From PeselyG@apsu.edu Fri Nov 30 20:00:53 2001 Received: from mailscan4.cac.washington.edu (mailscan4.cac.washington.edu [140.142.33.15]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.11.6+UW01.08/8.11.6+UW01.10) with SMTP id fB140nn152234 for ; Fri, 30 Nov 2001 20:00:50 -0800 Received: FROM mxu1.u.washington.edu BY mailscan4.cac.washington.edu ; Fri Nov 30 20:00:46 2001 -0800 Received: from exchange.apsu.edu (exchange.apsu.edu [198.146.56.24]) by mxu1.u.washington.edu (8.11.6+UW01.08/8.11.6+UW01.10) with ESMTP id fB140jB07668 for ; Fri, 30 Nov 2001 20:00:46 -0800 Received: by exchange.apsu.edu with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) id ; Fri, 30 Nov 2001 21:52:46 -0600 Message-ID: <8C1D549B4324D51181010090277A49DE163A07@exchange.apsu.edu> From: "Pesely, George" To: "'classics@u.washington.edu'" Subject: RE: Re: Ramadan Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 21:52:46 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C17A1B.A331F370" This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. ------_=_NextPart_001_01C17A1B.A331F370 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" The Islamic year is twelve lunar months with no intercalary months, so each year is 354 or 355 days long. The October 1973 war was fought during the month of Ramadan. I don't have the exact dates for either 1973 or 1979, but after six years the month of Ramadan would begin about two months earlier by the Gregorian calendar, so August 1979 sounds about right. Surah 9, ayat 36 in the Koran states that there are 12 months in a year, and ayat 37 appears to forbid intercalation, but I am not an expert on the Koran and there may be another passage either in the Koran or in the traditions about the Prophet which spells out the prohibition of intercalary months more plainly. George Pesely, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee -----Original Message----- From: Greg Kindall [mailto:gregkindall@earthlink.net] Sent: Friday, November 30, 2001 9:44 PM To: classics@u.washington.edu Subject: TAN: Re: Ramadan In *Among the Believers: an Islamic Journey* V.S.Naipaul reports on being in Iran during Ramadan in August,1979. But I understand Ramadan runs Nov/Dec this year. Mistake; fictionalization; inconsistency of practice across the Muslim world; floating holiday? For classical content I'll note that VSN opens his book quoting Polybius: "Now in earlier times the world's history had consisted, so to speak, of a series of unrelated episodes, the origins and results of each being as widely separated as their localities, but from this point onwards history becomes an organic whole: the affairs of Italy and Africa are connected with those of Asia and of Greece, and all events bear a relationship and contribute to a single end." (trans. Scott-Kilver) TIA Greg Kindall ------_=_NextPart_001_01C17A1B.A331F370 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1"
The Islamic year is twelve lunar months with no intercalary months, so each year is 354 or 355 days long.  The October 1973 war was fought during the month of Ramadan.  I don't have the exact dates for either 1973 or 1979, but after six years the month of Ramadan would begin about two months earlier by the Gregorian calendar, so August 1979 sounds about right.
 
Surah 9, ayat 36 in the Koran states that there are 12 months in a year, and ayat 37 appears to forbid intercalation, but I am not an expert on the Koran and there may be another passage either in the Koran or in the traditions about the Prophet which spells out the prohibition of intercalary months more plainly.
 
George Pesely, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Kindall [mailto:gregkindall@earthlink.net]
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2001 9:44 PM
To: classics@u.washington.edu
Subject: TAN: Re: Ramadan

In *Among the Believers: an Islamic Journey* V.S.Naipaul reports on being in Iran during Ramadan in August,1979.  But I understand Ramadan runs Nov/Dec this year.  Mistake; fictionalization; inconsistency of practice across the Muslim world; floating holiday?
 
For classical content I'll note that VSN opens his book quoting Polybius:
 
"Now in earlier times the world's history had consisted, so to speak, of a series of unrelated episodes, the origins and results of each being as widely separated as their localities, but from this point onwards history becomes an organic whole:  the affairs of Italy and Africa are connected with those of Asia and of Greece, and all events bear a relationship and contribute to a single end."  (trans. Scott-Kilver)
 
TIA
Greg Kindall
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