Afghanistan. 2011
OK. Remember in one of my earlier emails I discussed the New year in Afghanistan? Well I did. It's now 1390. I was happy with that. Merrily making my way through the Dark Ages feeling very smug at my technological advancement. Confident in the certainty that I knew what year it was. Well, I thought I was, but it appears I was wrong. Well. I wasn't, but I was. It is definitely 1390. But it's also 1432. Confused? Surprised? Alone? Bewildered? Yeah, I know how you feel. It's like being back at school. You would have thought I would have gotten used to it by now, but, oh no. Just as I am walking hand in hand with my new, best, Afghan-partner, friend (sometimes literally - don't ask - subject of another email), this country turns around, looks at me with a pitying smile, and pushes me backwards over another, crouching, Afghan who has crept up behind me, before they both walk off, giggling, feeling chuffed with their schoolboy prank. It's all my fault I suppose. I deserved to be treated like a school boy as I had made a school boy error. Instead of using the Solar Hijri, I had used the Lunar Hijri. How could I have been so stupid? Don't answer that. It was rhetorical.
This current confusion stems from a conversation I had with a member of the Afghan National Police about Ramadan and its likely impact on operations (see - I do stuff! - it's not all emails and chai). The date of Ramadan is important because basically everything slows down or stops. It's hard not to laugh at that because I find it difficult to comprehend quite how much this country can slow down, bearing in mind it's normal speed is slightly slower than the fat, wheezy boy who always forgets his trainers for PE and its interest levels are usually on a par with the girl at the back who is chewing gum and playing with her hair. You see, if you pay attention, you will learn that most of the Islamic world use the Lunar Hijiri Calendar. Just because it has the word lunar in it, don't think it is. Well, it kind of is. Unlike the actual lunar calendar that the Western World use, the Lunar Hijiri calendar is based on the Hilal, the very slight crescent moon that is first visible after a new moon. Hence the crescent being the symol of Islam. See! Learning stuff all the time. Such a sighting has to be made by one or more trustworthy men testifying before a committee of Muslim leaders before the end/beginning of a new Islamic month can be declared. Each Islamic state awaits its own monthly observation of the new moon before declaring the beginning of a new month on its territory. Given that weather, time, geographic location and the fact that the moon sets progressively later than the sun as one goes west, all influence the sighting, the beginning of each month differs from one Muslim country to another, and the information provided by the calendar in any country does not extend beyond the current month. In fact, you often don't know if a month is going to have 29, 30 or 31 days in it. Makes planning child care for half-term a little tricky. So there we have it - The Lunar Hijiri Calendar, with the first year being the year during which the prophet Muhammad emigrated from Mecca to Medina, known as the Hijra. Hence we are in 1432
So back to Afghanistan. Afghanistan, being the weird kid who hangs around with other weird kids, uses the Solar Hijiri (Iranian) calendar. Afghanistan adopted the Iranian calendar in 1922, but changed the names of the month. Typical. So Afghanistan goes on, insisting it's 1390, while the rest of the Islamic world say it's 1432 and the remainder of the non-Islamic world declare it to be 2011. In fairness, it is the most accurate solar calendar, but I'm not sure that matters. It doesn't matter how clever it is, or how right it is. It's still weird and it will still get picked on. You can't help but look at it and feel sorry for Afghanistan. Its adherence to its calendar bears strong comparison with its international standing. Use of the solar calendar associates Afghanistan with a social outcast, separates it from the majority of its potential friends and partners and confuses the rest, who look on with bemusement, a degree of sympathy, but a reluctance to get too close.
By the way, Ramadan starts on 1 August 2011 this year. Right in the middle of school holidays.
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