in the Julian calendar. Founding Bloggers, this is NOT just a little disturbing (see the calendar range).
…who did put the bill together? It looks like the Muslim Association of Hawaii, who actually is the Muslim Student Association:
Muslim Association of Hawaii (MAH), formerly known as The Muslim Student Association (MSA), started more than 30 years ago. via Conservative Mama
Introduced March 4 as HCR100 by Reps Faye Hanohano (D-Puna), Lyla Berg (D-Hawai`i Ka`i), and Della Au Belatti (D-Makiki) HCR100 proposed Islam Day to be “November 21, 2009, marks the anniversary of the founding of Islam….” But that was soon amended to HCR100HD1 which intones, “the Prophet Mohammad left his house to migrate to Madinah and reached Quba in the vicinity of Madinah on the 12th day of Rabi ul-Awwal according to the lunar calendar, or September 24th according to the Gregorian calendar, thereby marking the birth of Islam….” (Emphasis added)
This is false. September 24th is the date of Mohammad’s arrival in Medina according to the old Julian calendar — which is 13 days behind the modern Gregorian calendar. The fact that “Gregorian” is mentioned in the resolution implies that somebody was considering the two calendars.
Had the Hawaii legislature intended to mark the Julian date September 24 they would have picked the Gregorian date October 7, 2009 for Islam Day. Had they wished to mark the date celebrated each year by Muslims, that would have been the “12th day of Rabi ul-Awwal” — March 9, 2009.
But instead they picked the modern Gregorian date September 24, 2009. This day corresponds to no holiday in the Islamic calendar. But on the Julian calendar it is September 11, 2009. Update: Muslim Association of Hawaii (formerly MSA) is aggressively supporting this bill on their website and encouraging people to contact the Hawaiian legislators who approved it and claiming the three who opposed it are anti-Islam and anti-Muslim. You too can contact the Hawaii legislatures and here is a list of email addresses thanks to MAH.
May 14, 2009 at 12:23 am
Great Post mcnorman. Why are these people so screwed up? What ever happened to the separation of church and state?
May 14, 2009 at 12:40 am
Thanks DE, I don’t believe that people understand the concept of separation of church and state. This is ugly. It is also very worrisome.
May 14, 2009 at 1:28 am
If there was such a thing as separation of church and state, the gay community would have had the right to marry from day one. No civil servant get Christmas and Easter off and there wouldn’t be tax $$$$ supporting faith based initiatives.
May 14, 2009 at 2:42 am
That is true Ca$h. You also would not see “In God We Trust.”
May 15, 2009 at 12:05 pm
McNorman…check this out
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20090515_Islam_Day_draws_heat_for_isles.html
May 15, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Thanks for the link.
If you were told that the date could also be interpreted this way, why would you continue to leave the date as is with possible controversy surrounding it?
Ca$h what can we expect from the state that certified zero? The MAH and MAS do not know about the Julian calendar? I can’t vouch for the people who sit in the legislature, but I do not believe for one minute that a group that studies their religion within the scope of world history would be ignorant of the Julian calendar. Call me cynical.
May 20, 2009 at 1:50 pm
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