Bahrain : In implementation of the Royal directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, His Excellency Shaikh Abdul Rahman bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Khalifa, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and Chairman of the Supreme Committee for Bahraini Calendar, announced the issuance of the Bahraini calendar for the Hijri year 1443 AH in accordance with the Sharia, scientific and astronomical standards, and in extension of the methodology established by notable Bahraini scholars in determining the accurate times for prayers, religious occasions and other events.
HE highlighted the Royal patronage for various Islamic projects, including the issuance of the Bahraini Calendar for the year 1443 AH, in accordance with the methodology of the “Al Zubarah and Bahrain Calendar” that had been adopted in the year 1783 AD.
HE noted that the Supreme Committee for the Bahraini Calendar has worked on issuing the calendar in accordance with the Sharia, scientific and astronomical standards and the methodology on which the prominent scholar Abdul Rahman Al-Zawawi had set the “Al Zubarah and Bahrain Calendar”.
The Chairman of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs noted that the Supreme Committee for the Bahraini Calendar paid special attention to increasing the accuracy of setting prayer timings and the Hijri months.
HE added that the Committee for the Bahraini Calendar includes several religious scholars, astronomers, and specialists from the Kingdom of Bahrain, praising their tireless efforts in issuing the calendar.
Speaking about the calendar, His Excellency explained that the Bahraini Calendar has set the entry of the real timing for the Isha prayer to when the sun is exactly at 18 degrees below the horizon, as followed by the methodology of the “Zubarah and Bahrain Calendar”.
HE further noted that the “Zubarah and Bahrain Calendar” customarily calculated the entry of the time for prayers astronomically, instead of the conventional method for entering the timing of the Isha prayer, which was previously established in the Kingdom, by adding 90 minutes to the time of the Maghrib prayer throughout the year.
He confirmed that the difference between the time of the Isha prayer, according to the previously established standard in the Kingdom, and the astronomical time method (i.e when the sun is below the horizon by 18 degrees) will be at its most on March 21st and September 22nd, and will amount to 14 minutes. He also added that the difference, on the first of Muharram 1443 AH, corresponding to August 9, 2021 AD, will be 7 minutes, and that there will be no difference between the two timings during the period June 8 – 29.
He indicated that according to the new calendar, the time of the Dhuhr prayer is to be set according to the time when the sun fully crosses the Meridian instead of having the line in the centre of the sun disk, as was done previously. He pointed out that the time difference will be one minute to a maximum of two minutes from what was adopted in the previous calendar.
He stressed that issuance of the Bahraini calendar confirms the great strides of Bahrain’s first pioneers in various sciences, including astronomy and astronomical arithmetic, noting that Bahrain has always encouraged various fields of science and has been a destination for scholars of all disciplines and sects.
He clarified that the calendar aims to further ensure accuracy in determining prayer timings, and the beginnings of the entry and exit of the lunar months. He further elaborated that the Sharia, scientific, and astronomical standards set by the early Bahraini scholars proved their high accuracy in this regard, especially those on which the “Al Zubarah and Bahrain Calendar” had relied.
He indicated that the geographical circumferences of the Kingdom have been taken into account in issuing the calendar to determine the prayer timings more accurately, in addition to accurate determination of rainy seasons, wind gusts, the state of the sea and the weather, as well as other astronomical phenomena.
He clarified that the natural timing between countries according to their locations and the resulting variation in terms of the length –and- shortness of times between night –and- day have also been taken into consideration.
He stated that the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and the Supreme Committee for Bahraini Calendar is currently coordinating with various concerned entities, such as the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments and others, to launch a campaign to introduce the new version of the calendar.
The Chairman of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs underlined that the information pertaining to the Bahraini Calendar are available via the “Islamiyat App”.
