What is “Mawaaqeeth” ? ‘Mawaaqeeth’ is plural of ‘meeqath’ which is found in many places in Noble Qur’an. It means date. “Inna youmal fasli kaana meekathan” (“the day of harvesting is a fixed date“). Now, we get the meaning of “Hiya mawaakeethu linnasi wal Hajj” from Quran as: “they are dates for people and Hajj”. So we know that phases of the moon show us our dates for our daily needs as well as for our religious observances. This tells us that we should not use different calendars for civil and religious purposes. We must use the phases of the moon for our dates in all purposes. This ayath forbids use of any other calendar. But without realizing this we have chosen the erroneous Gregorian calendar, invoking the wrath of Allah SWT upon us by disobeying His order! May Allah SWT save us!
“Surely the reckoning of months, in the sight of Allah, is twelve months, laid down in Allah’s decree on the day when He created the heavens and the earth; and out of these months four are sacred. That is the true ordainment. Do not, therefore, wrong yourselves, with respect to these months. And fight all together against those who associate others with Allah in His Divinity in the manner that they fight against you all together, and know well that Allah is with the God-fearing.” (Qur’an Chapter: 9 verse: 36)
The intercalation (of sacred months) is an act of gross infidelity which causes the unbelievers to be led further astray. They declare a month to be lawful in one year and forbidden in another year in order that they may conform to the number of months that Allah has declared as sacred, and at the same time make lawful what Allah has forbidden. Their foul acts seem fair to them. Allah does not direct those who deny the Truth to the Right Way.