BİRİNCİ FEN · ÜÇÜNCÜ BÂB · DÖRDÜNCÜ FASIL · Beşinci Madde
Fifth Article
Regarding the lunar year and the lunar months (determined according to the beginning and end of the moon's orbit), it details the names of the Arabic months, and the first days (gurre) of both Arabic and Roman (Julian) months.
O esteemed one! Know that philosophers and mathematicians unanimously state: The lunar year consists of twelve lunar months. Each lunar month begins from the time the moon separates from its position relative to the sun—through its westward movement—and ends when it returns to that same position.
The appearance of the moon’s assumed positions from the sun is called the new crescent (hilal), and what determines religious observances is the sighting of the hilal. According to Arabs, the beginning of a month (gurre-i shahr) is the sighting of the hilal. However, the sighting of the hilal varies according to regions. Therefore, mathematicians have accepted the conjunction (ictima’) and opposition (muhakat) of the sun and moon as the beginning of a lunar month. The duration of a lunar month is between two conjunctions (ictima’), with approximately twenty-nine and a half days.
The complete lunar year consists of three hundred fifty-four days, plus one-fifth and one-sixth of a day. Thus, the lunar year is ten days and twenty-and-a-half hours shorter than the solar year. The beginning of the lunar year is Muharram. Since the lunar year is deficient by the aforementioned amount compared to the Roman solar year, it advances approximately eleven days each year (relative to its starting date).
For example, if the beginnings of March and Muharram coincide in a given year, as was the case in the 1154th Hijri year when Nawruz Bayram (New Year’s Day) coincided with Ashura, then undoubtedly the hilal of Muharram will appear eleven days before the beginning of March the following year.
In this manner, as the lunar months begin eleven days earlier each year, they complete a cycle in thirty-three years and again coincide with the beginning of March. However, one lunar year is lost within those solar years.
Because the thirty-third March coincides only with the thirty-fourth Muharram.
These lunar months do not traverse the four seasons sequentially as described above, nor do they remain stationary at a particular season. This is why lunar months are not associated with any specific season.
Therefore, in the lunar year, every other month is counted as a pair, and it is accepted that one has twenty-nine days and the other thirty. The beginning of the year is also initiated (as explained above) from Muharram.
Regarding the names of the Arabic months which are the basis for the lunar calendar: Muharram, the first month counted, is a revered month in which Ashura falls on its tenth day. Its companion is the auspicious month of Safar al-Hayr (Safe of Goodness). Following it comes Rabi’ al-Awwal. What a magnificent month that is! For it is on the twelfth night of Rabi’ al-Awwal that the Most Beloved Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was born. The respected month following it is Rabi’ al-Akhir. The month that follows is Jumada al-Awwal, a beautiful month which shares its name with Jumada al-Akhir.
The month that follows is Rajab Asam (Rajab the Sacred), and according to one saying, Rajab al-Fard, a sought-after month. For it is on the first Friday night of Rajab [according to current understanding, Thursday evening] that the Night of Regaib is celebrated. Near Shaban, which is the month of good deeds, is the fifteenth night of which is the Night of Power (Berat Kandili). Following it comes the blessed month of Ramadan, in which the twenty-seventh night is Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Decree).
Following Ramadan is Shawwal, a joyous month whose first day is Eid al-Fitr. After that comes Zu al-Qa’da, and its companion is Zu al-Hijja. The tenth day of this month is the Hajj (Eid al-Adha) festival. Zu al-Hijja is also the last month of the year. [71/a] Here, it seems appropriate to conclude this section with our poem “Gurrename,” which explains in two couplets how to find the first days of Arabic and Roman months. Our enthusiasm for these verses has waned.
Verse:
1-Praise be to God and blessings upon His Messenger;
In each month, day and night, hour by hour.
2-Four couplets summarize the gregorian and lunar gurre [530]. The ebced letters' dominance over the months is determined.
3-You must add up the dominant months;
Go with them for two weeks.
4-On what day will you find that sum?
That day, you will find the beginning of that month.
5-Know when the gregorian month begins;
Gaze upon its days from it.
6-Find then, from the Roman, the sacred month;
Consider the original constellations, and all derivative months.
7-The first couplet is a complete twelve words;
It is the letters of the sacred months in numerical order.
8-The second couplet is eight words long;
It is the letters of the sacred month that dominates the year.
9-The third verse is an arranged composition;
Those are the Roman months, known through it.
10-Twelve words make up the twelfth verse;
The first letters of the months are numerical counts.
11-Add Azar to the Roman months;
Begin counting the sacred months from Muharram.
12-Follow the fourth couplet for the Roman months;
And Monday became a comprehensive letter.
13-Because twenty-eight letters exist each year,
One of them dominates the Roman months.
14-An eight has been added to it, so that one is dominant
For the sacred months each year.
15-For the Hijri year 1605,
The number six is the ruler of this month.
16-In this year, when Azar’s beginning is found,
Jim became dominant over the Roman month.
17-When sixty-six years of the Hijra have passed,
Two rulers will surely be two dales.
18-According to this arrangement, the rulers go on;
An eight has been added, becoming a perpetual cycle.
19-But the ruler of the Romans is a letter that, when
It completes a year of the Hijri, causes a transformation
20-This year’s months undergo a change;
In thirty-three years, one year overlaps.
21-If Azar and Muharram coincide,
Consider this as a reckoning for that year.
22-For God has composed verses in the name of beginnings,
Know the months of time with His art.
"Zihî bâkî cihan, her şey var ânda
Bu dünyâyı hele, zeyn itme canda
Günümüz Türkçesiyle
Nasıl bâkî olabilir, her şey var ama bu cihanda. Sakın hâ! Aldanıp
süsleme bu dünyayı canda.
Olursa da hemân cismin ziyanda
Dü kânı bulagör, virân dükânda
Günümüz Türkçesiyle
Zararda olsa da cismin, olsa da ziyanda; gönlü ve canı buluver, vîrân
dükkânda.
Hep eşyâ kim cihanda var O’na dâl
Zihî bâkî, heme zâil cev ü kal
Günümüz Türkçesiyle
Cihandaki her şey O’nun varlığına delil; yalnızca O bâkîdir, O’ndan
gayrısı yok olup gidicidir.
Bil ebced vez ebed hevvez beced hez
Ebec hevvez eced hev hâkim-i sâl
Günümüz Türkçesiyle
Cümâdelâhire, Safer, Rebî’ülevvel, Şaban; Cumâdelûlâ, Muharrem.
Rûmî aylara Mart ile başla ve öyle git. Hicrî ayları Muharrem’den
sayıp devam et.
Rûmî aylara tabidir dördüncü beyt. O, Yekşenbe (Pazar) günü
harflerinin toplamı kadardır.
Yirmi sekiz harfin her biri oldur ki şunu bil; Rûmî aylardan birine
hâkimdir her biri, öyle bil.
“Ehec, zed, bûd” daki sekiz harf odur ki; hicrî aylara her yıl,
bunlardan biri hakim olur.
Bin yüz atmış beştir şimdi, Hicrî sene. Bu ayın hâkimi ise altıdır,
bilsene.
Bu yıl içinde bil ki Mart ayı gurre buldu. “Eced” deki “cim” harfi,
Rûmî aya hakim oldu.
Bin yüz atmış altı olunca hicrî sene; İkisinin de hâkimi iki “dal” olur
bilsene.
Bu tertip üzere değişen harfler, sırayla hâkimdir. “Ehec, zed, bûd” ile
olmakta bu devr-i daim.
Ancak bu Rûmî ayların harfleri ki çünkü. Bu Hicrî yıl ile daima devr
ettiği için.
Bu yılın ayları değişir durur. Otuz üç yılda bir yıl geçiş olur.
Bir yılda Mart’la Muharrem denk gelse; O zaman Hicrî yılı “bir” diye
saymak gerekir.
İyi bil! bu “Gurrenâme”yi nazmetti Hakkı. Ayların değişiminde gör
sanatı, seyreyle Hakkı!
“Fesübhâne’s-sâni‘i’l-hakîm celle celâlühû ve amme nevâluhû ve lâ
ilâhe ve gayruhû.”
“Karanlıkları yarıp sabahları ortaya çıkaran” ve cisimlerin benzerleri
olan gölgeleri yaratan Allah teâlâyı tesbih ederiz; O her türlü noksan
sıfatlardan münezzehtir.”
“(Allah’ım!) Seni tesbih ederiz; bütün noksan sıfatlardan tenzih ederiz.
Sen ki (ol emriyle bütün) varlıkları yaratansın. Asırları, zamanı, yılları,
ayları, saatleri ve ölçüleri (evirip çevirerek halden hale) döndürensin.
Galaksileri, gezegenleri, yıldızları ve uyduları yörüngelerinde (tesbih
taneleri misali) çevirensin. Senin şânın yücedir.”
The eight letters within “Ehec, zed, bûd” are such that one of them dominates each Hijri month annually.
Six months consist of one hundred eighty-seven days; the shorter months have one hundred seventy-eight days.
We glorify God, the Exalted, who cleaves through darkness and brings forth mornings, and creates shadows—the likenesses of forms—and declare His transcendence from all imperfection.
Two quatrains summarize the beginnings (gurre) of the Hijri and Rumi calendars, wherein the dominance of letters according to the Abjad system over the months is determined.