HEGIRA. 
hiftory from the. death a Chriit to the time in which he 
- lived, which, accordin o Enuflebius, contained a faithful 
relation of the apottolic rant written in a yery fimple 
yle. .The principal value of the exifting fragments arifes 
from the teltimony w ich may be deduced, from feriptural 
paflages quoted in them, in favour of = genuinenefs of the 
books of the New Teftament. Morer ardner. 
HEGIRA, in Chronology, a scr epocha, ufed by 
the Arabs and Mahometans for the computation of time. 
The word is Arabic, formed of M5 tb hagitath, flight, 
or departure, of 3» f o fly, to quit one’s country, family, 
friends, It is written after the Arabic word Heera, 
the Arabic letters of which it is compofed bein; 
or ah, and the fupplied:- vowels are to be pronounced fhort 
e event which gave occafion to Bi Paste was s Ma- 
homet’s flight from Mecca to ee, 
of that city, seita = impo {ures ‘aight ade a feditio 
refolved to expel b this, they accordingly effected in the 
year of our Lord Gad, and of the Julian period 5335» on hav 
t! 
It happened in the thirteenth year 
from his afluming the character of abs gone and apoftle, and 
promulgating his new religion. 
lag eee * 4 a he us as phe the time of. ae 
5800 5 ee to 
egiratan. : 
took place at the time and in the m 
ner above oo nah litt'e memorable in itfelf, and 
ing no celebrity from the circumftances attending it, 
18 years after, diftinguifhed by , the fecond 
a as the crifis of their new Regions and eltablifhed as _ 
epoch, to which the dates of all the tranfattions of the 
faithful fhould gr at in future time. This eftabli 
ment ein of: the Ch 
to compute from the commence emen' 
the day” of a remarkable battle, 
i wecitizen ee need, accoriling to 
sae 0 rit day of the third month, or a 
Hj, 75.4, tothe 
refpo 
Dut by grat ag pee the 2 
ue - 
a corre 
or ther oceafi wal event ot eed 
riding JR bad 
on the 12th day of — he reached Medi,) yet 
the hegira takes its date from a period two eno antece- 
dent t to this flight ty vir. from the ‘brit. day o 
Chriftians, and the Mahom 
general, appear to have fixed this or on Thurfday, the 
15th of the Shay to aggro month Tamooz, ani ering: to 
our July; but fome among the latter, and moft of their 
hiftorical eta: refer it to the next day, Friday the 16th, 
and this latter date has, in modern times, obtained almotft 
univerfal acceptance. A religious pistes which Frida 
claims above ve i of the week, o have given effect 
n its favour. The difeceatee opinion on 
the firft place, from the Lapa meric’ 
nding en » to be afce ta diftant 
yrian 
of computing the beginning and duration of the year, we 
refer to the article Arabic, Ke. 
In the year of Chrilt 622, the teres ra commenced on the 
16th of July, with the Arabian month Moharram; and confi- 
dered as an ordinary, or fimple Mini it confilted of 354 _ 
but as a year of excefs, an interca day is ied to 
ey hance Dulhajee, and it contai The te ar 
of he Mahometans, indeed, confilts 8 35 tet fae months, 
bone coating 29 days, 12 hou urs, > 192 {cruples, or 
parts in o (1080. feruples— hour); fo tha’ 
the year Ete 354 days, 8 mie aa 364 {cruples,: ” 
erder to reduce t ear to an integral | saint of days 
cycle of 30 was os as the poe venl 
and 11 of 3553 the ba 
the 2d, sth, 7th, wg I 13a Hi Bist 3 of 26th," 
and 29th years of the cye e commencemen = acy 
of the hegira will never e day 
acco "8 to. our calen 
| iedles to che cule 
ee: 
e the given year of the fleet rabito 
uct. by 3053 — ‘ 
o find the 
ding, to 1225 of the wer ie (EES sy + 622 
5. “Mr. Marfden (Phil. Tranf. vol. Dexvili, part 2.) 
Pealiable els pre ee bg Aichi eam 
‘July 16th. The s20rft of : 
is the = oF the cycle, began A.D. é, 24, 
that the table may be ealily formed, or eateaded to. my 
