YEAR

Arabic san ah ( سنة‎ ), pl. sanūn , sanawāt ; ʿām ( عام‎ ), pl. aʿwām ; ḥaul ( حول‎ ), pl. aḥwāl ; Persian sāl ( سال‎ ), pl. sālhā . The ancient Arabian year is supposed to have consisted of twelve lunar months, as now observed by the Muḥammadans; but about the year A.D . 412, the Arabians introduced a system of intercalation, whereby one month was intercalated into every three years. (See M. de Perceval, vol. i. p. 242). This system of intercalation existed in the time of Muḥammad; but it is related that, at the farewell pilgrimage, the Prophet recited the k͟hut̤bah on the Day of Sacrifice, and said: “A year is twelve months only, as at the time of the creation,” and thus again introduced the lunar year. (See Mishkāt , book xi. ch. xi.) The Muḥammadan year, therefore, consists of twelve lunar months, without any intercalation to make it correspond with the course of the sun, and amounts very nearly to 354 days and 9 hours. Hence the Muḥammadan New Year’s Day, Nau Roz , will happen every year about eleven days earlier than in the preceding year. There also existed amongst the Arabians a system of commutation whereby the Muḥarram , the last of the three continuous sacred months [ MONTHS ], became secular, and Ṣafar sacred. Some traditions say that the power also existed of commuting the isolated sacred month Rajab , for the one succeeding it, Shaʿbān . When this was done, it became lawful to war in the sacred months of Muḥarram and Rajab; and Ṣafar and Shaʿbān acquired the sacredne of the months for which they had been substituted. It is with reference to this custom that Muḥammad says in the Qurʾān ( Sūrah ix. 36, 37 ):— “Verily, twelve months is the number of months with God, according to God’s Book, ever since the day when He created the Heavens and the Earth; of these, four are sacred: this is the right usage. Therefore, wrong not yourselves therein, and attack those who join gods with God, one and all, as they attack you one and all; and know that God is with those who fear Him. To carry over a sacred month to another is only an increase of unbelief. They who do not believe are led in error by it. They allow it one year and forbid it another, that they may make good the number of months which God hath hallowed, and they allow that which God hath prohibited.” This system of commutation is said to have been introduced by Quṣaiy, who wished, by abridging the long three months’ ce ation of hostilities, to humour the warlike Arabs, as well as to obtain the power of making a sacred month secular when it might best suit his purpose; but Sir William Muir is inclined to think that this system of commutation was an ancient one, and merely restored by Quṣaiy. (Muir’s Mahomet , vol. i. p. ccviii.) Both in India and in Egypt, in the present day, the Muḥammadans use the lunar year for their religious observances and the ordinary affairs of life; but for the purposes of agriculture and other calculations, for which the lunar year is inconvenient, they employ the Julian calendar. To find the number of solar years elapsed since any given Muḥammadan date, subtract the given year of the Hijrah from the current year of the Hijrah, and from the remainder deduct three per cent.; the remainder will be the number of solar years which have elapsed. Thus, suppose we see a manuscript written A.H . 681, and wish to know its real age in Christian or solar years, we subtract, in the first place, the number 681 from the current year of the Hijrah, say 1256, and there remains 575; from this last we deduct three per cent . , or 17, and there remains 558, which at that period is the real age of the manuscript in solar years. If the object, however, be to find the precise Christian date corresponding to any given year of the Hijrah, apply the following rule:—From the given number of Musalmān years, deduct three per cent., and to the remainder add the number 621·54; the sum is the period of the Christian era at which the given current Musalmān year ends. For example: from A.H . 942, deduct three per cent., or 28·26, and the remainder is 913·74. To this last add 621·54, and the sum is 1535·28, which shows that A.H . 942 ended in the spring of A.D . 1536. This simple rule is founded on the fact that 100 lunar years are very nearly equal to 97 solar years, there being only eight days of exce in the former period; hence to the result found, as just stated, it will be requisite to add 8 days, as a correction for every century. The following is a more accurate rule. Expre the Muḥammadan date in years and decimals of a year; multiply by ·970225; to the product add 621·54, and the sum will be the precise period of the Christian era. (Dr. Forbes.) If it is desired to find the year of the Hijrah which comes in in a given year of the Christian era , it is sufficient to subtract 621 from the year given, and to multiply the remainder by 10,307. (Murray.) YŪḤANNĀ ( يوحنا‎ ). The Arabic Christian name for John the Baptist, and John the Apostle, the corresponding Muslim name being Yaḥyā . [ YAHYA .] YŪNUS ( يونس‎ ). [ JONAH .] YŪSHAʿ ( يوشع‎ ). [ JOSHUA .] YŪSUF ( يوسف‎ ). [ JOSEPH .] A Dictionary of Islam: Being a Cyclopædia of the Doctrines, Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs, Together with the Technical and Theological Terms, of the Muhammadan Religion Z ẔABḤ ( ذبح‎ ). Heb. ‏זֶבַח‎ zebak͟h . Arabic lexicographers define the word to mean the act of cutting the throat. In the language of the law, it denotes the act of slaying an animal agreeably to the prescribed forms, without which its flesh is not lawful for the food of man. See Qurʾān, Sūrah ii. 167, 168 :— “Eat of the good things wherewith we have provided you, and give thanks unto God , if ye are His worshippers. He has only forbidden for you that which is dead, and blood, and flesh of swine, and whatsoever has been consecrated to other than God; but he who is forced, neither revolting nor transgre ing, it is no sin for him: for verily God is forgiving and merciful.” The injunctions in the Traditions are more explicit ( Mishkāt , book xviii. ch. i.), for example: Abū T̤ufail relates that ʿAlī was once asked, “Has the Prophet ever told you anything with regard to religion which he has not told others?” And ʿAlī replied, “Nothing, unle it be that which I have in the scabbard of my sword.” Then ʿAlī brought out of his scabbard a piece of paper, and thereon was written: “May God curse those who slay without repeating the name of God, in the same manner as the polytheists did in the names of their idols; may God curse those who remove their neighbours’ landmarks; may God curse those who curse their fathers; may God curse those who harbour innovators in matters of religion.” According to Sunnī law, ẕabḥ is of two kinds: (1) Ik͟htiyārī , of choice; and (2) Iẓt̤irārī , of nece ity. The first is effected by cutting the throat above the breast and reciting the words Allāhu akbar , “God is most great”; and the second by reciting these words upon shooting an arrow or discharging a gun. The latter act, however, is merely a substitute for the former, and accordingly is not of any account unle the former be impracticable; for the proper ẕabḥ is held to be by the shedding of blood, and the former method is most effectual for this purpose. It is absolutely nece ary that the person who slays the animal should be a Muslim or a kitābī (i.e. a Jew or a Christian), and that he should do it in the name of God alone; it signifies not whether the person be a man or a woman, or an infant, or an idiot, or an uncircumcised person. An animal slain by a Magian is unlawful, as also that slain by an idolater or a polytheist. Ẕabḥ performed by an apostate from the Muslim faith (who is worthy of death) is also unlawful; but, according to Abū Ḥanīfah, if a Jew or a Christian become an apostate from his own creed, his ẕabḥ is lawful, for the Muslim law still regards him, with respect to ẕabḥ , in the same light as formerly. If the slayer wilfully omit the invocation, “In the name of the most great God,” the flesh of the animal is unlawful; but if he omit the invocation through forgetfulne , it is lawful, although there is some difference of opinion on this subject amongst the Sunnī doctors. Ash-Shāfiʿī is of opinion that the animal is lawful in either case, but the Imām Mālik maintains that it is unlawful in both. Abū Yūsuf and all the Ḥanafī doctors have declared, that an animal slain under a wilful omi ion of the invocation is utterly unlawful, and that the magistrate must forbid the sale of meat so killed. It is a condition of ẕabḥ ik͟htiyārī that the invocation be pronounced over the animal at the time of slaying it; but in the case of ẕabḥ iẓt̤irārī ( i.e . when a person slays an animal in hunting), the condition is that the invocation be pronounced at the time of letting loose the hound or hawk, or of shooting the arrow or gun, or casting the spear. It is a condition of ẕabḥ that nothing but the invocation Bismi ʾllāhi Allāhi akbar , “In the name of God, God the most great,” should be said. That is, no prayer or other matter must be mentioned. The place for slaying is betwixt the throat and the head of the breast-bone (Arabic labbah ), and the ve els it is requisite to cut are four, al-hulqūm , “the wind-pipe,” al-marīʾ , “the gullet,” and al-warīdān , or al-wadajān , “the two jugular veins.” Ash-Shāfiʿī holds that if a man slay an animal with a nail or horn or teeth, the flesh is unlawful, but this is not the opinion of other doctors. (See Durru ʾl-Muk͟htār and Hidāyah , in loco .) AZ -ZABĀNĪYAH ( الزبانية‎ ). Lit . “Guards.” The angels in charge of hell, of whom Mālik is said to be the chief. Sūrah xcvi. 17, 18 : “So let him call his council: we will call the guards of hell ( az-Zabānīyah ).” ẔABĪḤAH ( ذبيحة‎ ). Lit . “Cut or divided lengthways.” Heb. ‏זֶבַח‎ zebak͟h . An animal slaughtered according to the law; a sacrifice. [ LAWFUL FOOD , SACRIFICES .] ZABĪR ( زبير‎ ). A name for Mount Sinai. Al-Baiẓāwī says it is the mountain on which the Lord conversed with Moses. [ SINAI , TUR .] ẒABT̤ ( ضبط‎ ). “Occupation, seizure.” In Muḥammadan law it means attachment, distraint, or sequestration; taking lands under the management of Government officers. ZABŪR ( زبور‎ ), pl. zubur . Also zubūr , pl. of zibr . From the Heb. ‏זִמְרָה‎ zimrāh , “a psalm or chant” ( Psa. lxxxi. 2 , xcviii. 5 ). The title given to the Psalms of David in the Qurʾān, where it occurs only three times. Sūratu ʾn-Nisāʾ (iv.) 161 : “And to David we gave Psalms ( zabūran ).” Sūratu ʾl-Miʿrāj (xvii.) 57 : “And Psalms ( zabūran ) we gave to David.” Sūratu ʾl-Ambiyāʾ (xxi.) 105 : “And now, since the exhortation ( ẕikr ) was given, have we written in the Psalms ( fī ʾz-zabūri ) that my servants the righteous shall inherit the earth.” Both Sale and Rodwell take this last to be a quotation from Psa. xxxvii. 29 (it appears to be the only direct quotation from either the Old or New Testament in the whole of the Qurʾān), and they have both translated the Arabic ẕikr “the law,” meaning, of course, the Taurāt . Amongst Muslim commentators, there is considerable difference of opinion as to what is meant in this verse by ẕikr and zabūr . The commentator al-Baiẓāwī says there are three views. Said ibn Jubair and Mujaiyid explained the word zabūr to mean all inspired books, and that by ẕikr was meant the Preserved Tablet ( al-Lauḥu ʾl-Maḥfūz̤ ). Ibn ʿAbbās and aẓ-Ẓaḥḥāk said by zabūr was meant the Taurāt, and by ẕikr those books which came after. And Shaʿbī said the zabūr was the Book of David, and the ẕikr that of Moses. Al-Bag͟hawī and al-Jalālān decide in favour of the first interpretation, Ḥusain decides in favour of the third, whilst al-Baiẓāwī leaves it an open question. Jalālu ʾd-dīn as-Suyūt̤ī gives the word zabūr as one of the fifty-five titles of the Qurʾān.