I need an honest and logical answer please.

What do you know about the Islamic new year?

It is agreed that the Prophet (s) arrived Medinah in the Islamic month of Rabiul Awwal after he embarked on the hijrah (migration) from Makkah to Medinah.

The Islamic hijrah calendar starts counting from the date after hijrah thus you see the symbolic "AH" when Muslims quote dates based on the Islamic calendar.

In pre Islamic times, the Arabian pagans used to celebrate the beginning of the year in the holy month of Muharram.

The question is: why do Sunni Muslims (unlike Shia Muslims who see Rabiul Awwal as the start of the Islamic new year) continue to celebrate or mark Muharram as the start of the new year of the Islamic calendar? Why not Rabiul Awwal? Rabiul Awwal was the month in which the Prophet (s) arrived Medinah and thus the Islamic calendar and it's counting is based on the arrival of the Prophet (s) in Medinah after the Hijrah.

Furthermore, is it not bid'ah to mark the new year in Muharram? Did the Prophet (s) mark the new year in Muharram? Did the Prophet (s) celebrate Islamic new year at all, be it in Muharram or in Rabiul Awwal?

Thank you all.

CC: Seun, Lalasticlala