Note 340 — Chapter IX · LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE.

It is the general opinion of our chronologers, that the first day of the Muslim era of “the Flight” (in Arabic, “el-Hijrah,” or, as it is pronounced by most of the Egyptians, “el-Higreh,” more correctly translated “the Emigration”) was Friday, the 16th of July, A.D. 622. It must be remarked, that the Arabs generally commence each month on the night on which the new moon is first actually seen; and this night is, in most cases, the second, but sometimes and in some places the third, after the true period of the new moon: if, however, the moon is not seen on the second or third night, the month is commenced on the latter. The new moon of July, A.D. 622, happened between five and six o’clock in the morning of the 14th: therefore the 16th was most probably the first day of the era. This era does not commence from the day on which the Prophet departed from Mekkeh (as supposed by most of our authors who have mentioned this subject), but from the first day of the moon or month of Moharram preceding that event. It is said that Mohammad, after he had remained three days concealed in a cave near Mekkeh, with Aboo-Bekr began his journey, or “the flight,” to El-Medeeneh, on the ninth day of the third month (Rabeea el-Owwal), sixty-eight days after the commencement of the era. Thus the first two months are made of thirty days each, which is often the case when the calculation from the actual sight of the new moon is followed; and the flight itself, from the cave, may be inferred to have commenced on the 22nd of September. It may be added, that this record, by showing that each of the first two months consisted of thirty days, strengthens the supposition that the era commenced on the 16th of July. On the eve of the 15th, the moon was not visible.