NEW YEAR

Understanding Islam: Why Muslims Celebrate 1443 in 2021

The Islamic calendar is called the “Hijri.” Like most calendars that serve a religious community, the Hijri is based on a fundamental sacred event. Whereas the Gregorian calendar denotes year one as the year of Jesus’ birth, the Hijri counts year one as the year the Prophet Muhammad escaped from persecution by migrating from Makkah (Mecca) to Medina.

The New Decade: Reset. Start.

Many years ago, at the dawn of the personal computer era, I had a nerdy friend who always seemed to be happy. One day I asked him what his secret was. He said, “Easy. Every morning when I get up, I say to myself, ‘Reset. Start.’” Reset: To return something to its initial state; to set to zero.