The Hijri Year.

I was still in school back then. Watching the news on NTV7 on one night - of course it wasn't the show of my choice. I couldn't see, then why on Earth would I want to bother my tiny brains with heavy issues.

But, one part of the news caught my attention.

The reporter was out asking simple, well... at first I though stupid question to civilians he could stopped on the street.

He was asking about the year we were in.

I couldn't remember what year it was. The important thing is, I was still a student. Perhaps in high school. Lower form. So, you can guess how long it has been.

And there I was sitting on the couch thinking how irrelevant the question he asked. Of course everyone knew what year we were in, even if you asked a 6 year old kid, he would know.

Until I saw where he was heading with his silly little question...my opinion changed suddenly. Instead of thinking it as a stupid, pointless interview, I began to think of it as somewhat a reminder. No, more of a wake up call to not only teenagers, but adults who might be as ignorant as I was.

Here's a recap vaguely on the interview :

Reporter : Adik adik, ni abang nak tanya sikit. Adik free ke ? (He was carrying the mic)

Teen : Boleh je.

Reporter : Adik tau tak tahun ni tahun berapa ?

Teen : Tau la bang. ____ (leaving the year behind as I couldn't remember the exact year)

Reporter : Oh, okay. Itu kalau kita ikut tahun omputih. Tapi, kalau ikut kalendar hijrah.. Skrg ni kita baru masuk tahun brapa ?

Teen : Oh, itu saya tak tau (while shaking his head)

And then, the reporter summed his interview with something like this :

"We know and we celebrate the beginning of each new year (following the gregorian calendar) but as muslims we tend to forget our new year and what makes it worse is when we don't even know or care to know which Hijri year are we in now."

The truth is, at that moment as I was watching the interview, I myself did not know which Hijri year it was. In fact, I didn't even know those Islamic months and their arrangements. All I know was February comes after January and such. It was then when I realised how shallow I was in these kinds of things. Things that I know, I shouldn't take for granted. I was embarrased. Very ashamed of myself.

So, as we marvel into this new year, which we had passed it 8 days ago, maybe we ought to change. It is kind of embarassing when we don't know by heart our Hijri calendar.

p/s : Oh and for those who might not know...It's already 1431 H.

I keep track ever since the news :) Oh, and please don't feel condemned. It was not an entry to condemn or whatsoever. Just pure opinion and experience sharing.