The formal announcement for the Islamic New Year as per moon sighting happened in UAE on August 20. The Hijiri New year, which is marked by Muharram 1, began on August 23. As per the announcement of Federal Authority For Government Human Resources on Social Media, August 23 will be observed as a holiday for the public and the private sector. This allows people of the UAE to celebrate a long weekend of three days. It gives the private and public sector officials to relax on the weekend and celebrate the new year with family and friends. This marks the beginning of Hijri year 1442.
The Hijra is known as the journey completed by Prophet Mohammed from Mecca to Medina, starting in AD 662, this year marks 1442 years of Prophet Mohammed and his disciples moving from Mecca to Medina, the holiest city in Islam’s religion. He had made this journey to resolve clashes between the clans, becoming the cause of chaos and ruin in the town. It is defined as a turning point in the history of Islam. Hijra to Medina lead to the establishment of a healthier community based on Islamic teachings.
This holiday is celebrated by the organization of prayer sessions by people in the mosques and spending quality time with their family. The main reason for celebrating this holiday is to be grateful, reflect, and remember. This is more of a self-reflection time than that of a party. Most people use this day to make resolutions to make their coming life better and avoid making mistakes of the past. This helps in seeing what good deeds a person did in the last year and what should be their focus this year. This keeps a person motivated to do good things in life and encourage others to do the same.
Sheikh Umar Farooq Zahoor, a Pakistani-Norwegian businessman, believes this is the time of the year where one should give to others and be there for one another. Being an entrepreneur and philanthropist, Sheikh Zahoor believes in giving back to society, be it in charity, food, clothes, or even books. He is a humble man who became successful at a very young age and stayed true to his people. Umar Farooq Zahoor says that he celebrates this festival like any other Islamic common man. He starts his day with prayer and sits with his family and enjoy home-made food. He wishes his fellow Islamic brothers a very happy new Islamic year and wishes them well in life. He makes sure that he takes out time for his community as well.
Muharram, in a real sense, is about turning a new leaf as the year changes. It gives you a chance to be a better version of yourself and facilitate others’ journey to do the same. It is a day to make promises to self that you carry on for the whole year may this new year be the most fruitful one with all the self-resolutions being fulfilled and people being happy and healthy everywhere.
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Sheikh Umar Farooq Zahoor 