A Remarkable Coincidence on Nowruz Eve

Date: 18 March 2018 - 21:47

News ID: ۵۱۳۲۲

By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz

"Ya Moqallab al-Qoloub wa'l-Absaar;
"Ya Modabber al-Layl wa'n-Nahaar;
"Ya Mohawwel al-Howl wa'l-Ahwaal;
"Hawwil Halana ila Ahsan il-Haal."

(O' Transformer of Hearts and Eyes;
O' Regulator of Day and Night;
O' Rotator of Time and Situation;
Change our state to the most excellent of Situation.)

At 19:45:28 sharp on Tuesday, March 20, the Islamic Republic of Iran would be ushering in the calendar year 1397 solar hijri, with prayers and supplications to the Lord Most High, especially by recitation of the above-mentioned Arabic quatrain.

By a remarkable coincidence, this year the eve of Nowruz, on which according to numerous hadith important events took place in the life and messages of the Prophets of the past, happens to be the birth anniversary of the 5th Infallible Heir of the Almighty’s Last and Greatest Messenger to all mankind.

Imam Muhammad al-Baqer (AS) needs no introduction. He was the great-great-grandson of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), and during the 19 years of his imamate, he expounded to the seekers of truth the true teachings of Islam of his Illustrious Ancestor.

He flourished at a crucial time of history when the tyrannical Omayyad rulers had emptied the message of Islam of its spiritual contents. These usurpers who masqueraded as caliphs neither had any faith in Islam nor were they interested in knowing anything about the life of Messenger of Mercy.

Under these circumstances, the 5th Imam who as a 4-year boy had witnessed the heartrending tragedy of Karbala where his grandfather Imam Husain (AS) drank the elixir of martyrdom to grant immortality to genuine Muhammadan Islam, and where his father Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) waged the unique Jihad of patience under captivity to expose Yazid in his true heathen colours, shouldered the Divine Trust in 95 AH until his own martyrdom through poisoning in 114 AH.
By Divine Providence, Imam Baqer (AS) passed this legacy to his son and successor, Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS), who took Islam to great heights by showing to the world the true "Sunnah” and "Seerah” (behaviour and practice) of the "Seal of Messengers”, to the extent that till this day the "shari’ah” of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) is known as "Fiqh al-Ja’fariyya” (Ja’fari Jurisprudence).

Since the birthday this year of Imam Baqer (AS) has coincided with Nowruz or the new solar year, which like the lunar year is also dated as per the auspicious migration of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) from Mecca to Medina, here is a hadith on the Vernal or Spring Equinox from his son, Imam Sadeq (AS):

"The sun attained its brightness, the wind started to blow, the Ark of Prophet Noah (AS) stopped at Mount Joudi and was saved from drowning; Prophet Abraham (AS) broke the idols of his community; Archangel Gabriel brought the first revelation to our Prophet (Muhammad - SAWA); the Prophet lifted Imam Ali (AS) on his shoulders to enable him to topple the idols from atop the Ka'ba; and (years later) the Prophet proclaimed Imam Ali (AS) as his (divinely-designated) vicegerent at Ghadir-e-Khom (on 18th Zilhijja 10 AH by the command of Almighty Allah).”

Another famous saying from the 6th Imam reads:

"Today is the day on which God made a pact with His servants to pray to Him not to follow polytheism but to follow the Prophets and the Ahl al-Bayt. On this day the last Imam, the Awaited Mahdi (AS) is expected to reappear...”

Thus, it is the One and Only Creator of this vast universe, Who has set in motion the wonderful solar system, with Planet Earth in a disciplined orbit around the sun, while rotating on its axis, so that the days and nights follow each other, the months are calculated and the year determined to keep track of the cyclic changing of the seasons.

Glory to Allah the Exalted! The seconds, the minutes, the nights, the days, the months, and the years, are all signs of the Grandeur and the Blessings of the Almighty Creator. This orderly cycle of the changing seasons, with verdant spring enlivening the environment after the frost of 'lifeless' winter, is without doubt a pointer to the Day of Resurrection.

"And Allah is He Who sends the winds so they raise a cloud, then We drive it on to a dead land, and therewith We give life to the earth after its death; even so is the quickening (of the dead on Resurrection Day)." – Holy Qur’an 35:

In view of these undeniable realities, Nowruz (New Day in Persian), in addition to being a much welcome holiday season to relieve the pressures of the year-long routine and an energizer to refresh us for the challenges and opportunities of the next year, is a time for reflection.

It is the time to take stock of things, of our own selves, of the environment around us, of our duties towards family, friends, society, country and the world we live in, and which unfortunately, is groaning under the jackboots of an oppressive political- economic-financial-industrial-scientific system that is totally opposed to God, to human dignity, to moral values, to spirituality, and to the peace and progress of nations.

Under these circumstances, Nowrouz and its message of peace and harmony within the egalitarian frame of Islam, stands as beacon of hope for mankind – and certainly not those frivolities that have come to be associated with this purely Godly event of the Vernal Equinox, ever since the ancient Iranians borrowed it from the astronomically advanced Babylonians, and then thoroughly Persianized it over the millenniums.

This means that marking of the Spring Equinox is an Islamic ritual, since Islam did not start suddenly 1,400 odd years in the Arabian Peninsula. Islam, which means peace, healthy way of life and submission to none but Almighty Allah, was the message entrusted to the father of the human race, Adam, at the dawn of the creation of mankind.

In view of these wonderful facts, isn’t it advisable for the Islamic world – in addition to the religiously indispensable lunar hijri calendar – to adopt the precisely calculated solar hijri calendar year in Iran for keeping tract of the season and running the bureaucracy, instead of following the alien and a bit imperfect Gregorian calendar that has been imposed by the colonialists and is based on an illusion, which the Holy Qur’an rejects, saying Prophet Jesus (AS) was not crucified?

Congratulations on the Birthday of Imam Baqer (AS) and Nowruz