		The Hijri (Islamic) Calender




The Islamic Calendar, used by Muslims world-wide, is a lunar one and 
consists of twelve months:

Muharram, Safar, Rabi` al-Awal, Rabi` al-Thaani, Jumaada al-Awal, 
Jumaada al-Thaani, Rajab, Sha`ban, Ramadan, Shawwal, Zul al-Qi`dah, 
Zul al-Hijjah.

An Islamic month runs from New Moon to New Moon.

The Islamic "New Year" is the 1st day of Muharram, and the years 
of the Islamic calender are dated from 1st Muharram, 1 A.H. 
which corresponds to July 16, 622 A.D. on the Gregorian solar calender 
currently used in Western nations. (Note: A.D. is mostly written 
C.E. - that is, Current Era). 

A.H. means "Anno Hegirae" - the Year of the Hijrah - and it was in 1 A.H. 
that the Prophet Muhammad migrated with his followers from Makkah
to what was to become the city of Madinah. This migration - Hijrah - 
is one the important events in the early history of Islam.

Because the Islamic calendar is lunar, the Hijri year is shorter than 
the Gregorian year by about 11 days. This also means that the Islamic
months are not "fixed" as the solar months of the Gregorian (Western)
calender are fixed to the cycle of the Seasons. Each year, the 
corresponding Islamic months falls 11 or so days "earlier"
compared to solar months.

The result is that the Islamic months can correspond to any (solar)
season with, for example, the month of Ramadan (the month of fasting)
falling in Spring, or Summer, or Autumn or Winter. It takes 33 years
for an Islamic month to correspond once again to the same solar month.

The exact beginning of every Islamic month cannot be calculated
exactly in advance, since it depends on an actual, and confirmed,
physical sighting of the new moon somewhere in the world. This means
that the Islamic calender corresponds to actual observed astronomical
events, and does not need to be adjusted, like the solar calender,
every fourth year (the leap year), or every four hundred years 
(the change from Julian to Gregorian) to account for variation 
between the Earth's seasonal changes and the variation in the 
Earth's orbit around the sun.


Muhammad Hussain Yusuf
Shawwal 1420 AH



