My Islamic Calendar®

The story of Hijri Calendar

Before the Hijri calendar was established, Muslim (and non Muslim) Arabs used past important events to measure time, for example 'Aam Al-Fiil, the year of the Elephant. That was the year in which the army of Abyssinians with their war elephant invaded Makkah but were miraculously defeated. And so this year came to be known as the year of the elephant. It was the year Prophet Muhammad, Peace be upon him, was born.

17 years after the Prophet’s migration to Madinah, Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, an official in Basrah in Iraq, sent a letter to the Khalifa Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with them, asking for him to develop a new way to calculate dates since Abu Musa noticed there was a lack of consistent dates on the many correspondences he would receive.

Khalifa Umar discussed the issue with his advisors. Some suggested that the date of the Prophet’s (pbuh) birth should mark the beginning of a new calendar, whilst others suggested the date of his death. However, the majority agreed that the calendar should begin with the date of the Prophet's (pbuh) migration from Makkah to Madinah. Umar then replied: "We will base it on the migration of the Prophet (pbuh), for the migration is what separated truth from falsehood." The twelve Hijri months begin with Muharram and ends with Dhul Hijjah.

The Hijri Calendar year 1 AH (After Hijri) corresponds to the European Christian year 622 CE (Common Era). The European calendar called Gregorian Calendar has the year 1 marking the birth of Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him. You may be wondering why it doesn't start at zero, this is because zero was not discovered for another 200 years until al-Jabr introduces zero and the Arabic number system, 1 to 9, to the world (see his magnetic bookmark for more information).

Another difference between the two is the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar but the Christian calendar is a solar calendar.