Re: equinox)

Steg Belsky wrote:
> Technically, the Jewish calendar is solilunar...the months are lunar, but
> the years are kept solar by a very complicated system of leapyears.  A
> 13th month is added seven times in each 19 year cycle.
[Snippage]
> The Muslim calendar, on the other hand, is only lunar, which is why the
> month of Ramadan appears at a different time in relation to each
> solar/solilunar year.
Most "lunar" calendars are actually solilunar.  Quite sensible, since
the purpose of a calendar is to know when certain things should be done,
so it's easier to say to plant a certain crop on the first of a certain
month, than to say on the first of whichever month is the first in
Spring.  The Muslim calendar is an exception to that general rule.

Was the Muslim calendar borrowed from a pre-Islamic calendar?  If so,
was it always purely lunar, or did the Muslims change it?
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