by Andrew Walden
Its late in the game, but Hakim Ouansafi, head of the Muslim Association of Hawaii has yet another excuse for steering the Legislature to celebrate Islam Day on September 24, 2009--a day which just happens to correspond to September 11, 2009 in the old Julian calendar. Talking to the Honolulu Advertiser, Ouansafi says: "Yesterday was selected because it marked the end of Ramadan...."
But a quick glance at an Islamic calendar shows that Ramadan ended on September 19, 2009. The next day, Eid al-Fitr, September 20 is an important annual Islamic feast day. There is nothing significant about September 24.
There is also nothing about Ramadan written into HCR 100--which was apparently drafted with substantial involvement by Ouansafi. As this writer explained in a May 10 article:
Introduced March 4 as HCR100 by Reps Faye Hanohano (D-Puna), Lyla Berg (D-Hawaii Kai), 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)
So this is the third mutually contradictory story Islam Day proponents have given for their choice of dates. Each of the excuses is demonstrably false. As this writer has explained:
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.
The Star-Bulletin May 15, 2009 tried to bail Ouansafi out with this:
The initial version of the Hawaii resolution designated Nov. 21 as Islam Day, like the congressional resolution. But it conflicted with Makahiki celebrations, Berg said. So Ouansafi suggested Sept. 24, A.D. 644, (wrong, it was 622) the date the prophet Mohammad reached Quba, marking the birth of Islam. A few (sic) bloggers (sic) claim it was a clandestine effort to mark Sept. 11 on the old Julian calendar, but Ouansafi dismissed such conspiracy theories, saying he had never heard of the Julian calendar until now.
If that is so, why does HCR100 specify "Gregorian"? The only reason to specify "Gregorian" in this day and age is in order to distinguish it from "Julian."
A quick glance at an Islamic calendar shows that Ramadan ended on September 19, 2009. The next day, Eid al-Fitr, September 20 is an important annual Islamic feast day. Another major feast day is 12th Rabi ul-Awwal. So this means that Islam Day organizers were quite satisfied to misrepresent the dates of two of their religion's most important holidays in order to justify the selection of September 24 Gregorian--September 11 Julian--for Hawaii Islam Day.
What kind of religion lies about the timing of its holy days to achieve an end?
Ouansafi's plea of ignorance is further undermined by his role in moon-sighting for the Islamic calendar. The Islamic Crescents Observation Project (ICOP) website indicates that Ouansafi has been personally involved in efforts to visually sight the first crescent moon marking the first day of Ramadan. This is the traditional Muslim method of establishing the beginning of Islamic lunar months--a method which has caused some Muslims to argue in favor changing to a lunar month based on astronomical calculations. A visual sighting obstructed by clouds or haze can throw the Islamic calendar off by one day making it difficult to schedule the precise date of Islamic holidays in advance.
For 2008 (1429 in the Islamic calendar) the ICOP website explains: "Mr. Hakim Ouansafi from Hawaii said: 'This is to inform you that we were not able to see the moon yesterday. However, this evening Sunday August 31 it was observed in Hawaii.'"
Is it credible that a person who is personally involved in the functioning of the Islamic calendar, and who helped draft a resolution which specified "Gregorian" would be ignorant of the existence of the Julian calendar?
What's really going on here?
Islamist "City of Brass" blogger Aziz Poonawalla explains:
“Naturally, there are some (conservative, Republican) people who see this as dhimmitude incarnate. This fellow for example ... intones seriously, 'the Muslims are laughing.' Why, yes, we are indeed.”
And a City of Brass commenter sums it all up:
“Nice work, that is also September 11 on the Julian calendar, no wonder you are laughing at kufr.”
Hawaii Islam Day was established by the Legislature for 2009 only. Will Legislators try to bring it back in 2010--perhaps making it permanent? Stay tuned.
---30---
RELATED: Hawaii “Islam Day” secretly marks September 11 , On the trail to Hawaii Islam Day: Saudi money, Libyan assassins, Palestinian Jihad, London bombers, Malaysian sodomy, and laughing Islamists , http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2009/Bills/HCR100_HD1_.HTM