Hijri New Year
I welcome the letter by Eng. Enamul Huq on 4 January about an Islamic Calendar like the Gregorian Calendar which has the same day and date spanning the whole globe in a period of 24 hours. However, for this we need to learn very simple mathematics and physics in addition to what is in our holy scriptures to give the act of 'moon-sighting', which is always a local matter, a global effect which does not go against Islamic traditions. When the Gregorian Calendar was introduced in 1582 AD to supersede the Julian Calendar it was only applied in Italy and a handful of European countries, because it was still only accurate in a local manner. The invention of the marine chronometer, and the division of the globe into latitudes and longitudes, and longitudes with further 24 hour time zones with an agreed International Date Line(IDL) are scientific concepts introduced much later to enable the Gregorian Calendar to be applied throughout the whole globe in a consistent manner. These concepts were unknown to Pope Gregory or the Christian world at the time, and although the accepted solar calendar worldwide is known as the Gregorian Calendar, it is actually the scientific International Calendar. England only accepted this calendar in 1752 and Russia around 1910, showing about a passage of 400 years for the maturity of a local calendar into a worldwide phenomenon with scientific expertise which does not violate any religious belief or tradition but is neutral and for the benefit of all mankind.
My book Islamic Calendar: A Global Blueprint proposes a simple lunar calendar which will conform to all Islamic traditions but which must entail the knowledge of latitude, longitude, time zones, and IDL also, to give this calendar a global span of 24 hours and which will be accurate for thousands of years into the future. This calendar will eliminate the need to sight the new moon or consult the sun-moon conjunction tables for each lunar months because this is already taken into consideration in the formulation of the calendar and calculation of days for each Arabic month with a leap month every two years. The mathematics is very easy and perfect.
Although I am a chartered marine/mechanical engineer by profession with a title of 'European Engineer', I had to privately finance, study and obtain a Master's Degree in Astrophysics from University of London to polish up my calendar to perfection with both religious and scientific knowledge, and I can certainly see the futility of attempting to arrive at an Islamic Calendar which will be as accurate as say the present day 'Gregorian' Calendar with only the religious knowledge or research therein as is done by Muslim scholars, all in good faith.
Further details can be obtained from my website: www.oaktownpublications.com
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