Are we witnessing the start of a new era on the eschatological timeline? What brings this hypothesis to the table? It is the fact that on 23rd of September 2015, three important dates converged. They were Yom Kippur in the Hebrew Calendar, Yaum Arafat of the Islamic calendar and Autumn Equinox, which is an important date in paganism. It is interestingly a day of reflection in all three religions.



The calendars used by all three religions are different. It should be noted that Islamic calendar has remained a purely lunar calendar since its inception. The Hebrew calendar is a lunisolar calendar that has gone through a process of evolution and has changed over time. In the Hebrew calendar a leap month is added every second or third year order to align it with the Gregorian calendar. What is more remarkable is the fact that this Yom Kippur is from a Jubilee year. The jubilee year occurs every after 49 years. On an entirely separate note it has to be added that the autumn equinox is an important day because the length of the day equals the length of the night across the whole world.



Have important Hebrew dates collided with Islamic dates before? Yes. When the prophet Mohammad PBUH arrived in Madinah, he observed the Jews celebrating the day which at the time equated to the 10th of Muharram (First month of the Islamic Calendar). On enquiry, the prophet was told that it was the day on which God had delivered Children of Israel from the enemy and Moses (PBUH) used to keep a fast on this day as an expression of gratitude. Hearing this prophet Mohammad (PBUH) replied “Moses has a greater claim upon me than you.” He fasted that day and instructed his followers to do the same. He went further and prescribed two days of fasting instead of just one. Other traditions record that on this day the Ark of Noah (PBUH) finally landed. The Arabs even in the pre-Islamic days observed it as a sacred day.



It should be noted that during this year (2015) the Passover- which in the modern era is marked in the Hebrew calendar as the day of exodus – was observed on Friday, April the 3rd, 2015. On the other hand the 10th of Muharram in the Islamic calendar will be on the 14th of October. This clearly indicates that the Hebrew calendar has departed from the Islamic calendar but every now and then the important dates do collide. In fact this departure of days has also been recorded in the Quran which ordains the number of months to be twelve in an year. The Quran further emphasizes that the practice of adding a leap month is wrong. (Chapter 9: 36-37). As the Islamic calendar cycles through the seasons, once in almost four decades, there is a possibility of its dates coinciding with important Hebrew dates.

On another note the astronomical phenomenon commonly known as the “blood moon” will be observed on the early hours of the 26th September. It is the red lunar eclipse that occurs four consecutive times over a period of two years (aka. Tetrad). This phenomenon was purely of astronomical interest to the hobbyists, until the publication of the book “Four Blood Moons: Something is about to change”, which added a new dimension to it. The author, Pastor John Hagee argues that “Every times the Tetrad has happened in the last 500 years, it has coincided with tragedy followed up by triumph for Jewish people”. The events that have been linked by the pastor include the discovery of America, Holocaust, and formation of Israel, six-day war and the recapture of Jerusalem.



So if the phenomenon of Tetrad is added to the conflation of the important dates, astronomers will tell you that this coincidence is unlikely even over a period of millennia if not more.

Sheikh Imran Hosein has pointed out through his deep study of eschatology that the modern era can be called to the “era of the week” as mentioned in a hadeeth. The “Era of the week” is a metaphor that was used by the prophet Mohammad (PBUH) to identify the time when events of significant impact will accelerate in their occurrence compared to the “era of the month” which will precede it.

What can we conclude from these coincidences?

The tragedy on 24th September at the Hajj saw over 700 pilgrims losing their lives in the immediate aftermath of this alignment. This indeed was a significant event that will affect thousands.

So have we crossed the Rubicon to the “era of the days”? The short answer is only God Almighty knows and only time and hindsight will tell.

On our part each sign and each significant event should compel us for inner reflection and not distraction. We must remain aware of the higher power and this will in turn keep us in touch with ourselves.



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P.S. Convergence Stride is one year old (As per Islamic Calendar) and we would like to thank the stride community for taking this website forward.