Tomorrow the Muslim world celebrates the birthday of Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him). Whenever you refer to Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him) as a Muslim, or if you are in an Islamic country it is necessary to suffix his name with "Peace Be Upon Him", although this may be abbreviated to "PBUH". Muslims follow the Islamic calendar or Hijri, which is based on the lunar cycle and started at the birth of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) (!). So in the Islamic calendar tomorrow is Rabea Al Awwal 12th, 1430 Hijri.
Today is a Public Holiday. Because a number of religious celebration dates are governed by the lunar cycle there is a "UAE Moon Sighting Committee" who's job it is to check out the moon and confirm when these dates should be. It seems like the dates are always very conveniently added to a weekend break for the public sector workers (where most Emiratis work) - call me a cynic but I'm not sure it has an awful lot to do with the moon as long as it close enough! Well whenever it is I don't really care because I get the day off too - yippee!
So, Happy Birthday Mohammed ...(PBUH)
You do know that Muslims say the same when any other prophet's name is uttered, including Jesus, Peace be Upon Him.
ReplyDeleteActually, I didn't know that - that's interesting, thank you.
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