Rabi II
Fourth month of the Islamic calendar
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Rabi II (Arabic: رَبِيع الثَّانِي, romanized: Rabīʿ ath-Thānī,[a] lit. 'Rabi the Second', more commonly called رَبِيع الْآخِر Rabīʿ al-ʾĀkhir,[b] lit. 'Rabi the Last')[c] is the fourth month of the Islamic calendar. The name Rabīʿ ath-Thānī means "the second spring" in Arabic, referring to its position in the pre-Islamic Arabian calendar.
| Rabi II | |
|---|---|
| Native name | |
| Calendar | Islamic calendar |
| Month number | 4 |
| Number of days | 29–30 (depends on actual observation of the moon's crescent) |
Meaning
In Arabic, the word rabīʿ means "spring" and ath-thānī means "the second", so Rabīʿ ath-Thānī means "the second spring". As the Islamic calendar is a purely lunar calendar, the month naturally rotates over solar years, so Rabi II can fall in spring or any other season. Therefore, the month cannot be related to the actual season of spring.[1]
Timing
The Islamic calendar is a purely lunar calendar, and months begin when the first crescent of a new moon is sighted. Since the Islamic lunar year is 11 to 12 days shorter than the tropical year, Rabi II migrates throughout the seasons. The estimated start and end dates for Rabi II are as follows (based on the Umm al-Qura calendar of Saudi Arabia[2]):
Islamic events
- 8 or 10 Rabi II, the birth of the Eleventh Imam Hasan al-Askari
- 10 or 12 Rabi II, death of Fatimah bint Musa
- 11 Rabi II, death of Abdul-Qadir Gilani, the Sufi sheikh who is believed to be the "saint of saints"
- 27 Rabi II, death of Ahmad Sirhindi
- 28 or 29 Rabi II, death of ibn Arabi, the great philosopher from Andalus who died and rests in Damascus, Syria.[3]
Notes
- Arabic pronunciation: [raˈbiːʕ aθˈθaːniː].
- Arabic pronunciation: [raˈbiːʕ alˈʔaːxir].
- Less commonly رَبِيع الْآخِرَة Rabīʿ al-ʾĀkhira.