converting the Gregorian calender to the Hijri calendar

The Islamic calendar is based on lunar cycles, so a month will begin with a crescent moon, and end with the next one. Because measuring a year in lunar cycles will give you only about 354 days, each month will shift across seasons. That is why Ramadan is celebrated at a slightly different time each year. The year zero in the Muslim Lunar Calendar corresponds to July 16, 622 CE. Why did Muslims choose to begin counting from this date? Is it the date that Muhammad (PBUH) was born, or perhaps the year he died? Is it night he was first visited by the angel Gabriel and told to recite the holy Qur'an? No. July 16, 622 CE is when Muhammad and a group of believers migrated to Medina (then called Yathrib) from Mecca. This is known as the Hijra, which is the Arabic word for migration. The reason for why this particular date was chosen is because it is when the early Muslims left the place where they had been persecuted for a town in which their ways of life would be respected and eventually copied. It is the first hint of the incredible power and influence that Islam will have in later centuries.

To convert a Gregorian date to a Hijri date follow this link: http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/hijri.htm 

So according to the Hijri calendar we are in the year 1430. We would write this 1430 AH. AH stands for Anno Hijra, meaning in the year of the migration.

Lunde,Paul. Islam. New York: DK, 2002. 

Halal meat and other good foods!

A few weeks ago I visited a small grocery store that sold imported foods from the Middle East and Asia. The store owner allowed me to take pictures of the yummy foods. They also sold halal meat. In Arabic "halal" means permitted. Haram is the opposite of halal. "Haram" means forbidden/unlawful, and can also be used to refer to other things beside food. I decided to ask the butcher how meat is made to be halal. (HB = halal butcher)

Me: Could you tell me how Halal meat is different from other meat?

HB: Yes. Only some animals are okay to eat, like goat, fish, cow, but no pig or birds of prey or carnivorous animals.The main difference is how our meat is prepared, and the way in which we take the life from the animal that we will eat. You know that Mexican grocery next door?

Me: Yeah.

HB: So the way that they kill the animal that they will sell is they shoot it in the head. First kill and then butcher.  And the problem with that is that no blood can escape. If the animal that you have killed was sick, well that is not good because germs and illnesses are carried in the blood of an animal. If you shoot it in the head then there is no way to get the blood out of the meat that you will then eat. Halal lowers the chance of consuming unhealthy meat by 90%. That is because we use a sharp knife to take the life of the animal, a goat for example. A sharp knife must be used because it allows the butcher to take the life very fast. The animal must not know that it is about to die. It must not be scared in its final moments on earth. That is why animals that are about to be killed are always done so out of sight of the other animals so that the other animals are not stressed. The way that you use the knife is that you must cut its throat. That is because three very important veins run up your throat, and this way most of the blood can be drained. We start on one side of the neck, and the jugular vein must be cut. This way basically all of the blood is drained from the animal. We then hang the animal upside down. Also, you must cook the meat extra well. This also helps to get rid of disease. But the most important thing is that we say a prayer to Allah when we slit the throat of the animal. 

Me: Does the prayer that you say come from the Qur’an?

HB: We say “Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim.” The meaning of this is “In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate.” We also say this before we eat, or do other things.  It is said many times in the Qur’an.

 Some pretty marshmallows imported from Egypt. They are also halal!