Mohamedan calendar
Haji Mohamed Sayid, a Captain in the Sultan of Johore’s Forces, published this practical calendrical reference in 1923 to provide the Malay Muslim community with a reliable perpetual calendar system for the fourteenth century of the Hijra (AH 1300–1400), reconciling the fixed arithmetic of the lunar calendar with the religious imperative of new-moon sighting for the observance of Ramadan and Eid.
Summary
The article addresses a practical problem faced by the Malay Mohamedan community: the tension between published almanacs, which follow a fixed arithmetic of alternating 29- and 30-day months, and the religious requirement that the actual sighting of the new moon at sunset determines the beginning of a month. Sayid explains that the month of Sha’aban is ordinarily 29 days, but if the new moon is not sighted on the 29th, an extra day is added before Ramadan begins; similarly, the sudden appearance of the new moon on the 29th of Ramadan ends the fast immediately, with the following day observed as a festival (p. 334).
To resolve the practical need for a reliable reference, Sayid presents a simplified three-table system (Tables A, B, and C) that allows any user to determine the day of the week on which the first of any month in any given year falls, simply by adding the year figure and the month figure and reading the result against the days table (pp. 335–336). He validates this method against three contemporary published calendars—the seventy-five-year calendar of Gifford & Symons (1897), the twenty-five-year calendar of H. Abdeen (1922), and the Annual Directory of Fraser & Neave—finding only minor variations attributable to differently fixed leap years (p. 334).
The article culminates in a full 14th Kurun (century) calendar table covering AH 1300–1400, showing the first day of each year and marking all leap years (p. 337). Sayid attributes the underlying tables to an Arabic system known as Takwim Khamsiah (“calendar of fives”), which he discovered among old manuscripts in Malay translation by an unknown hand; the name derives from a method of reckoning forward by fives to determine the first day of the same month in the following year (p. 337).
Key Findings
- The ordinary Mohamedan year consists of 354 days, with months alternating between 30 and 29 days; leap years (occurring three times in every eight years) add one day to Dhu’l-hijjah, making it 30 days (p. 334).
- The three-table system (Year, Month, Day) allows calculation of the weekday for any date: the year figure from Table A plus the month figure from Table B equals the day figure in Table C (p. 336).
- The 14th Kurun calendar spans AH 1300–1400 and is explicitly extendable in either direction beyond that range (p. 337).
- The underlying tables originate from an Arabic source called Takwim Khamsiah, translated into Malay by an unknown translator at an unknown date, and were found by Sayid among old manuscripts (p. 337).
- The Khamsiah method of reckoning by fives allows prediction of the first day of the same month in the following ordinary year; in a leap year, an extra sixth day is counted (p. 337).
- Sayid’s perpetual calendar shows “very few variations” when compared with the Gifford & Symons (1897), H. Abdeen (1922), and Fraser & Neave Annual Directory calendars, with discrepancies apparently caused by differently fixed leap years (p. 334).
Conclusion
Sayid’s definitive contribution is the recovery and presentation of a pre-existing Arabic calendrical system (Takwim Khamsiah) in a form accessible to the Malay Muslim community, providing a self-contained, extensible perpetual calendar that respects both the fixed arithmetic of the Islamic lunar year and the religious primacy of moon-sighting. The article functions as a practical tool rather than a theoretical treatise, and its value lies in making a manuscript source available to a wider readership in the Straits Settlements and Johore.
Context
- The author held the rank of Captain in the Sultan of Johore’s Forces (S.M.J.) and was a recognized community figure; the article was published in the inaugural volume of the JMBRAS, reflecting the Society’s early interest in documenting local religious and cultural practices.
- The article’s framing is that of a colonial-era community leader providing a service to his co-religionists, situating the Islamic calendar within the administrative and commercial context of the Straits Settlements, where published almanacs (Gifford & Symons, Fraser & Neave) were the standard reference for the European and Chinese business communities.