In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, Ever Merciful.

Mosque
  1. The Pillars of Islam
  2. ZAKAT (ALMS): THE THIRD PILLAR
  3. Short Phrases
  4. Islamic Year
  5. Requirment for Scholar and Daya
  6. How to write will in Islam

The Islamic Year

(The Hijri Year)

H=1.030684(C - 621.5643) where : H is Hijrah year and C is Christian (Gregorian) Year.

The Islamic (Hijri) year consists of twelve (purely lunar) months. There are;

  1. Muharram
  2. Safar
  3. Raby’al-awal
  4. Raby’al-Thany
  5. Jumada al-awal
  6. Jumada al-Thany
  7. Rajab
  8. Sha’ban
  9. Ramadhan
  10. Shawwal
  11. Thw-al-Qi’dah
  12. Thw-al-Hijjah.

The most important dates in the Islamic (Hijri) year are:

Since the Islamic calendar is purely lunar, as opposed to solar or luni-solar, the Muslim (Hijri) year is shorter than the Gregorian year by about 11 days, and months in the Islamic (Hijri) year are not related to seasons, which are fundamentally determined by the solar cycle. This means that important Muslim festival, which always falls in the same Hijri month, may occur in different seasons. For example, the Hajj and Ramadhan can take place in the summer as well as the winter. It is only over a 33year cycle that lunar months take a complete turn and fall during the same season.

For religious reasons, the beginning of a Hijri month is marked not by the start of a new moon, but a physical (i.e., an actual human) sighting of the crescent moon at a given local. From the Figh (Religious point of view) standpoint, one may begin the fast in Ramadhan, for example, based on “local “ sighting ( IKTILAF AL-MATALE’) or based on sighting anywhere in the Muslim World (ITTEHAD AL-MATALE’). Although different, both of these positions are valid Fiqhi positions.

Astronomically, some data are definitive and conclusive (i.e. the time of the BIRTH of a new moon). However, determining the VISIBILITY of the crescent is not as definitive or conclusive; rather it is dependent upon several factors, mostly optical in nature. This makes it difficult to produce (in advance) Islamic calendars that are reliable (in the sense that they are consistent with actual crescent visibility).

Efforts for obtaining an astronomical criterion for predicting the time of first lunar visibility go back the Babylonian era, with significant improvements and work done later by Muslim and other scientists. These efforts have resulted in the development in a number of criteria for predicting first possible sighting of a crescent. However, there remains a measure of uncertainty associated with all criteria developed thus far. Moreover, there has been little work in the area of estimating crescent visibility on global (as opposed to local) scale. Until this happens, no Hijri calendar software can be 100% reliable, and actual crescent sighting remains essential especially for fixing important dates such as the beginning of Ramadhan and the two Eids.

The slight differences in printed Islamic calendars, worldwide, can therefore be traced to two primary factors:

  1. The absence of a global criterion for first visibility; and
  2. The use of different visibility criterion (or method of calculation).

Weather conditions and differences in the observer’s location also explain why there are sometimes differences in the observances of Islamic dates, worldwide.

Readers interested in further information should consult Mohammad Iiyas’ excellent book `` A Modern Guide to Astronomical Calculations of Islamic Calendar, Times & Qibla, “ Berita Publishing, 1984, (ISBN: 967-969-009-1). The book contains a thorough discussion of the Islamic calendarical system and related historical system and related historical and scientific developments. It also presents an interesting proposal for a universal Islamic Calendar based an interesting proposal for a universal Islamic Calendar based on a global visibility criterion and the concept of a Lunar Day (or International Lunar Date Line)