LUNAR AND SOLAR CALENDAR IN THE GLORIOUS QUR'AN

Surah al-Ya’seen Ayah 39 says: “How We ordained the moon to pass through certain phases until it seems eventually to be like a bent down twig.”  

It is He who kindles the light of dawn, and has made the night for you to rest, and the sun and moon as a means of calculation. This is the design of the Majestic and All-Knowing (Allah). (6:96)

In the Noble Qur’an, the word “Sanah” and “Aam” has been used to mention the word “Year”. The word “Sanah” has been used to express the time taken by the moon to complete its voyage around the earth.  The average time taken by the moon to complete one circle is 29 days, 12 hours, and 44 minutes. This is the Lunar Month. The word “Aam” is used for solar year, which is the time taken by the earth to complete one circle around the sun. There is a difference of 11 days between the lunar year and the solar year. Allah describes the movements of sun and the moon in Surah Yunus, Ayah 5: “It is He Who has made the sun radiant and the moon luminous and has appointed  for the moon certain phases so that you may compute the number of years and other reckoning. Allah has created them for a genuine purpose. He explains the evidence (of His existence) to the people of knowledge.” In the Arabic text, the word “Sineen” has been used. It is the plural of “Sina” means lunar year.

 Allah enumerates the number of months in a lunar year as twelve as stated in Surah al-Taubah, Ayah 36:

“According to the Book of Allah, from the day He created the heavens and the earth, the number of months is twelve…)

Allah describes the number of years those pious youths who slept in the cave as mentioned in Surah al-Kahaf, Ayah 25: “They, in fact, stayed in the cave for three hundred years (Sineen) plus nine further years.”

Surah al-Kahaf Ayah 19 which reads: “One of them said ‘How long do you think we have stayed here? They replied ‘A day or part thereof.’” This indicates that the weather conditions were similar at the start and end of their abnormal sleep! Because the Lunar calendar lags behind solar calendar by about 11 days, and if we multiply 300 with 11, we get 3300. As a solar year consists of 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 45.5 seconds or 365.24, hence if we divide 3300 by 365.24, we will get 9.03 or 9 years. Hence it proves that “Three hundred and nine lunar years are equal to three hundred Solar years.”