قال تعالي: إنما النسيء زيادة في الكفر يضل به الذين كفروا يحلونه عاما و يحرمونه عاما ليواطءوا عدة ما حرم الله فيحلوا ما حرم الله زين لهم سوء أعمالهم و الله لا يهدي القوم الكافرين
An-Nasee’u [النسيء] (putting the sanctity of a month in another month) is only an increase in disbelief by means of which those who disbelieve are misguided. They allow it one year and prohibit it one year, so that they conform to the number that Allah made prohibited (four sacred months), and make lawful that which Allah prohibited (by observing the number, but not the time). The evil of their actions is made beautiful to them. Allah does not guide the disbelieving people. (Surah Taubah, Ayah: 37)
Under the tafseer of this ayah, Ibn Kathir mentions: …(The Mushrikreen) possessed such extreme anger that they found three (successive) prohibited months preventing them from fulfilling their desire to kill their enemies to be too long. Therefore, some time before Islam, they started making it permissible to fight in Muharram and delay the sanctity of that month until Safar.
The word Safar, the plural of which is Asfaar [اصفار], literally means: Khalaa [خلاء] (empty). So Aaniyatun Sufrun [ائنة صفر] would be an empty vessel. The verb form of this word is Safira Yasfaru [ صفِر يصفَر] on the pattern of Fariha [فرِح]. It would be said: Safira Al-Bait Min Al-Mataa’ [ صفِر البيت من المتاع] (The house is empty of possessions), Safira Al’Inaa’u Min Ash-Sharaab [ صفِر الاناء من الشراب] (The vessel doesn’t have anything in it to drink), and Safirat Witaabuhu [صفرت وطابه] (Lit. His milkbag is empty) meaning: Maata [مات] (He is dead), or Qutila [قُتل] (He was killed).
In Lisaanul Arab different reasons are given as to why the month is called Safar:
(1) Makkah was left empty of its inhabitants during that month because they were traveling.
(2) They used to fight other tribes in that month but would leave alone the caravans that were empty of goods.
(3) Safar is after Muharram and they would say, “The people have safara minna safran [ صفِر منا صفرا] (vacated from us).”
Ibn Kathir reports in his tafseer that Alamud-deen As-Sakhawi mentioned in Al-Mashhur Fil Ayyaam Wash Shuhur that it is called Safar because their houses used to be empty while they were out traveling and fighting in (that month).
The Mushrikeen used to move Muharram into Safar (Call Safar Muharram) so they could fight in the real Muharram. Then they would move each proceeding month into the month following it so that they ended up with 13 months in a year, two of which were “Muharram” (The one they fought in, and the one that was really Safar). By doing this they changed the laws of Allah, because He put certain laws in certain times, and by changing the time they changed the laws. E.g. Hajj is in Z month, but you change Z month into month Y and say X month is Z, now you are making Hajj in X month instead of the Z Allah ordered you to perform it in. Islam abolished this practice of theirs, and time was returned to the original 12 lunar months which Allah made ‘the day He created the heavens and the earth’.
In Islam there is no consideration given to the non-islamic months made up of thirty days, or more than thirty days, or less than thirty. Zakah is counted by the lunar calendar. Bulugh (A person being considered mature, due to nocturnal emission, a girl seeing her period, or in the absence of those two reaching the age of fifteen years old, (which is equivalent to 14 and 1/2 on the solar calendar), and therefore legally responsible to uphold the laws of Islam) is counted according to the lunar calendar, meaning that if the child turns 15 by the lunar calendar but they are only 14 and a half by the solar calendar and they, thinking they are still a minor, don’t pray the fardh salah, they are collecting sins.
And Allah knows best.
Referrences:
Al-Qaamus Al-Muheet Page: 425
Jamhartul Lugha Page: 470
Mua’jamul Waseet Page: 516, 1041
Lisaanul Arab Page:2460
Mawrid Page: 696
Hans Wehr A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic Page:518
Bahrul Muheet 5:40
Ahkamul Quran By Ibnul Arabi 2:497
Tafseer Ibn Kathir 4:145-146, 150
Al-Jaami’u Ahkaamul Qur’an Qurtubi 8:133
Fathul Qadeer Page:520
Jalaalain Page: 158
Ma’riful Qur’an 4:373
Alqamus Al-Fiqhi Page: 41-42
Hashiyah Muhyidden Sheikh Zadah 4:460-462
