BİRİNCİ FEN · ÜÇÜNCÜ BÂB · DÖRDÜNCÜ FASIL · Dördüncü Madde
Fourth Article
It describes the true solar year, the positions of the months according to the signs and stars, and the names of the Rumi months. [527]
O esteemed one! Know that astronomers and astrologers are in agreement in saying: The duration of the true solar year is the time elapsed from when the sun departs its own course from a designated point on the zodiacal sphere until it returns to that same point. However, astrologers have begun the solar year from the moment this illuminator of the world, the sun, enters the ascending node of the sign of Aries. They consider the entry into each of the twelve signs as the beginning of a month and count the time spent traversing each sign as one month.
The number of days in the solar year is three hundred sixty-five days and a quarter day (six hours). By "day" here, is meant a day with its night. The number of days in the aforementioned months, according to the astrologers' calculation, corresponds to the letters of the following couplet according to the *ebced* system:
Couplet
Lâ wu lâ lub, lâ wu lâ lâ şeş meh-est
Lell-i kett u kett şuhûr-ı kûteh-est
(Translation of the Couplet)
Six months are one hundred eighty-seven days. Short months are one hundred seventy-eight days [528].
Although this is how the months of the true solar year are reckoned by the signs, Alexander, son of the philosopher of Rome, has moved the beginnings of the months of the true solar year ten days prior to the beginning points of the signs that astrologers posit and initiate. He began the solar year ten days before the sun entered the ascending node of the sign of Aries. He assigned names to each month and designated them as Rumi months. He divided a year into four seasons, appointing three months for each season, thus concluding this matter. Accordingly, the months of Spring are March (Azar), April, and May (Ayâr). The months of Summer are June, July, and August (Âb). The months of Autumn are September, October (Teşrin-i Evvel) and November (Teşrin-i Sânî). The months of Winter are December (Kânûn-ı Evvel), January (Kânûn-ı Sânî) and February. Currently, these months are written in calendars in our land, and the Rumi months form the basis for the solar calendar. Their number is known from the following couplet (*ebced* calculation):
Couplet
Lâ wu key lâ der-bahâr u key vu lâ lâ fasl-ı yây
Key vu lâ key der-harîf u lâ vu lâ key der-şitâ
(Translation of the Couplet)
The months of Spring are thirty-one, thirty, and thirty-one; the months of Summer are thirty, thirty-one, and thirty-one.
The months of Autumn are thirty, thirty-one, and thirty; the months of Winter are thirty-one, thirty-one, and thirty.
“(O God!) We glorify You and absolve You from all imperfection. You who created all beings. You who turn ages, times, years, months, hours, and measures (from state to state). You who revolve galaxies, planets, stars, and satellites in their orbits (like beads on a rosary). Your glory is exalted.” [529]