06/22/2026
🌙 Happy Islamic New Year 1448 AH 🌙
As we continue through , we wish our community a year rooted in peace, gratitude, and reflection.
The Quran describes the moon’s phases, الأهلة (al-ahillah), as signs “for mankind and pilgrimage” (2:189), and speaks of the sun and moon as means by which we know عدد السنين والحساب (ʿadad al-sinīn wa al-ḥisāb), “the number of years and the reckoning” (10:5). It affirms twelve months, four of them sacred, أربعة حرم (arbaʿatun ḥurum) (9:36), and condemns the manipulation of the sacred times (9:37).
Muḥarram, المحرّم, derives from the root ح ر م (ḥ-r-m), denoting sacredness and inviolability. Though no pre-Islamic Arabic dictionaries survive, the meaning is preserved across Semitic languages and in early lexicons beginning with al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad.
The earliest surviving inscription known to mention Muḥarram by name dates to 46 AH / 666 CE, while the Zuhayr inscription of 24 AH / 644 CE is the oldest dated Islamic inscription currently known (UNESCO)
Fourteen centuries later, Muslims of diverse cultures and traditions around the world still mark months by the moon, turn toward the Kaʿbah in prayer, and recite the same Qur’an that has guided generations before us.
May this sacred month bring peace, wisdom, and blessings to our families, neighbors, and communities.
✨ Muslim Women Organization of Greater Hudson ✨
📚 Qur’an 2:189, 9:36-37, 10:5 • al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad, Kitāb al-ʿAyn • al-Bīrūnī, The Chronology of Ancient Nations • UNESCO Memory of the World • Ghabban & Hoyland (2008)
