Hijri year

The Hijri year (Arabic: سَنة هِجْريّة‎) or era (التقويم الهجري at-taqwīm al-hijrī) is the era used in the Islamic lunar calendar, which begins its count from the Islamic New Year in 622 CE. During that year, Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Yathrib (now Medina). This event, known as the Hijra, is commemorated in Islam for its role in the founding of the first Muslim community (ummah).

This article is about the Islamic era. For discussion of the migration to Medina itself, see Hijra (Islam).
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Using tabular calculations

In the West, this era is most commonly denoted as AH (Latin: Anno Hegirae /ˈænoʊ ˈhɛdʒɪriː/, 'in the year of the Hijra') in parallel with the Christian (AD), Common (CE) and Jewish eras (AM) and can similarly be placed before or after the date. In predominantly Muslim countries, it is also commonly abbreviated H ("Hijra") from its Arabic abbreviation hāʾ (هـ). Years prior to AH 1 are reckoned in English as BH ("Before the Hijra"), which should follow the date.[1]

Because the Islamic lunar calendar has only 354 or 355 days in its year, it slowly rotates relative to the Gregorian calendar year. The year 2021 CE corresponds to the Islamic years AH 1442 – 1443. AH 1440 corresponds to 2018 – 2019 in the Common Era.[lower-alpha 1]

Definition

The Hijri era is calculated according to the Islamic lunar calendar and not the Julian or Gregorian solar one. It thus does not begin on January 1, 1 CE, but on the first day of the month of Muharram, which occurred in 622 CE. Its Julian equivalent was April 19.[2][lower-alpha 2]

The date of the Hijra itself did not form the Islamic New Year. Instead, the system continues the earlier ordering of the months, with the Hijra occurring around the 8th day of Rabi al-Awwal, 66 days into the first year.

History

Predecessors

By the age of Muhammad, there was already an Arabian lunar calendar, with named months. Likewise, the years of its calendar used conventional names rather than numbers:[4] for example, the year of the birth of Muhammad and of Ammar ibn Yasir (570 CE) was known as the "Year of the Elephant".[5] The first year of the Hijra (622-23 CE) was named the "Permission to Travel" in this calendar.[4]

Establishment

17 years after the Hijra,[4][6] a complaint from Abu Musa Ashaari prompted the caliph Umar to abolish the practice of named years and to establish a new calendar era. Umar chose as epoch for the new Muslim calendar the hijrah, the emigration of Muhammad and 70 Muslims from Mecca to Medina.[7] Tradition credits Othman with the successful proposal, simply continuing the order of the months that had already been established, beginning with Muharram. Adoption of this calendar was then enforced by Umar.[8]

Formula
See also: List of Islamic years and Islamic New Year

Different approximate conversion formulas between the Gregorian (AD or CE) and Islamic calendars (AH) are possible:[9][10][11]

AH = 1.030684 × (CE − 621.5643)
CE = 0.970229 × AH + 621.5643

or

AH = (CE − 622) × 33 ÷ 32
CE = AH + 622 − (AH ÷ 32)

Given that the Islamic New Year does not begin January 1 and that a Hijri calendar year is 10 to 11 days shorter than a Gregorian calendar year,[12] there is no direct correspondence between years of the two eras. A given Hijri year will usually fall in two successive Gregorian years. A CE year will always overlap two or occasionally three successive Hijri years. For example, the year 2008 CE maps to the last week of AH 1428,[13] all of 1429,[14] and the first few days of 1430.[15] Similarly, the year 1976 CE corresponded with the last few days of AH 1395, all of 1396, and the first week of 1397.

Months
Islamic calendar
Months
  1. Muharram
  2. Safar
  3. Rabiʽ al-Awwal
  4. Rabiʽ al-Thani
  5. Jumada al-awwal
  6. Jumada al-Thani
  7. Rajab
  8. Sha'ban
  9. Ramadan
  10. Shawwal
  11. Dhu al-Qadah
  12. Dhu al-Hijjah

The Hijri year has twelve months, whose precise lengths vary by sect of Islam. Each month of the Islamic calendar commences on the birth of the new lunar cycle. Traditionally this is based on actual observation of the moon's crescent (hilal) marking the end of the previous lunar cycle and hence the previous month, thereby beginning the new month. Consequently, each month can have 29 or 30 days depending on the visibility of the moon, astronomical positioning of the earth and weather conditions. However, certain sects and groups, most notably Bohras Muslims namely Alavis, Dawoodis and Sulaymanis and Shia Ismaili Muslims, use a tabular Islamic calendar in which odd-numbered months have thirty days (and also the twelfth month in a leap year) and even months have twenty nine.

See also

Notes
  1. See List of Islamic years#Modern.
  2. It is sometimes mistakenly placed on July 16. The error derives from the tabular Islamic calendar which was devised by later Islamic astronomers. This reckons time backwards according to the lunar calendar, which causes it to miss the three intercalary months (about 88 days) added to the then-lunisolar calendar between the time of the Hijra and AH 10, when Muhammad is recorded as having received a revelation prohibiting their use.[3]

References
  1. Official site, Government of Sharjah, archived from the original on 2 February 2017, retrieved 21 January 2017.
  2. Fazlur Rehman Shaikh, Chronology of Prophetic Events (London: Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd., 2001), p. 157.
  3. Quran 9:36–37.
  4. Aisha El-Awady (2002-06-11). "Ramadan and the Lunar Calendar". Islamonline.net. Retrieved 2006-12-16.
  5. Hajjah Adil, Amina, "Prophet Muhammad", ISCA, Jun 1, 2002, ISBN 1-930409-11-7
  6. Hakim Muhammad Said (1981). "The History of the Islamic Calendar in the Light of the Hijra". Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project. Retrieved 2006-12-16.
  7. The Beginning of Hijri calendar – Paul Lunde, Saudi Aramco World Magazine (November/December 2005), retrieved 1/1/2019
  8. Umar bin Al-Khattab (2002). "Islamic Actions and Social Mandates: The Hijri Calendar". witness-pioneer.org. Retrieved 2006-12-16.
  9. Islamic and Christian Dating Systems
  10. Clark, Malcolm (2013). Islam for dummies. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons. p. 489. ISBN 1118053966.
  11. Hodgson, Marshall G. S. (1977). The venture of Islam conscience and history in a world civilization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 21. ISBN 0226346862.
  12. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hejira" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 218.
  13. ""Islamic New Year Observed Today; President Airs Wish for Peace on Amon Jadid Exhorts Muslims to Assist in Nat'l Resurgence" - Manila Bulletin, January 20, 2007 | Questia, Your Online Research Library". Questia.com. Retrieved 2013-05-22.
  14. "Islamic New year to be observed on 11th January | AAJ News". Aaj.tv. 2008-01-10. Retrieved 2013-05-22.
  15. Islamic Crescents' Observation Project, Visibility of Muharram Crescent 1430 AH
  • F. A. Shamsi (1984). "The Date of Hijrah". Islamic Studies. 23: 189–224 & 289–332.
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