Happy New Year

Wednesday, 19th July is the first day of the New Islamic Year (1444 A.H.) and the first day of the Month of Muharram. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said the following about these Holy Days:-

“Whoever fasts the last day of the year and then the first day of the new year, it’s as though he completed a whole year’s fasting for the previous year, and God also gives him penance for 50 years.”

It was the way of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim to fast on the 1^st, 9^th and 10^th days of Muharram.

Muharram is also important to the Naqshbandis, as the Master of the Order, Master Muhammad Bahauddin Shah Naqshband, was born on the 14^th of this month, when Dhikr and Mawlid (songs in praise of the Prophet) are performed around the world in his honour.

This is the month in which God ordered the Prophet to migrate to Medina from Mecca, enabling him to establish the religion of Islam and the Muslim nation.