Peace to all readers,
I have recently had the opportunity to review information on the timing of Ramadan. Most discussions here have Ramadan (based on triliteral root rmd) occuring in the 'hotter' months ie. the northern hemisphere summer.
The second piece of the puzzle is the star Sirius. The heliacal rising and setting of Sirius has been discussed and advanced (Anwar for example) as a marker for Ramadan in which the Quran was revealed (based on surah 53).
Now most discussion I have seen has the time determined by Sirius 'rising', however surah 53 begins:
53:1 By the Star when it goes down,-
that star being:
53:49 That He is the Lord of Sirius (the Mighty Star);
Now it is clear that the events of 53:2-18 that mention the revelation of the Quran to the prophet occurs when Sirius, the Star has set.
Sirius is a special star. We recognise that the sun, moon, planets and stars are signs of God. Sirius is amongst the closest stars to our solar system and is the single brightest star in the sky. It is visible from all inhabitable regions of the earth and was followed closely by all ancient civilisations as a way of determining time. It has been worshipped by civilisations including Egypt and many pyramids and temples are aligned according to this star.
The Quran therefore comes to mankind once this star has set in the night sky. In Mecca calculations show that this occurs on or around the 9th June each year. It returns to the night sky as a morning star rising just before the sun on or around the 23rd of July each year.
This is a time interval of 45 days within which is when I believe the month of Ramadan is. It coincides with the hottest time of the year in Mecca and spans the time of the summer solstice on June 22 which is the longest day in the northern hemisphere.
So when does one fast in this 45 day interval?
The setting of Sirius marks the beginning of the month of "Ramadan" so that June 9th would be the start of the month.
If we look at the year of revelation 610 AD there was a new moon (ie. no moon visible in the sky) on Tuesday June 26th 610 AD.
Still discussing 610 AD: With the month commencing on the 9th June, the new moon that would occur on the 26th of June in my opinion would have represented the night of power. The reason I believe this is that on that night the sun, moon and sirius are all absent from the night sky. These heavenly objects have been the object of idol worship since ancient times.
The coming of the quran represents the restoring of the creed of Abraham. Remember that Abraham looked at a star (probably Sirius), then the moon and then the sun and believed them to be his lord in turn but when they each set he realised that these were merely creations of the true Lord- Ar-Rahman. See 6:76-79.
Idolatry is abolished by the revelation of the Quran. This is why I believe that the night of power was the 26th June 610.
The fast is for a specified 'few' number of days 2:184 and the understanding of 'few' is a number between 3 and 10. Layth has written an article on the quranic calendar which details why this 'few' is likely to be the whole 10 days.
My feeling is that the fast would begin on the day following the night of power ie. the 28th June for a period of 10 days. The final day of fasting would coincide with the 30th or final day of the month of "Ramadan" that commenced on the 9th June. The final fast would occur on the 7th July.
This leaves 15 days from the 8th July, following the fast in which the Hajj would be performed while Sirius is yet to rise again on the 23rd July.
This period does indeed coincide with the hottest time of the year in Mecca and also fulfils all the requirements of the position of Sirius. It also explains the time of the night of power elegantly with the story of Abraham in 6:76-79. Moreover it also explains how the moon helps the finding of the time for Hajj following the fast 2:189.
There is at least one new moon in the 45 day interval from 9th June to 23rd July while Sirius is absent from the sky in Mecca. This new moon could provide a timing device from year to year for Hajj also.
The first thing I had thought of was to fast the first ten days of the month of "Ramadan" starting 10th June (the day after the set of Sirius) and that the first new moon occurring following the end of this ten days ie. first new moon after the 19th June would mark the time of Hajj. This scheme may in fact comply more with 2:189 where the new moon is used to find the time of Hajj and the set of Sirius determines the start of Ramadan on a year to year basis.
The calculation of the heliacal set and rise of Sirius as well as the new moon could be refined with the help of a professional astronomer but I think what I have written is the general scheme of things.
Any comments or questions would be appreciated.
Sincerely,
Oben
