt
les seem to have coincided with the cycle of the fairs. Al-Ṭabarī states, “Dabā is
the city where the great fair (sūq) was held. They fought intensely at Dabā.
They plundered the fair thoroughly.”42 Apostasy occurred in Tabāla as well, to
36 Al-Ṭabarī, Taʾrīḫ, I, p. 1462-1463 tells us as follows: “In this year (5/626), he made an
expedition to Dūmat al-Ǧandal in rabīʿ I, because the Messenger of God heard that many
people had gathered there and had approached to his territories”.
37 Ibn Hišām, Sīra, p. 755 (al-muḥarram in 7/628).
38 Ibn Hišām, Sīra, p. 893-894; al-Ṭabarī, Taʾrīḫ, I, p. 1693. See also al-Wāqidī, Maġāzī, III,
p. 990. In this expedition, Muḥammad sent Ḫālid b. al-Walīd to Dūmat al-Ǧandal where
Ukaydir, the king of Dūmat, was captured “in a summer moonlit night” (al-Ṭabarī, Taʾrīḫ,
I, p. 1702; al-Wāqidī, Maġāzī, III, p. 1025-1026). Although Ibn Hišām reports that the
expedition to Tabūk took place in raǧab, 9/Oct-Nov, 630, this is implausible and too late as
a historical date. J. Wellhausen, Muhammed in Medina: Das ist Vakidi’s Kitab alMaghazi in
verkürzter deutscher Wiedergabe, Berlin, G. Reimer, 1882, p. 19-20 suggests that the
expedition took place in rabīʿ II (Jul-Aug).
39 Al-Wāqidī, Maġāzī, III, p. 1079.
40 Al-Ṭabarī, Taʾrīḫ, I, p. 1868; al-Wāqidī, Maġāzī, III, p. 1121-1122.
41 Al-Ṭabarī, Taʾrīḫ, I, p. 1878-1881. For details of the apostasy wars, see E. Shoufany, Al-Riddah
and the Muslim Conquest of Arabia, Beirut, University of Toronto Press, 1972, p. 107 ff.
42 Al-Ṭabarī, Taʾrīḫ, I, p. 1979.
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482 ioh
restore the famous idol Ḏū l-Ḫalaṣa,43 and it was probably around in the month
of raǧab that the regional feast had been held.
Control of the religious rites during the feasts and economic activity at the
fairs (customs duties were imposed at most of the fairs except ʿUkāẓ)44 was the
most important interest for the ruling Arabs in the region, so we can assume
that these occasions may have been used for declarations of apostasy.
2 The Months in Pre-Islamic Mecca
How were the months arranged in common years and leap years in the pre-
Islamic period?
Passages in the Qurʾān regarding the calendar in the time of the Prophet are
as follows:
The number of the months with Allāh is twelve, in Allāh’s Book on the
day He created the heavens and the earth. Of these four are sacred. That
is the correct creed. So wrong not yourselves therein, but fight the poly-
theists all together as they fight you all together. (Kor 9, 36)
The nasīʾ is an addition of unbelief. Those who have disbelieved are led
astray thereby. They make it profane one year and make it sacred another
year, in order to adjust the number which Allāh has made sacred. Then
they make profane what Allāh has made sacred. (Kor 9, 37)
Moreover, Muḥammad gave a sermon in Minā, taking the place of the calendar
adjuster who had ever declared the decisions there, during the Farewell
Pilgrimage, as follows:45
Indeed, time has circulated as on the day when Allāh created the heavens
and the earth. The number of the months is twelve in the Book of Allāh,
of which four are sacred; three consecutive months of ḏū l-qaʿda, ḏū
l-ḥiǧǧa, and al-muḥarram, and raǧab which is called the month of Muḍar.
43 Ibid., I, p. 1988. According to Ibn al-Kalbī, Aṣnām, p. 35-36, Ḏū l-Ḫalaṣa was once destroyed
in the time of Muḥammad.
44 M. Lecker, “Were Customs Dues Levied at the Time of the Prophet Muḥammad?”,
al-Qantara, 22 (2001), p. 24 ff.
45 Al-Wāqidī, Maġāzī, III, p. 1112; al-Ṭabarī, Ǧāmiʿ, X, p. 161. Cf. also al-Ṭabarī, Taʾrīḫ, I, p. 1754;
Ibn Saʿd, Kitāb al-Ṭabaqāt al-kabīr, ed. E. Sachau, Leiden, Brill, 1904-1917, II/1, p. 133.
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

It is between ǧumādā and šaʿbān. Every month has twenty-nine days or

thirty.
We have been discussing pre-Islamic calendric adjustment particularly with

reference to the insertion of leap months. However, Muslim traditions relating
to Kor 9, 36-37 are divided into two kinds of thought about calendric adjust-
ment. The first interpretation is intercalation of leap months. In this case the
nasīʾ means to shift or postpone each month by insertion of a leap month. The
second interpretation is suspension or postponement of sacred months. In
this case the nasīʾ is interpreted to shift sacred months to subsequent months.
The latter interpretation often gives an impression that the system of leap
months was not recognized. In addition to the existence of these two interpre-
tations, what makes things more complicated is the problem of how to arrange
and adjust leap months and sacred months when the insertion of a leap month
causes a year to have 13 months.
Regarding Kor 9, 37, a number of exegetical traditions remain in Tafsīr of
al-Ṭabarī.46 Insertion of leap months is not considered in many traditions.
Those traditions are based on the exegetical idea that the calendar adjuster,
urged by some warlike Arabs, occasionally postponed a sacred month due to
attacks, wars or raids by other tribes. In such case, months could be arranged
in either one of the following two orders.47
A. (Transference of the sanctity of the sacred month to ṣafar)
Common year
al-muḥarram (sacred month) ṣafar (profane month)
Nasīʾ
al-muḥarram (profane month) ṣafar (sacred month)
46 Al-Ṭabarī, Ǧāmiʿ, X, p. 168-172. Eleven traditions are recorded. For convenience, tradition
number 12980 was labeled as i, and 12990 as xi in sequence. Cf. also the German translation
by Moberg, “an-Nasīʾ”, p. 5-9.
47 Al-Ṭabarī, Ǧāmiʿ, X, p. 168-170 (i-vi). The traditions similar to A are reported in Muqātil b.
Sulaymān, Tafsīr, ed. Aḥmad Farīd, Beirut, Dār al-kutub al-ʿilmiyya, 2003, II, p. 46; al-Farrāʾ,
Maʿānī al-Qurʾān, ed. Muḥammad ʿAlī l-Naǧǧār et al., Cairo, al-Dār al-miṣriyya, 1955-1972, I,
p. 436-437; Ibn Hišām, Sīra, p. 30.
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484 ioh
B. (Postponement of al-muḥarram to the next month)
Common year
al-muḥarram (sacred month) ṣafar (profane month)
Nasīʾ
ṣafar (profane month) al-muḥarram (sacred month)
There is also a tradition that describes an adjustment in which two profane

months occur at the beginning of one year and two sacred months occur at the
beginning of the following year.48
Nasīʾ (first year)

ṣafar (profane month) ṣafar (profane month)
Nasīʾ (next year)
al-muḥarram (sacred month) al-muḥarram (sacred month)
The above-mentioned orders had the purpose of keeping the numbers

consistent, as criticized in Kor 9, 37. If such an adjustment was actually
made frequently, the safety of pilgrims and merchants who came from a dis-
tance would have had been endangered. A question also arises: why were
only the months of al-muḥarram and ṣafar chosen as the objects of nasīʾ, and
other sacred months were not?
However one of al-Ṭabarī’s traditions relates the following:49
They would go on a pilgrimage in ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa for two years, al-muḥarram

for the following two years, and ṣafar for the next two years. Thus they
went on a pilgrimage by shifting the months of pilgrimage to subsequent
months every two years.
This tradition explains that in order to adjust the gap between the lunar
calendar and solar calendar, the months of the pilgrimages were postponed by
one month every two years instead of inserting a leap month. The sermon by
Muḥammad at the Farewell Pilgrimage, “Time has circulated as on the day when
Allāh created the heavens and the earth”, is interpreted by this tradition as indi-
cating that the timing of ḥaǧǧ returned to ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa, as in the original cycle.
Al-Azraqī, Ibn Ḥabīb, and Ibn Saʿd also quote a similar tradition.50 However,
48 Al-Ṭabarī, Ǧāmiʿ, X, p. 171 (ix).

49 Ibid., X, p. 170 (vii).
50 Al-Azraqī, Aḫbār, p. 127; Ibn Ḥabīb, Munammaq, p. 274; Ibn Saʿd, Ṭabaqāt, II/1, p. 134.
Al-Azraqī, Aḫbār, p. 128 states “in the year 9, the ḥaǧǧ fell in ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa”.
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no ground can be found in any historical sources for the ḥaǧǧ being scheduled
during the months of ramaḍān or šawwāl in the beginning of the hiǧra era. The
ʿumra by Muḥammad from 6/628-8/630 occurred in the month of ḏū l-qaʿda,
but this is not the ḥaǧǧ. Thus, this interpretation cannot be historically pos-
sible since sacred months would also have had to shift every other year.
Al-Masʿūdī clearly mentions the system of leap months as follows:
One month used to be added every three years in Arabia in the time of
Ǧāhiliyya. This was called nasīʾ, meaning postponement (taʾḫīr). Allāh
criticized nasīʾ by revealing that “nasīʾ is an addition of unbelief.”51
Arabia in the time of Ǧāhiliyya practiced nasīʾ because there were dif-
ferences between the solar and lunar calendars, as revealed in the phrase
“nasīʾ is an addition of unbelief.”52
Al-Bīrūnī explains that a pure lunar calendar similar to that of the Muslims
was used in Arabia in the past, but the leap system was introduced so that pil-
grimages could occur at a convenient time for taking products and merchan-
dise to the markets. He reports as follows:53
They learned intercalation (kabs) from Jewish people in the area. It was
200 years before the hiǧra. . . . This was called nasīʾ because the beginning
of a year was postponed by one month every two to three years.
Judging from their literary works, al-Masʿūdī and al-Bīrūnī were familiar with
the natural history of many ages and cultures and obviously quite knowledge-
able. Therefore they must have understood the insertion of leap months in a
lunisolar calendar.
On the other hand, al-Balāḏurī reports the following:54
They wanted the day to leave for the ḥaǧǧ to be at a certain time (season)
of the year. Therefore, they delayed their departure by 11 days every year.
They would depart in the following year even if they were in the month
of ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa. This is because they added 11 days to the date in the month
51 Al-Masʿūdī, Murūǧ, III, p. 417.

52 Al-Masʿūdī, Kitāb al-Tanbīh wa-l-išrāf, ed. M.J. de Goeje, Leiden, Brill [Bibliotheca
Geographorum Arabicorum, 8], 1967, p. 217-218.
53 Al-Bīrūnī, Āṯār, p. 62 (transl. p. 73).
54 Al-Balāḏurī, Ansāb al-ašrāf, ed. Maḥmūd al-Fardaws al-ʿAẓm, Damascus, Dār al-yaqẓa
l-ʿarabiyya, 1996-2004, X, p. 72-73.
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486 ioh
of ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa. Whatever day of the year it was, 11 days were adjusted in

this way.
With this tradition, the 11-day annual difference between the lunar calendar
and the solar calendar was adjusted by delaying the departure by 11 days each
year. While this report is interesting, it is hardly credible as a historical fact.
The following are the names of the months that we can infer from the early
sources in which it is difficult to find concrete evidence.
Common years
11th ḏū l-qaʿda (sacred month)
12th ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa (sacred month)
1st ṣafar I (sacred month) or ṣafar al-muḥarram (sacred month)
2nd ṣafar II (profane month)
7th raǧab (sacred month)
Leap years
11th ḏū l-qaʿda (sacred month)
12th ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa (sacred month)
al-muḥarram (leap month, sacred month)
1st ṣafar I (profane month)
2nd ṣafar II (profane month)
•
7th raǧab (sacred month)
Judging from Kor 9, 36, “of these four are sacred,” and Kor 9, 37, “in order to
adjust the number which Allāh has made sacred,” it can be assumed that four
sacred months were set up without exception, irrespective of whether a given
year was a common year or a leap year.55
According to the early Muslim sources, the pre-Islamic calendar had two
consecutive months of ṣafar at the beginning of the year and the Arabs called
them ṣafarān (the two ṣafars: ṣafar al-awwal, ṣafar al-āḫir).56 Al-muḥarram was
55 R. Bell is probably right in mentioning that verse 9, 2 of the Qurʾān (“journey freely in the
land for four months . . .”) originally followed the phrase in 9, 36 (“Of these four are sacred.
That is the correct creed.”). See The Qurʾān: Translated, with a Critical Re-arrangement of
the Surahs, Edinburgh, T.&T. Clark, 1937-1939, I, p. 173; Introduction to the Qurʾān,
Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1953, p. 95.
56 Al-Azraqī, Aḫbār, p. 126; Ibn Hišām, Sīra, p. 30; al-Masʿūdī, Murūǧ, III, p. 117.
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

thought by European scholars to have been originally a passive participle that

qualified ṣafar.57 Probably within the first century of the Islamic era, the first
month of ṣafar began to be called al-muḥarram.58
Moberg and Plessner claim that the pre-Islamic leap month was not a sacred
month.59 However the leap month actually became a sacred month, and the
following month (ṣafar I) became a profane month. As we have reviewed, pil-
grimages and trade are believed to have continued even before and after the
month of ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa, so it was essential to respect the three consecutive sacred
months to maintain the socio-economic system of the area. Moreover, from
the verse, “The ḥaǧǧ is in the well-known months (ašhur)” (Kor 2, 197), it could
57 J. Wellhausen, Reste Arabischen Heidentums, Berlin, G. Reimer, 1897 (first publ. 1887), p. 95;
Moberg, “an-Nasīʾ”, p. 13-15 and 22; A.J. Wensinck, “Ṣafar”, EI and EI2; M. Plessner,
“al-Muḥarram”, EI and EI2.
58 According to al-Balāḏurī and Ibn Saʿd, Muḥammad sent a letter to the people of Naǧrān,
in which he imposed on them dues of one thousand clothes in every ṣafar and raǧab. If
these dues had to be made every half a year, the first month of the year must have been
called ṣafar, and not muḥarram in those days. See al-Balāḏurī, Futūḥ al-buldān, ed. M.J. de
Goeje, Leiden, Brill, 1968, p. 64; Ibn Saʿd, Ṭabaqāt, I/2, p. 35-36; Wellhausen, Reste, p. 95.
59 Moberg: (“an-Nasīʾ”, p. 22)
Common year: Leap year:
ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa
al-muḥarram [X]
ṣafar ṣafar I or al-muḥarram
ṣafar II
Plessner: (“Muḥarram”, EI2)
Common Year: Leap years:
ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa
al-muḥarram ṣafar
ṣafar al-muḥarram
ṣafar
Their theory causes confusion about the arrangement of months, leading to a simple
question of whether people in those days familiarized themselves with such arrangements
of months. Moberg thought that the leap month was not al-muḥarram, ṣafar, nor sacred
month; the name of the leap month was unknown (indicated by [X]). J. Fück, “Zu an-nasīʾ
(Koran 9, 37)”, Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, 36 (1933), p. 281-283 also asserts that in the
leap year, a leap month became profane, and the sacred month of al-muḥarram was
shifted to a month later. On the other hand, R. Paret, Der Koran: Kommentar und
Konkordanz, Stuttgart, W. Kohlhammer, 1971, p. 203 offers two possibilities for the orders
of the months (11th month to 1st month) in a leap year: a) XI s – XII s – L p – I s; b) XI s – XII
s – L s – I p. (s = sacred, p = profane, L = leap month).
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488 ioh
be assumed that in the pre-Islamic period no specific days in these three

months were designated for the rites of the ḥaǧǧ.60
The cycle of months described above is just a model for periods when pil-
grimages and trading went peacefully. However, during emergencies, when
there were attacks from the tribes who did not respect the sacred months, or
when fights started between the tribes, the nasīʾ might intentionally adjust the
calendar by shifting the sacred months. It is said that during the sacred months
the Arabs maintained peace, even in front of the ones who murdered their
fathers, which shows how rigorously the sacred months were observed. In the
year 2/624, when an army sent by the prophet Muḥammad engaged in a battle
during the sacred month of raǧab and killed a man of Qurayš in Naḫla, a sacred
area and the site of pilgrimages to the goddess al-ʿUzzā, the Prophet had to
make excuses using the Qurʾānic verse that contains following phrase: “They
will ask you about fighting in the sacred month. Say: ‘fighting in it (the sacred
month) is serious, . . . persecution is more serious than killing’ ” (Kor 2, 217).61
The sacred months could be postponed only in exceptional cases such as
when the local situations did not allow pilgrimages to proceed peacefully. The
battle of Fiǧār, in which Muḥammad was believed to have participated in his
youth, was fought between Kināna and their allies Qurayš on one hand, and
Hawāzin on the other, near the fair of ʿUkāẓ. It is interesting that Kināna,
whose members were in charge of adjusting the calendars, were principal
figures in this battle, and that the battle prompted the cancellation of the fair
at ʿUkāẓ.62 Moreover, according to several traditions of al-Ṭabarī, tribes such as
Hawāzin, Sulaym, and Ġaṭafān, who fought Kināna, dealt with nasīʾ on their
own, ignoring the role of Kināna.63 Therefore there might have been cases of
nasīʾ when the setting of the sacred months did not have meaning. It is pre-
sumed that some vivid memories of the battle of Fiǧār remain in some
traditions.
Consequently, Kor 9, 37, which has been a mystery to Muslim exegetes and
modern scholars for a long time, should be interpreted as follows:64
60 However, most of the exegetical traditions interpret “the months” in Kor 2, 197 as šawwāl,
ḏū l-qaʿda, and the first ten days of ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa. See e.g. al-Ṭabarī, Ǧāmiʿ, II, p. 351-356;
Muqātil b. Sulaymān, Tafsīr, I, p. 104.
61 Ibn Hišām, Sīra, p. 423-427; al-Ṭabarī, Taʾrīḫ, I, p. 1273-1279.
62 Ibn Ḥabīb, Munammaq, p. 198; Ibn Saʿd, Ṭabaqāt, I/1, p. 81. Cf. also E.L. Tasseron, “The
Sinful Wars: Religious, Social, and Historical Aspects of ḥurūb al-fijār”, Jerusalem Studies in
Arabic and Islam, 8 (1986), p. 44.
63 Al-Ṭabarī, Ǧāmiʿ, X, p. 169-170 (ii, v). See also Muqātil b. Sulaymān, Tafsīr, II, p. 46.
64 Various interpretations of the verse are presented with detailed references by F.A. Shamsi,
“The Meaning of Nasiʾ: An interpretation of verse 9:37”, Islamic Studies, 26/2 (1987),
p. 143 ff.
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

The nasīʾ (adjustment) is an addition of unbelief. Those who have disbe-

lieved are led astray thereby. They make ṣafar I profane in a leap year and
make ṣafar I sacred in a common year, in order to adjust the number (i.e.
four), which Allāh has made sacred. Moreover they make profane (in
urgent situations) what Allāh has made sacred (e.g. ḏū l-qaʿda, ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa).
Thus Muḥammad understood the word nasīʾ in two ways: 1) insertion of the
leap month (intercalation) and, 2) temporary suspension of the sacred month.
Although the sacred months are mentioned several times in the Qurʾān,
they are not especially significant in the present day, but it is worth review-
ing the relationship between the Muslims and the sacred months in early
Islamic times. The siege and execution of the Jewish tribe of Qurayza occurred
during the months of ḏū l-qaʿda and ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa (5/627). Here the sacred months
were ignored. The siege of Ṭāʾif immediately after the battle of Ḥunayn, which
occurred in šawwāl (8/630), was withdrawn after about twenty days.65 Since
the following month of ḏū l-qaʿda was the time when a fair was held in ʿUkāẓ,
the withdrawal may have occurred out of consideration for pilgrims coming
from a distance.
As observed in the verse “Fight the polytheists all together” (Kor 9, 36),
revealed later in the Prophet’s life, fights with polytheists during the sacred
months were considered legal. In fact, it is known that after the death of
Muḥammad, battles were fought regardless of the sacred months, e.g. the apos-
tasy (ridda) war in the time of the first caliph Abū Bakr and the holy war
(ǧihād) triggered by Ḫālid b. al-Walīd’s invasion to the Persian territory. Thus
wars against pagans were not affected by the restrictions in the sacred months,
but fights among Muslims certainly were.
However, the prohibition against murder or battles during the sacred
months seems to have gradually lost its force, starting with the first civil war
when the third caliph ʿUṯmān was killed in a revolt during ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa (35/656).
In the battle of Ṣiffīn, where ʿAlī fought with Muʿāwiya, many preliminary skir-
mishes were fought in ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa (36/657). But towards the end of the month,
battles were avoided because the following month fell under al-muḥarram.
Battles were suspended during that month and were resumed in ṣafar.66
Al-muḥarram, meaning “sanctity”, might have re-invoked the traditional con-
cept of inviolability upon both armies. Another possibility is that the Muslims
65 Ibn Hišām, Sīra, p. 872.

66 Al-Ṭabarī, Taʾrīḫ, I, p. 3273 ff. Cf. J. Wellhausen, Das arabische Reich und sein Sturz, Berlin,
G. Reimer, 1902, p. 50-51; id., The Arab Kingdom and Its Fall, transl. M.G. Weir, Beirut,
Khayats, 1963, p. 79-80.
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490 ioh
came to interpret the sacred month (šahr al-ḥaram; singular form) mentioned
in the verse, “They will ask you about fighting in the sacred month. Say:
‘Fighting in it is serious,’” (Kor 2, 217) as referring to al-muḥarram alone. This
assumption explains the reason why the exegetical traditions of al-Ṭabarī on
Kor 9, 37 cited above discuss exclusively the sanctity of al-muḥarram.
Later on, however, ʿAlī’s son Ḥusayn was killed at Karbalāʾ in al-muḥarram
(61/680).67 Moreover after the battle of al-Ḥarra in ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa (63/683), the
Syrians laid siege to Mecca and fought against Ibn al-Zubayr in al-muḥarram.68
Given these historical facts, it may be reasonable to assume that the prohibi-
tion of fighting even in al-muḥarram lost its meaning over the years.
In the later Islamic world, the ʿāšūrāʾ of the Šīʿites, as well as the voluntary
fast of the Sunnites, came to be observed in 10 al-muḥarram. The mawlid
al-nabī (the birthday of the prophet Muḥammad) in rabīʿ I, and the feasts for
the Saints have also been celebrated with enthusiasm in particular regions
since the Middle Ages.69 Moreover, ramaḍān, the month of fasting, in which
the first revelation of the Qurʾān is commonly believed to have come down to
Muḥammad, is regarded by present day Muslims as the most sacred month.
In other words, sanctity in the religious sense came to be added to the months
in the Islamic period.
3 Intercalation in Pre-Islamic Mecca
3.1 Theories
The pre-Islamic calendar has been earnestly studied since the middle of the
19th century. A typical example is the work of Effendi, who considers the
calendar in those days to have been a pure lunar calendar without leap months.
He attempts to identify events such as the birth date of the Prophet by review-
ing astronomical events such as solar and lunar eclipses.70 Sprenger agrees
with the use of a pure lunar calendar, while also claiming that the ḥaǧǧ
67 It is also plausible that Ḥusayn himself had chosen al-muḥarram to travel to Iraq on the
assumption that it would be safe to do so.
68 Al-Ṭabarī, Taʾrīḫ, II, p. 426.
69 For a more detailed discussion on these Muslim festivals, see G.E. von Grunebaum,
Muhammadan Festivals, London, Curzon Press, 1951 (new impression 1976), p. 51 ff.
70 M. Effendi, “Mémoire sur le calendrier arabe avant l’islamisme, et sur la naissance et l’âge
du prophète Mohammad”, Journal Asiatique, 5/11 (1858), p. 109-192. Sh.B. Burnaby makes
summary of this article in Elements of the Jewish and Muhammadan Calendars, London,
G. Bell & Sons, 1901, p. 460-470.
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

occurred around the springtime every year, a practice made possible by peri-
odically shifting pilgrimage events to the following months based on the obser-
vation of the movement of stars (anwāʾ).71 Moberg, in his special work about
nasīʾ, recognizes the existence of leap months and also discusses the sequences
of months. However he did not refer to the cycle of intercalation.72
Another critical opinion about the calendar in those days is that the ḥaǧǧ
originally occurred in autumn (the facts that ramaḍān means “intense heat”
and that rabīʿ means “spring” are often referred to as grounds for this view), but
that it was shifted to spring in the time of the prophet Muḥammad.73 Shifting
of months from their usual season occurs not only in pure lunar calendars but
also in lunisolar calendars if the cycle for inserting leap months is not
accurate.
Rubin assumes that the ḥaǧǧ occurred in spring for 200 years prior to the life
of Muḥammad and that Pesach and Easter were also celebrated at the same
time.74 I agree with Rubin’s view, even though he does not venture into the
issue of intercalation.
Caussin de Perceval offered a well-known theory that the pre-Islamic Arabs
practiced a type of intercalation in which a leap month was introduced every
three years.75 Amīr ʿAlī76 and Hamidullah77 also offered theories regarding the
cycle of the intercalation.
71 Sprenger, “Kalender”, p. 134-175.

72 Moberg, “an-Nasīʾ”. Cf. above, n. 59.
73 Wellhausen, Reste, p. 95 ff describes this point in full detail. See also Wensinck, “Ḥadjdj”,
EI and EI2; H. Lazarus-Yafeh, “The Religious Dialectics of the Ḥadjdj”, in id., Some Religious
Aspects of Islam, Leiden, Brill, 1981, p. 21; S.D. Goitein, “Ramadan: the Muslim Month of
Fasting, its Early Development and Religious Meaning” in id., Studies in Islamic History
and Institutions, Leiden, Brill, 1968, p. 92-93.
74 U. Rubin, “The Great Pilgrimage of Muḥammad: Some Notes on Sūra IX”, Journal of Semitic
Studies, 27/2 (1982), p. 244.
75 A.P. Caussin de Perceval, “Mémoire sur le calendrier arabe avant l’islamisme”, Journal
Asiatique, 4/1 (1843), p. 342-379; “Notes on the Arab Calendar before Islam”, transl. L.
Nobiron, Islamic Culture, 21 (1947), p. 135-153. His theory is discussed in detail in Burnaby,
Elements, p. 371-376 and 447-459.
76 H. Amīr ʿAlī, “Fresh Observations on Perceval’s 100 Year Old Notes on the Arab Calendar
before Islam”, Islamic Culture, 22 (1948), p. 174-180; “The First Decade in Islam”, The Muslim
World, 44/2 (1954), p. 126-138.
77 M. Hamidullah, “The Nasiʾ, the Hijrah Calendar and the Need of Prepairing a New
Concordance for the Hijrah and Gregorian Eras”, Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society,
16/1 (1968), p. 1-18; “The Concordance of the Hijrah and Christian Ears for the Life-Time of
the Prophet”, Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society, 16/4 (1968), p. 213-219. Cf. also F.R.
Shaikh, “The Veracity of the Arab Pagan Calendar”, Islamic Culture, 71/1 (1997), p. 41-69.
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492 ioh
The following is a discussion about the cycle of intercalation in the pre-

Islamic period and how many leap months were inserted during the first
10 years of the hiǧra calendar. The date in which certain incidents occurred
should be reexamined: for example, the hiǧra of the prophet Muḥammad may
have occurred in the hot summer month of June, not in September.
It can be assumed that a leap month was inserted roughly every three years.
But what kinds of rules were there on how to make an intercalation? In case of
the primitive lunisolar calendar, we can surmise that it was dependent on
natural phenomena and seasonal events such as the weather, harvesting of
crops, and the movements of stars. In fact, there are arguments that such a
system was actually used in the pre-Islamic period.
The basis for discussion of the cycle is the theory provided by Caussin de
Perceval in the early 19th century, which still remains effective as a reference.78
He presents a calendar that begins with 21 November 412 in the Christian era, on
the base of al-Bīrūnī’s account that the system of intercalation was introduced
“200 years before the hiǧra.”79 His theory may be briefly summarized in figure 2.
Since it seems unlikely that the pre-Islamic Arabs possessed advanced astro-
nomical knowledge, leap months were inserted regularly once every three
years, and the ḥaǧǧ at the year-end fell in late October to early November,
the time for harvesting date palms. Ramaḍān “intense heat” fell during mid-
summer, and rabīʿ I and II fell during the springtime from January to March.
However, this leap month that occurs once every three years would result in
approximately one day of error every year. Even if the difference between
78 W. Muir depends on his theory and made the date of Badr in January, AD 624, which is two
months earlier than standard correspondence. See The Life of Moḥammad, Edinburgh,
J. Grant, 1923, p. X, 214 and also The Life of Mahomet and History of Islam to the Era of the
Hegira: With Introductory Chapters On the Original Sources for the Biography of Mahomet
and On the Pre-Islamite History of Arabia, London, Smith, Elder, 1858-1861, I, p. 206-209.
L. Caetani, Annali dell’Islām, Milano, Ulrico Hoepli, 1905-1926 (reprint, New York, G. Olms,
1972), I, p. 354-360 also discusses Caussin de Perceval’s theory, but he insists that the date
of the historical events at the time of Muḥammad should be given based on the standard
correspondence. W.M. Watt, pointing out clearly the existence of leap months, follows
Caetani’s position. See “Hidjra”, EI2; Muhammad at Medina, Oxford, Oxford University
Press, 1953, p. 299-300 and 339; The History of al-Ṭabarī VII: The Foundation of the
Community, State University of New York, 1987, p. 1-2 (note 1). Cf. also F.A. Shamsi,
“Perceval’s Reconstruction of the Pre-Islamic Arab Calendar”, Islamic Studies, 37/3 (1998),
p. 353-369.
79 Al-Bīrūnī, Āṯār, p. 62 (transl. p. 73). Cf. above, note 53.
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

Pre-Islamic calendar:
1st year
al-muḥarram 1st = 21 Nov. ad 412.
Dec
(1) al-Muḥarram (2) Ṣafar
Nov Jan
(12) Ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa (3) Rabīʿ I
Oct Feb
(11) Ḏū l-qaʿda (4) Rabīʿ II
Sep Mar
(10) Šawwāl (5) Ǧumādā I
Aug Apr
(9) Ramaḍān (6) Ǧumādā II
Jul May
(8) Šaʿbān (7) Raǧab
Jun
Direction of shift
Muḥammad’s farewell pilgrimage:

Wuqūf at ʿArafa
9 ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa ah 10 = 7 Mar. ad 632
Dec
(8) Šaʿbān (9) Ramaḍān
Nov Jan
(7) Raǧab (10) Šawwāl
Oct Feb
(6) Ǧumādā II (11) Ḏū l-qaʿda
Sep Mar
(5) Ǧumādā I (12) Ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa
Aug Apr
(4) Rabīʿ II (1) al-Muḥarram
Jul May
(3) Rabīʿ I (2) Ṣafar
Jun
Figure 2 Theory of Caussin de Perceval
the solar calendar and lunar calendar, i.e. a difference of 11 days a year and
33 days every three years, is compensated for by a 30-day leap month once every
three years, there are still three days missing. Therefore, the calendar goes faster
than the solar calendar by one day a year on average. The reason that ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa
in 10/632 (the month of the Farewell Pilgrimage by Muḥammad) fell during the
spring is that approximately 200 days of difference accumulated in 200 years
(refer to figure 2). As indicated in table 1, the first leap month was inserted
on 10 November 413, immediately after the month of pilgrimage, and the
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494 ioh
following leap months were regularly inserted immediately after the months
of pilgrimage in the 4th, 7th, 10th, 13th years and so on. After the hiǧra calen-
dar beginning in 622, leap months were inserted immediately after the months
of pilgrimage in the 1/623, 4/626 and 7/629. Given the historical fact that the
Prophet occupied Mecca in 8/630, intercalation did not occur after this year.
At the Farewell Pilgrimage in 10/632, leap months were formally abolished. The
hiǧra calendar begins on 19 April 622 (Monday), which is a three-month dif-
ference from 16 July 622 (Friday), the commonly accepted date. These are the
points of Caussin de Perceval’s argument.
Table 1 Theory of Caussin de Perceval80
Years of the Institution Beginning of the month Date of Pilgrimage

of Nasīʾ of al-Muḥarram
1 21st Nov. 412 21st Oct. 413

Nasīʾ 10th Nov. 413
2 9th Dec. 413 9th Nov. 414
3 28th Nov. 414 29th Oct. 415
4 18th Nov. 415 19th Oct. 416
7 15th Nov. 418 16th Oct. 419
• • •
• • •
Years of hiǧra
I 211 19th Apr. 622 19th Mar. 623

Nasīʾ 8th Apr. 623
II 212 7th May 623 7th Apr. 624
III 213 26th Apr. 624 26th Mar. 625
IV 214 15th Apr. 625 15th Mar. 626
Nasīʾ 4th Apr. 626
V 215 3rd May 626 3rd Apr. 627
VI 216 23rd Apr. 627 23rd Mar. 628
VII 217 12th Apr. 628 12th Mar. 629
Nasīʾ 2nd Apr. 629
VIII 218 1st May 629 1st Apr. 630
IX 219 20th Apr. 630 20th Mar. 631
X 220 9th Apr. 631 9th Mar. 632
80 Caussin de Perceval, “Mémoire”, p. 370 and 373 (transl. p. 148 and 150).
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

Table 2 The hiǧra Year and the Christian Year
AH Christian date of 1 Muḥarram
1 16 Jul. 622 Fri

2k 5 Jul. 623 Tu
3 24 Jun. 624 Sun
4 13 Jun. 625 Th
5k 2 Jun. 626 Mon
6 23 May 627 Sat
7k 11 May 628 Wed
8 1 May 629 Mon
9 20 Apr. 630 Fri
10 k 9 Apr. 631 Tu
11 29 Mar. 632 Sun
K is a kabisa year in which one day is added to ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa (from 29 days to 30 days).
The following report of Procopius (d. c. 565, Byzantine historian) is quoted by

Caussin de Perceval as evidence of the difference (missing dates) in the
calendar:
At a meeting of Roman Generals convened at Dara by Belisarius, AD 541,

to discuss a plan of campaign, two officers who commanded a corps
formed of Syrian troops declared that they could not march with the
main army against the town of Nisibius, alleging that their absence would
leave Syria and Phoenicia an easy prey to the raids of the Almondar Arabs
(al-Munḏir III). Belisarius showed these two officers that their fears were
groundless, because they were nearing the summer solstice, a time when
the pagan Arabs used to devote two whole months to the practice of their
religion, abstaining from any bellicose act whatsoever.81
Caussin de Perceval assumes that the ḥaǧǧ in Mecca was staggered to the time
of summer solstice in AD 541, i.e. the ḥaǧǧ, originally in October to November,
occurred approximately 130 days earlier after approximately 130 years after the
beginning of the calendar (AD 412).82 However, Munḏir III (d. AD 554) who
81 Caussin de Perceval, “Mémoire”, transl. p. 152. Cf. Procopius, History of the Wars, with an
English translation by H.B. Dewing, London-Cambridge, W. Heinemann-Harvard
University Press, 1914-1940 (reprint: 1960-1962), I, p. 401-403.
82 Amīr ʿAlī, who reviewed Caussin de Perceval’s theory, believes that it would not be natural
for the Arabs in those days to let the pilgrimage month stagger from autumn to spring over
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496 ioh
appears in this source is a king in Ḥīra in the north of the Arabian Peninsula.
As described above, the cycle of pilgrimage at the time of the prophet
Muḥammad was in spring in the Ḥiǧāz region and in summer on the side near
Syria in the north. In other words, Procopius’s account confirms the historical
fact that the cycle of pilgrimage on the Peninsula, i.e. pilgrimage in summer on
the side near Syria, had already been established by around AD 541.83
The pilgrimage to the proximity of Mecca was made in the spring for many
years. In fact, as mentioned in the previous section, Abraha’s expedition to
Mecca around the middle of 6th century was likely to have been made when
the ḥaǧǧ fell in the time of Easter. Leap months were accurately inserted for at
least one century until the time of Muḥammad. It remains a matter of specula-
tion whether or not the cycle in which the ḥaǧǧ fell in autumn and the month
of ramaḍān in summer existed in ancient times, as claimed by Caussin de
Perceval, Wellhausen, and Wensinck.84
Caussin de Perceval’s theory described above is still quoted after one and a
half centuries because explicit information cannot be found in the early
sources about the years when leap months were inserted, so there is little con-
trary evidence to this theory.
Hamidullah reviews the lunisolar calendar with the insertion of leap years,
going one step beyond the Caussin de Perceval’s theories. Taking the influence
of the Babylonian calendar into consideration, he presents a theory to the
effect that the differences between the solar and lunar calendars were reconciled
200 years, and assumes that the event at the summer solstice was to be in raǧab. See Amīr
ʿAlī, “Fresh Observations”, p. 174-180.
83 Nonnosus (Byzantine diplomat under Justinian I, dispached to Ethiopia and Arabia
around AD 530) also informs us “most of the Saracens, those who live in Phoenicon as well
as beyond it and the Taurenian mountains, have a sacred meeting-place consecrated to
one of the gods, where they assemble twice a year. One of these meetings lasts a whole
month, almost to the middle of spring, when the sun enters Taurus; the other lasts two
months, and is held after the summer solstice. During these meetings complete peace
prevails, not only amongst themselves, but also with all the natives; even the animals are
at peace both with themselves and with human beings”. See The Library of Photius I,
transl. J.H. Freese, London-New York, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge-
Macmillan [Translations of Christian Literature. Series. I, Greek texts], 1920, p. 18-19. “A
sacred meeting-place” described above had apparently been located in Northern Arabia.
According to Crone, Meccan Trade, p. 197 (note 127), “Phoenicon” is on the northern Red
Sea Coast, and “Taurenian mountains” are Ǧabal Ṭayyiʾ.
84 Cf. above, note 73. Shifting of the ḥaǧǧ from autumn to spring might be explained by an
inaccurate intercalary system in the ancient period older than 200 years before the hiǧra.
Cf. K. Wagtendonk, Fasting in the Koran, Leiden, Brill, 1968, p. 124.
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

by adding leap years eleven times every 30 years. He posits that leap years were
inserted four times during the first 10 years of the hiǧra calendar; therefore 21
March 622 (Sunday) is considered as the beginning of the hiǧra calendar, i.e.
four months earlier than 16 July (Friday) in the standard calendar.
Table 3 Dates of the important events85
Event Date in the early Standard Hamidullah’s

sources Correspondence calculation
Hiǧra era 1st muḥarram, 1 16th Jul. 622, Friday 21st Mar. 622, Sunday
begins
Prophet’s 12th rabīʿ I, 1 24th Sep. 622, Friday 31st May 622, Monday
Migration Monday
Badr 17th ramaḍān, 2 13th Mar. 624,Tuesday 18th Nov. 623, Friday
Friday
Uḥud 15th šawwāl, 3 31st Mar. 625, Sunday
Saturday
Last 8th ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa, 10 6th Mar. 632, Friday 6th Mar. 632, Friday
Pilgrimage Friday
(tarwiya)
Death 2nd rabīʿ I, 11 28th May 632, Thursday 25th May 632, Monday
Monday
or
12nd rabīʿ I, 11 7th Jun. 632, Sunday
Monday
85 Cf. Hamidullah , “The Concordance”, p. 219.

A certain degree of care is needed when dealing with the hiǧra calendar. One thing
that should be pointed out is that it is impossible to compare the calendar in that period
with the Christian calendar with complete precision. The Arabs in those days marked the
start of a month by sighting the new moon and there were two 29 day months or 30 day
months in a row occasionally. Astronomy nowadays is advanced enough to roughly
estimate on what date the new moon could have been sighted. Nevertheless, it is
impossible to accurately estimate the exact date on which the new moon was sighted,
because the observation of the new moon depends on the longitude of that area, the
weather, geographic conditions and so on. It is thus impossible to replicate the hiǧra
calendar accurately, and we have to allow for a 1-2 day drift when comparing it with the
Christian calendar. However, if historical materials have days of the week as well as dates,
it may be possible to estimate on what date major incidents happened after the hiǧra,
since the same days of the week were used among the Jewish/Christian/Islamic calendars.
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498 ioh
It is assumed that the Battle of Badr occurred four months earlier than com-
monly believed. It is suggestive that Hamidullah offers dates for events that fall
on the same days of the week as documented in historical sources. His argu-
ment suggests that the date of various events in the lifetime of the Prophet
should be fundamentally corrected. However, the problem is that there is little
proof of the cycle of intercalation that he describes.
Amīr ʿAlī rightly asserts that the Arabs had 7 leap months every 19 years, as
in the Jewish calendar. According to his theory, intercalary months were
inserted after ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa in the years 2/624, 5/627, 7/629 on the same cycle
as the Jewish intercalation.86 Wagtendonk, following Amīr ʿAlī’s theory, men-
tions that the date of the battle of Badr was 16 December 623 (three months
earlier than the standard calculations).87
In the following, I will present a revision of Amīr ʿAlī’s theory.
3.2 The Cycle of Leap Years in the Jewish Calendar

The 6th to 7th century, when Muḥammad was active, was a period in which
influences from Judaism and Christianity were spreading in Arabia. It is there-
fore impossible to analyze the calendar in this period without taking into
account the Jewish intercalation system and moveable feasts in Christianity.
To put the answer first, by the time Muḥammad started his prophetic mission
in Mecca, a leap month was inserted on the same cycle as that of the Jewish
calendar. Hence it is possible to estimate the intercalary cycle in this period
accurately.
Before moving forward with this discussion, it is necessary to offer a brief
explanation of the Jewish calendar. Unlike the Christian solar calendar, the
Jewish calendar has been a lunisolar calendar since ancient times. It developed
based on the Babylonian calendar, and the names of the months closely resem-
ble those of the Babylonian months.
For the convenience of the Jewish people who were far away from Jerusalem
and scattered throughout various areas, a fixed calendar based on calculation
not relying on astronomical observation was needed at an early stage. It is
believed that this calendar was developed mainly in Babylonia in present-day
Iraq. Although the majority of the literature states that based on the calendric
reform of Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi in the 2nd century, Hillel II established the
current system in the 4th century, there is some disagreement. The new year in
86 Amīr ʿAlī, “First Decade”, p. 129-132. It is strange that he significantly revised his theory in
Upstream Downstream: Reconstruction of Islamic Chronology, (Khuda Bakhsh Annual
Lectures Series, 7), Hyderabad, 1977.
87 Wagtendonk, Fasting, p. 124-126.
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

the current Jewish calendar begins with Tishri in autumn, and 6 October 3761
BC in the Christian Era is believed to be the beginning of the Creation.
According to the Biblical description or the discussions in the Talmud, how-
ever, the month of Nisan in the spring was commonly considered as the start
of a new year in the Jewish calendar until the 13th century.
The festival that attracts the most pilgrims is Pesach (Passover), related to
the Exodus led by Moses. It falls on the 15th day of Nisan in the Jewish calendar,
the full moon following the vernal equinox. In the Jewish lunisolar calendar,
leap months are regularly added so that the 15th day of Nisan comes after the
vernal equinox. As a movable feast, the Christian festival of Easter falls on the
Sunday immediately after it.
In the Jewish calendar, seven leap months are inserted every 19 years. It is a
more complicated system than common lunisolar calendars, in that there are
29 days or 30 days in Mar ḫeshvan (the second month) and Kislev (the third
month) to prevent Hoshanah Rabbah (the seventh day of Sukkot) from falling
on the Sabbath or to prevent Yom Kippur from falling on the day before or after
the Sabbath.88
In a leap year, a leap month is inserted in Adar immediately before Nisan,
the month of pilgrimage. It is described in the Talmud that the leader of the
Sanhedrin determined when to insert a leap month by seeing how well the
grain was ripening.
Unlike the Jewish calendar, a leap month was inserted immediately after
ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa in the pre-Islamic calendar. It is considered that this method
was adopted in order to notify pilgrims coming from a long distance of
whether the pilgrimage of the following year would occur 12 months later or
13 months later.
By the decision of the Kinanite calendar adjuster who had advance informa-
tion from the Jews concerning the Jewish intercalation cycle, the ḥaǧǧ of ḏū
l-ḥiǧǧa had always been celebrated in the same month as Jewish Pesach and
Easter.89 Consequently, the Jews in Arabia shared with the Arabs the sacred
months for making pilgrimages and trading at the fairs. The Arabs in the pre-
Islamic period were in the Semitic religious environment.
88 R.N. Bushwick, Understanding the Jewish Calendar, New York-Jerusalem, Moznaim, 1989,
p. 80-81.
89 It is likely that not only pagans but also Jewish and Christian Arabs made visits to Mecca
(Rubin, “The great pilgrimage”, p. 244). Cf. above, note 33.
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Table 4 The Current Jewish Calendar
19 years in the solar calendar: 365.242 days × 19 = 6.939.598 days

19 years in the lunisolar calendar (7 leap months):
354.367 days × 19 + 29.531 × 7 = 6.939.690 days
Deviation between two calendars: 0.092 day = 2.2 hours
Cycle of intercalation: 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, 19th years as leap years
Common year Leap year
(1) Tishri 30 days

(Sep-Oct • Yom Kippur)
(2) Marẖeshvan 29 29 30 29 29 30
(3) Kislev 29 30 30 29 30 30
(4) Tevet 29
(5) Shevat 30
(6) Adar 29 Adar I (Leap month) 30 30 30
(Feb-Mar • Purim) Adar II (Purim) 29 29 29
(7) Nisan 30
(Mar-Apr • Pesach)
(8) Iyyar 29
(9) Sivan 30
(10) Tammuz 29
(11) Av 30
(12) Elul 29
Total: 353 354 355 Total: 383 384 385
Table 5 Months in the leap year
The Jewish Calendar:
Nisan (Pesach) → • • • • • • • Adar I → Adar II → Nisan (Pesach)
The Pre-Islamic Calendar:
Ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa → al-muḥarram → ṣafar I • • • • • • → ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa
One of the finest accomplishments in chronology in the beginning of the 20th

century is that of Burnaby. It presents date conversions of the Jewish calendar
and the hiǧra calendar based on a number of extremely sophisticated calcula-
tions. To date, his work is part of the basic literature for understanding the
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

systems of the Jewish and the hiǧra calendars and how to match them with the
Christian calendar. However, it must be viewed with a critical eye, particularly
in the early Islamic period. Direct application of this study should be limited to
cases in which the Jewish calendar and the hiǧra calendar operate under the
current system.
It seems that advanced development of astronomy in medieval Muslim
society significantly contributed to the sophisticated system of the current
Jewish calendar, and it is not likely that a calendar completely identical to the
current one was used in Jewish society in the 6th to 7th centuries. The kind of
calendar used by the Jewish people in Arabia in pre-Islamic times still remains
a matter of speculation. It is not clear whether or not they employed the same
system as the Jewish people in Babylonia or Jerusalem, since there are not any
historical materials concerning the Jews in Arabia. It is highly possible that
they relied on observation of the new moon for deciding the beginning of each
month. Moreover there are various theories on the cycle of leap years in medi-
eval Jewish society, which is different from the current cycle as cited below. The
current cycle was reportedly determined after the time of Maimonides
(d. 1204).90 However, it is possible to assume that precise information was
shared in each region regarding the timing of Pesach, Yom Kippur, and other
annual observances, i.e. whether or not a leap month was added in a certain
year. It is also conceivable that such information was communicated to the
Kinanite calendar adjuster every year.
Table 6 is the Jewish calendar at the beginning of the 7th century, i.e. around
the first year of the hiǧra calendar, presented by Burnaby, indicating dates in
the Christian era that correspond to the 1st day of Tishri and Pesach on the 15th
day of Nisan. The cycle of leap years is calculated in the same way as the pre
sent (i.e. 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years).
Looking at the year 4386 underlined, the 15th day of Nisan is 18 March. This
is earlier than the vernal equinox on 21 March, and in this case Pesach should
have come one month earlier than Easter. A similar condition continues during
the succeeding centuries. In the Nicene Council in AD 325, 21 March was estab-
lished as the vernal equinox and the Sunday after the following full moon
(15th day of Nisan) as Easter. In principle, Easter has to come within a week
after Pesach. It is likely that this kind of discrepancy may have occurred those
days between the Jewish and Christian calendars.91 In reality, however, it is
90 Burnaby, Elements, p. 26.

91 It must be noted that Easter can occur one month earlier or later than Pesach. Cf. F. Stern,
Calendar and Community: A History of the Jewish Calendar Second Century BCE-Tenth
Century CE, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 86.
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502 ioh
natural in this case to assume that a leap month was inserted in the year 4386
and Pesach fell on around 18 April, immediately before 20 April (Easter). This
is also true for the year 4375 underlined, and it is reasonable to consider that a
leap month was inserted in this year. Therefore, the cycle of leap years in the
Jewish calendar in those days is corrected to the years of 3rd, 5th, 8th, 11th, 14th,
16th and 19th.
Table 6 Corresponding Jewish and Christian Dates (Burnaby)92
1 cycle contains 19 years. 230 cycles: 19 × 230 = 4370 years. Below is 231st cycle,
beginning with 4371st year.
Leap years are marked E. A-G are Sunday letters.
Cycle 231
Order of Jewish Tishri 1 Nisan 15 Number of

the years year (Christian date) (Christian date) days
1 4371 Th 9.24 610 D Sat 4.3 611 354

2 4372 Mon 9.13 611 C Th 3.23 612 355
3E 4373 Sat 9.2 612 A Tu 4.10 613 383
4 4374 Th 9.20 613 G Sun 3.31 614 355
5 4375 Tu 9.10 614 F Th 3.20 615 354
6E 4376 Sat 8.30 615 E Th 4.8 616 385
7 4377 Sat 9.18 616 C Sun 3.27 617 353
8E 4378 Tu 9.6 617 B Sat 4.15 618 384
9 4379 Mon 9.25 618 A Th 4.5 619 355
10 4380 Sat 9.15 619 G Tu 3.25 620 355
11 E 4381 Th 9.4 620 E Sun 4.12 621 383
12 4382 Tu 9.22 621 D Th 4.1 622 354
13 4383 Sat 9.11 622 C Tu 3.22 623 355
14 E 4384 Th 9.1 623 B Tu 4.10 624 385
15 4385 Th 9.20 624 G Sat 3.30 625 354
16 4386 Mon 9.9 625 F Tu 3.18 626 353
17 E 4387 Th 8.28 626 E Tu 4.7 627 385
18 4388 Th 9.17 627 D Sat 3.26 628 354
19 E 4389 Mon 9.5 628 B Th 4.13 629 383
(Continued)
92 Burnaby, Elements, p. 302.
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

Table 6 (Continued)
Cycle 232
Order of Jewish Tishri 1 Nisan 15 Number of

the years year (Christian date) (Christian date) days
1 4390 Sat 9.23 629 A Tu 4.3 630 355

2 4391 Th 9.13 630 G Sat 3.23 631 354
3E 4392 Mon 9. 2 631 F Sat 4.11 632 385
4 4393 Mon 9.21 632 D Tu 3.30 633 353
5 4394 Th 9. 9 633 C Sun 3.20 634 355
6E 4395 Tu 8.30 634 B Sat 4.8 635 384
7 4396 Mon 9.18 635 A Th 3.28 636 355
93
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Figure 3 Three cycles of intercalation in the Jewish calendar (al-Bīrūnī)93
93 Al-Bīrūnī, Āṯār, p. 52-53 (transl. p. 65).
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504 ioh
This assumption is confirmed by the description of al-Bīrūnī. There are

different cycles of Jewish intercalation according to al-Bīrūnī, who remarks
three kinds of cycles of leap months as indicated in Figure 3.
The leap cycle represented in the innermost circle in Figure 3 is the 3rd, 5th,
8th, 11th, 14th, 16th, and 19th years, the same as the cycle corrected by the
author above. Al-Bīrūnī reports that among the three cycles, “this cycle is the
most widely diffused among the Jews. They preferred it to others and attri
buted its origin to the inhabitants of Babylonia”.94 Correction of Burnaby’s
cycles (table 6) looks reasonable as long as it is applied to this period. Other
evidence is offered as below.
3.3 Correction of the 1st to 10th Years of the hiǧra Calendar

If leap months were also inserted in the pre-Islamic period in accordance with
the cycle of the Jewish calendar (and the cycle of Easter in Christianity), it is
considered that the timing to insert leap months in the Hiǧra calendar should
be immediately after ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa in 1/623, 3/625, 6/628 and 9/631, based on the
innermost cycle of figure 3.
In table 7, Amīr ʿAlī’s theory (he is also using Burnaby’s correspondence)
and my revision are shown. Amīr ʿAlī considers that the pre-Islamic leap month
was set immediately after the Jewish leap month Adar, resulting in the Jewish
Nisan always happening to come immediately after ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa in a leap year.
Table 7 Correspondence between Jewish and pre-Islamic lunisolar calendar:

Amīr ʿAlī’s theory and author’s revision
♦: Adar II •: leap month
Jewish Lunisolar
Jewish Jewish Lunisolar
month month
AD year month month
author’s author’s
Burnaby Burnaby Amīr ʿAlī
revision revision
4383 (13)
623 6 11 6 11
⑦ ⑫ ⑦ ⑫
8 II 1 8 •
9 2 9 II 1
• • • •
4384 (14) • • • •
(Continued)
94 Al-Bīrūnī, Āṯār, p. 55 (transl. p. 65).
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

Table 7 (Continued)
Jewish Lunisolar
month month
AD year month month
revision revision
624 6 11 6 10
♦ ⑫ ♦ 11
⑦ • ⑦ ⑫
8 III 1 8 III 1
• • • •
4385 (15) • • • •
625 6 11 6 11
⑦ ⑫ ⑦ ⑫
8 IV 1 8 •
9 2 9 IV 1
• • • •
4386 (16) • • • •
626 6 11 6 10
⑦ ⑫ ♦ 11
8 V1 ⑦ ⑫
9 2 8 V1
• • • •
4387 (17) • • • •
627 6 11 5 10
♦ ⑫ 6 11
⑦ • ⑦ ⑫
8 VI 1 8 VI 1
• • • •
4388 (18) • • • •
628 6 11 6 11
⑦ ⑫ ⑦ ⑫
8 VII 1 8 •
9 2 9 VII 1
• • • •
4389 (19) • • • •
629 6 11 6 10
♦ ⑫ ♦ 11
⑦ • ⑦ ⑫
8 VIII 1 8 VIII 1
• • • •
4390 (1) • • • •
630 6 11 6 11
⑦ ⑫ ⑦ ⑫
8 IX 1 8 IX 1
(Continued)
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Table 7 (Continued)
Jewish Lunisolar
month month
AD year month month
revision revision
9 2 9 2
• • • •
4391 (2) • • • •
631 6 11 6 11
⑦ ⑫ ⑦ ⑫
8 X1 8 X1
9 2 9 2
• • • •
4392 (3) • • • •
632 6 11 6 11
♦ ⑫ ♦ ⑫
⑦ XI 1 ⑦ XI 1
8 2 8 2
The problem is the leap month in 9/631. Mecca was occupied in 8/630 and the
ḥaǧǧ in the following 9/631 was made in ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa led by Abū Bakr. After Abū
Bakr departed for Mecca, several verses of Sūrat al-Barāʿa (Kor 9) were revealed
to Muḥammad, and he sent ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib to read them to the pilgrims at
Minā taking the place of the calendar adjuster, on the day of sacrifice.95
Although the polytheists participated in the ḥaǧǧ, making their own arrange-
ments in the rites, their participation in the pilgrimage was prohibited in the
following year.
It is clear that the revelation of the Qurʾān relating to nasīʾ, “the number of
the months with Allāh is twelve . . .” (Kor 9, 36), “nasīʾ is an addition of unbelief.
Those who have disbelieved are led astray thereby . . .” (Kor 9, 37) was declared
by ʿAlī at that time. Declaration of nasīʾ by the Kinānite calendar adjuster was
abolished, and a pure lunar calendar was established. The cycle of 12 months a
year has been observed until today. A leap month that should have been origi-
nally inserted at that year’s ḥaǧǧ was abolished, and it resulted in an advance
of one month.
95 Ibn Hišām, Sīra, p. 919-922. Al-Ṭabarī, Taʾrīḫ, I, p. 1721 relates that he sent ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib
with thirty or forty verses of Barāʿ and ʿAlī read them on the day of ʿArafa.
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

The hiǧra calendar of table 8 indicates the dates of the Farewell Pilgrimage
of Muḥammad in 10/632. According to Wāqidī, 25 ḏū l-qaʿda falls on Saturday,
and the day of tarwiya (8 ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa) falls on Friday,96 which is consistent with
table 8. Goldstine shows the dates of the new moon (the period when the
bright side of the moon is turned away from the earth and cannot be observed)
and the full moon that have been calculated with a computer, using recent
advancements in astronomy (refer to table 9). The new moon can normally be
observed in 1-2 days with the naked eye. Table 8 also indicates that the hiǧra
calendar used today is the result of precise calculation like the Jewish
calendar.
What should be noted in table 8 is that the hiǧra calendar is shifted to the
left. There is a one-month difference between ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa in the hiǧra calendar
and Nisan in the Jewish calendar. The Farewell Pilgrimage is one month earlier
than the date of Pesach and Easter. As mentioned above, this is because inser-
tion of a leap month was discontinued at the time of the ḥaǧǧ in the previous
year 9/631, even though it was originally in the cycle of intercalation.
Muḥammad’s statement at the Farewell Pilgrimage, “Indeed, time has circu-
lated as on the day when Allāh created the heavens and the earth”97 certainly
indicates this situation.
If leap months were inserted three times during the first 10 years of the hiǧra
calendar in AH 1, 3 and 6, it would be necessary to review the correspondence
between the hiǧra calendar and the Christian calendar during this period.
In table 10, there is a three-month shift to the left as a whole, as a result of
three intercalations.
96 Al-Wāqidī, Maġāzī, III, p. 1089 and 1101.

97 Cf. above, note 45.
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508
Table 8 Correspondence between Christian, Jewish, and hiǧra calendars

Dates in ⸋ are Sunday, being same day in Christian, Jewish, and hiǧra calendar.
Christian – Jewish correspondence is based on Burnaby cited above.
Christian – hiǧra correspondence is based on the table used at current days.98
AH10 in the hiǧra calendar is in kabisa year (ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa has 30 days).
* Christian calendar ad 632
February March April

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
The vernal equinox Easter
Goldstine: : newmoon : fullmoon
* Jewish calendar am 4392
Adar I Adar II Nisan

25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Pesach
* Hiǧra calendar ah 10‒11
Ḏū l-qaʿda Ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa al-Muḥarram

25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Farewell Pilgrimage
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98 See, e.g., G.S.P. Freeman-Grenville, The Islamic and Christian Calendars: AD 622-2222 (AH1-1650), Reading, Garnet, 1995, p. 18.
Table 9 New moon and full moon in AD622 and AD632 (Goldstine)99
AD622
New moons Full moons

Number Date Time Date Time
20062 1.17 15:35 2.2 0:41

20063 2.16 9:16 3.3 10:35
20064 3.18 2:52 4.1 18:57
20065 4.16 19:07 5.1 2:33
20066 5.16 9:23 5.30 10:24
20067 6.14 21:43 6.28 19:40
AD632
20186 1.27 9:43 2.11 23:46

20187 2.26 0:06 3.12 10:54
20188 3.26 15:10 4.10 19:35
20189 4.25 6:30 5.10 2:46
20190 5.24 21:46 6.8 9:35
The beginning of the calendar should be corrected to 18 April 622 (Sunday),

assuming that two out of three leap months have 30 days and one has 29 days,
by deducting 89 days from 16 July (Friday) of the original date of the hiǧra
calendar.
According to Goldstine, the new moon at Babylon in Iraq (at latitude 32.33
north and longitude 44.24 east) occurred at 19:07 on 16 April 622 (refer to
table 9). It was therefore possible to see the new moon at sunset on the 17th (i.e.
the beginning of the 18th), if not hindered by rain or clouds. The lunar cycle
was approximately the same at the time of sunset on April 17, 622 in both
Babylon and Medina.100 However, it is impossible to confirm whether the
Arabs actually observed the new moon on this day.
99 H.H. Goldstine, New and Full Moons: 1001 B.C. to A.D. 1651, Philadelphia, American
Philosophical Society, 1973, p. 136-137.
100 When Babylon is compared with Medina, sunset in Babylon is approximately 40 minutes
earlier than in Medina around the time of the winter solstice; however it is about the
same time around the summer solstice. By comparison, sunset on 17 April, 2013 was 18:34
in Babylon and 18:45 in Medina.
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510
Table 10 Correction of the hiǧra calendar with 3 leap months
Above: pure lunar calendar.

Below: calendar with three leap months (immediately after ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa of 1/623, 3/625, 6/628. • is leap month).
ah 1 ah 2 ah 4 ah 7 ah 10
16 July 622 ad (Friday)
① ②③ ④ ⑤ ⑥ ⑦ ⑧ ⑨ ⑩ ⑪ ⑫ ① ② ③ ④ ⑤ • • ⑦ ⑧ ⑨ ⑩ ⑪ ⑫ ① ② ③④ • • ⑦ ⑧ ⑨ ⑩⑪⑫①② ③ ④ • • ⑩⑪⑫ ① ②③④ ⑤ ⑥⑦⑧ ⑨⑩ ⑪ ⑫
① ② ③ ④⑤⑥⑦ ⑧ ⑨ ⑩ ⑪ ⑫ ① ② ③ ④ ⑤ • • ⑦ ⑧⑨ ⑩ ⑪ ⑫ ①② ③ ④ • • ⑦⑧ ⑨ ⑩ ⑪⑫ ①② ③④ • • ⑩⑪⑫ ① ②③④ ⑤ ⑥⑦⑧ ⑨⑩ ⑪ ⑫
plus 89 days 18 April 622 ad (Sunday) abolition of intercalation ↑ Farewell Pilgrimage ↑
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Ibn Isḥāq and al-Ṭabarī report that the date when Muḥammad arrived in
Medina in the hiǧra (migration) is 12 rabīʿ I (Monday).101 If the hiǧra calendar
begins with 16 July (Friday) as is commonly accepted, with 30 days of muḥarram
and 29 days of ṣafar, 12 rabīʿ I, the day of hiǧra by Muḥammad, falls on
September 24 (Friday). However, this is inconsistent with the historical sources
that place this event on a Monday. As mentioned above, if the first date of the
hiǧra calendar is 18 April 622 (Sunday) with 30 days in al-muḥarram and ṣafar,
this day falls on 28 June 622 (Monday).102 It is a hot day in the midsummer, and
this date is consistent with the description in historical sources. Ibn Isḥāq
reports:103
We heard about departure of the Messenger of God from Mecca and then
expected his arrival eagerly. After the morning prayer we would go out to
the lava plain to wait for him. We stayed there until the sun put out our
shade, and then we entered the house. They were hot days. The day when
the Messenger of God arrived, we sat waiting for him as usual. Then our
shadow disappeared and we entered the house. After that he arrived.
This event should have happened around the summer solstice when the sun
comes right above one’s head in Medina. Medina is located on latitude 24°28′N,
and the tropic of Cancer is 23° 27′N.
Both the dates of Badr (ramaḍān 2) and Uḥud (šawwāl 3) must have occurred
two months earlier than the standard correspondence (cf. table 3). The date of
Uḥud should, thus, have been at the end of January or the beginning of
February. This is further suggested by the fact that, immediately before the
battle, the Meccan army reaped the unripe green barley (qaṣīl) around Medina
as forage for their camels and horses.104
101 Ibn Hišām, Sīra, p. 333; al-Ṭabarī, Taʾrīḫ, I, p. 1242 and 1256.
102 Caussin de Perceval, “Mémoire”, p. 378 (transl. p. 152) states that it coincides with the first
days in July. It is reported in the several traditions that when Muḥammad arrived in
Medina, he saw the Jewish fasting of ʿāšūrāʾ (Yom Kippur; the Day of Atonement), and
ordered the fasting for Muslims as well (cf. Goitein, “Ramadan”, p. 95-96). The day of Yom
Kippur (10 Tishri) in AD 622 is calculated in 20 September in the correspondence of
Burnaby (table 6). Among the modern scholars, then, there might be views which prefer
mid-September as the date of the hiǧra (Muḥammad’s arrival in Medina) to the end of
June, but, as Wagtendonk (Fasting, p. 126) maintains, Muḥammad’s arrival does not have
to coincide exactly with Yom Kippur.
103 Ibn Hišām, Sīra, p. 333-34, cited in Caussin de Perceval, “Mémoire”, p. 378 (transl. p. 152).
104 Al-Wāqidī, Maġāzī, I, p. 207. See also al-Ṭabarī, Taʾrīḫ, I, p. 1393. Wellhausen, Muhammed
in Medina, p. 17 assumes that this event must be in January or February because the barley
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512 ioh
The theory that the beginning of the hiǧra calendar must be three months
earlier than commonly believed might cause various inconveniences when
events relating to Muḥammad are discussed. However some difficulty inevita-
bly accompanies explicit reconstruction of a historical date due to a number of
factors, including discrepancies in the reported date provided by the sources.
Conclusion
In the pre-Islamic period, pilgrimages and trade took place in specific seasons
in various areas in Arabia. Interchanges of people and goods in these areas
kept peace and order among the Arab tribes, and the sacred months guaran-
teed that these interchanges would be safe. Mecca and surrounding area
accepted all sorts of beliefs, including traditional tribal polytheism and the
monotheism of Judaism and Christianity. At the spring pilgrimage in ḏū
l-ḥiǧǧa, different religions held various kinds of rites and feasts, not limited to
9th and 10th days of the month.
The role of the calendar adjusters, who inserted a leap month to keep the
lunisolar calendar accurate, was of particular importance. They introduced the
Jewish intercalary system, and consequently Jewish Nisan always corresponded
to ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa. They occasionally declared suspension of the sacred months, in
those cases when the fairs and the religious rites couldn’t be held safely.
Already in the early Islamic period, the memory of the calendar adjusters’
functions had disappeared among the Muslims, thus the historical materials
describing the pre-Islamic calendar are very confusing. However it is also true
that the number of accounts recorded in the early sources, as well as the verses
of the Qurʾān help us to rediscover the hidden facts regarding those days.
The prophet Muḥammad established a new Islamic order that brought
about great changes in Arab society. The Kaʿba in Mecca was designated as the
house of Allāh, and all idols in it were destroyed, as were any other idols in the
of Medina was usually reaped in March. J.L. Burckhardt, Travels in Arabia, ed. W. Ouseley,
London, Henry Colburn, 1829 (reprint, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2010), II,
p. 209-210 remarks regarding the barley of Medina, “its harvest is in the middle of March.
[. . .] After harvest, the fields are left fallow till the next year”. Cf. also Muir, The Life of
Mahomet, III, p. 156, citing Burckhardt. The raid of al-Ḫandaq took place in šawwāl AH 5
(Ibn Hišām, Sīra, p. 668 and 682; al-Ṭabarī, Taʾrīḫ, I, p. 1463) or in ḏū l-qaʿda (al-Wāqidī,
Maġāzī, II, p. 440). Preparing for the battle, the Muslims had already collected the crops a
month before (al-Wāqidī, Maġāzī, II, p. 444). Considering that a leap month was inserted
at the end of AH 3 (šawwāl AH 5 begins around on 24 January 627), it might be possible
that the harvest occurred at such an early time.
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

Arabian peninsula. The social classes, such as guardians of the shrines, divi-
ners, soothsayers, and calendar adjusters, all lost their roles. The praise once
afforded to tribal poets was transferred to readers of the Qurʾān.
The object of pilgrimages was limited to Mecca and the surrounding area.
The traditional lunisolar calendar with intercalation was abolished, and a pure
lunar calendar without leap months was established. Muḥammad avoided
Jewish and Christian influences in the calendar and made the Islamic ḥaǧǧ a
universal rite not limited to a certain season.
Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

Hideyuki Ioh The Calendar in Pre Islamic Mecca Arabica 61 2014 471 513

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Hideyuki Ioh The Calendar in Pre Islamic Mecca Arabica 61 2014 471 513

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Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

The Calendar in Pre-Islamic Mecca

In pre-Islamic times, pilgrimages were made to sanctuaries in various regions of

À l’époque préislamique, des pèlerinages étaient faits aux sanctuaires de diverses

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���4 | doi 10.1163/15700585-12341319

calendrier préislamique, nasīʾ, calendrier hégirien, calendrier juif, mois sacré,

Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

1 Pilgrimages and Annual Fairs in Pre-Islamic Arabia

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7 Ibn Ḥabīb, Kitāb al-Muḥabbar, ed. I. Lichtenstädter, Hyderabad, Dāʾirat al-maʿārif

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Organization of the ‘Ḥums’ in the Evolution of Political Ideas in Pre-Islamic Mecca”,

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Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

In Arabia, the adjustment of calendars by inserting leap months and setting

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Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

2 The Months in Pre-Islamic Mecca

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It is between ǧumādā and šaʿbān. Every month has twenty-nine days or

We have been discussing pre-Islamic calendric adjustment particularly with

A. (Transference of the sanctity of the sacred month to ṣafar)

Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

B. (Postponement of al-muḥarram to the next month)

There is also a tradition that describes an adjustment in which two profane

Nasīʾ (first year)

The above-mentioned orders had the purpose of keeping the numbers

They would go on a pilgrimage in ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa for two years, al-muḥarram

48 Al-Ṭabarī, Ǧāmiʿ, X, p. 171 (ix).

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51 Al-Masʿūdī, Murūǧ, III, p. 417.

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of ḏū l-ḥiǧǧa. Whatever day of the year it was, 11 days were adjusted in

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thought by European scholars to have been originally a passive participle that

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be assumed that in the pre-Islamic period no specific days in these three

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The nasīʾ (adjustment) is an addition of unbelief. Those who have disbe-

65 Ibn Hišām, Sīra, p. 872.

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3 Intercalation in Pre-Islamic Mecca

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71 Sprenger, “Kalender”, p. 134-175.

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The following is a discussion about the cycle of intercalation in the pre-

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Muḥammad’s farewell pilgrimage:

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Table 1 Theory of Caussin de Perceval80

Years of the Institution Beginning of the month Date of Pilgrimage

1 21st Nov. 412 21st Oct. 413

I 211 19th Apr. 622 19th Mar. 623

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Table 2 The hiǧra Year and the Christian Year

AH Christian date of 1 Muḥarram

1 16 Jul. 622 Fri

The following report of Procopius (d. c. 565, Byzantine historian) is quoted by

At a meeting of Roman Generals convened at Dara by Belisarius, AD 541,

Arabica 61 (2014) 471-513

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��4 | doi 10.1163/15700585-12341319