Muharram: Muharram is the first month of the Hijri calendar and one of the four sacred months. Its Arabic name is associated with prohibition, especially the prohibition of fighting, in the context of pre-Islamic custom and Islamic law. It is also the opening month of the Hijri year in civil and traditional calendars.
HIJRI / REFERENCE
Hijri calendar
The Hijri calendar is a lunar calendar based on the Moon’s cycle to determine its months. It is used for religious occasions and Islamic observances such as fasting and Hajj. It was established during the caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab in 17 AH to organize correspondence and document transactions, and the migration of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE was agreed as the beginning of the first year.
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Calendars, Hijri, Gregorian, Solar Hijri and Syriac date conversion, prayer times, and local and international days and occasions.
Hijri calendar
The Hijri calendar is a lunar calendar based on the Moon’s cycle to determine its months, and is used for religious occasions and Islamic observances such as fasting and Hajj.
Definition:
The Hijri calendar is a lunar calendar of twelve months. A month may begin with the observed crescent or through a calculated model based on the lunar cycle. Unlike the Gregorian solar calendar, it does not insert a leap month to keep its months in the same seasons; its months therefore move through the solar year over a cycle of roughly 33 years.
The era is named for the Prophet Muhammad’s migration from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE, the event chosen as the reference point for Hijri dating. In the early Islamic period, documents were sometimes dated by month without a year. During the caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab, consultation led to adopting the Hijrah as the era and Muharram as the first month of the year.
The calendar retains the Arabic month names known before Islam, with their order and the status of the sacred months established in Islamic tradition. The four sacred months are Muharram, Rajab, Dhu al-Qadah, and Dhu al-Hijjah. Lunar months are generally 29 or 30 days long, and Dhu al-Hijjah receives an additional day in some calculated years, producing a year of 354 or 355 days.
The Hijri and Gregorian calendars use different astronomical bases. The Hijri calendar follows lunar phases and may use crescent observation or an algorithmic model, while the Gregorian calendar follows the solar year and Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Because the lunar year is about 10 or 11 days shorter, Ramadan, Hajj, and every other Hijri month gradually move through the seasons.
Modern Hijri dates can be presented through more than one method. A religious date may depend on local crescent sighting and an official announcement, while tabular calendars use fixed cycles for approximation, and Umm al-Qura uses defined astronomical calculations for civil and administrative purposes in Saudi Arabia. A calculated date should therefore be distinguished from the officially confirmed date for worship and public observances.
Hijri months (names and definitions):
Safar: Safar is the second month. A traditional explanation connects its name with homes becoming empty when people left for travel or warfare; another relates it to places being left vacant. These are inherited linguistic explanations, not a fixed description of the month’s season or religious status.
Rabi al-Awwal: Rabi al-Awwal is the third month and shares the word rabi with Rabi al-Thani. The common explanation connects the name with spring when the Arabic month names were established. Because the Hijri year is shorter than the solar year, the month no longer stays in the spring season. It also contains dates important in Islamic history and biography.
Rabi al-Thani: Rabi al-Thani, also called Rabi al-Akhir, is the fourth month. It follows Rabi al-Awwal in the sequence and shares the same historical association with spring. Both English and Arabic sources use more than one transliteration and Arabic form for the month’s name.
Jumada al-Awwal: Jumada al-Awwal is the fifth month. The name is traditionally explained through the Arabic root associated with freezing or becoming solid, because the month once coincided with a colder period in the older Arabian environment. It does not indicate a fixed season today because Hijri months move through the solar seasons.
Jumada al-Thaniyah: Jumada al-Thaniyah, also called Jumada al-Thani, is the sixth month. Its name identifies it as the month following Jumada al-Awwal and preserves the same linguistic root. Its place today is determined by the lunar sequence, not by a fixed solar season.
Rajab: Rajab is the seventh month and one of the four sacred months. Classical explanations connect its name with honor and veneration, and describe the custom of removing spearheads and refraining from fighting during it. It is the only sacred month separated from the three consecutive sacred months at the end of the year.
Shaaban: Shaaban is the eighth month. Traditional explanations relate its name to people dispersing in search of water or to tribes spreading out after Rajab. In the Islamic year it immediately precedes Ramadan and therefore has an important place in the preparation for the religious season.
Ramadan: Ramadan is the ninth month and the month of fasting in Islam. Its name is traditionally connected with ramada, intense heat, in a linguistic explanation dating from the period when the month names were established; it does not remain in a fixed season today. The beginning and end of fasting follow the determination of the new month, with possible differences between local sighting and calculated calendars.
Shawwal: Shawwal is the tenth month and begins with Eid al-Fitr after Ramadan. Traditional linguistic explanations connect its name with camels raising their tails or with a change in their milk. Shawwal follows Ramadan and precedes Dhu al-Qadah in the Hijri year.
Dhu al-Qadah: Dhu al-Qadah is the eleventh month and one of the four sacred months. Its name is associated with sitting down or refraining from fighting and travel in traditional explanations. It is the first of the three consecutive sacred months at the end of the year and precedes the Hajj month.
Dhu al-Hijjah: Dhu al-Hijjah is the twelfth and final month, named for its association with the Hajj. It is one of the sacred months and includes the Hajj rites, Eid al-Adha, and the Days of Tashreeq. In calculated calendars it may have 29 or 30 days, and the beginning of the month or some observances may vary by country according to sighting, official announcement, or the adopted calculation system.
Uses of the Hijri calendar:
Islamic worship and occasions, with local variation possible through moon sighting.
References
- Al Jazeera Encyclopedia. (2022, August 1). The Hijri calendar: An Islamic era established by Umar ibn al-Khattab.
https://www.aljazeera.net/encyclopedia/2022/8/1/التقويم-الهجري-تأريخ-إسلامي-بدأه-عمر - Al Ain University. (2018, September 11). How and why did the Hijri calendar begin?
https://aau.ac.ae/ar/blog/how-and-why-did-the-hijiri-calendar-begin - Encyclopaedia Britannica. (n.d.). Islamic calendar.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islamic-calendar - Unicode Consortium. (n.d.). Islamic calendar types.
https://cldr.unicode.org/development/development-process/design-proposals/islamic-calendar-types - Encyclopaedia Britannica. (n.d.). Months and important days: The Muslim calendar.
https://www.britannica.com/science/calendar/Months-and-important-days - Umm Al-Qura Calendar. (n.d.). Umm Al-Qura Calendar.
https://www.ummulqura.org.sa/en