Both al Biruni and al-Mas’udi suggest that the ancient Arabs used the same month names as the Muslims, though they also record other month names used by the pre-Islamic Arabs. At least some of these South Arabian calendars followed the lunisolar system. Inscriptions of the ancient South Arabian calendars reveal the use of a number of local calendars. History Pre-Islamic calendarįor central Arabia, especially Mecca, there is a lack of epigraphical evidence but details are found in the writings of Muslim authors of the Abbasid era. In the Gregorian calendar, 1440 AH runs from approximately 11 September 2018 to 30 August 2019. In English, years prior to the Hijra are reckoned as BH (“Before the Hijra”). In Muslim countries, it is also sometimes denoted as H from its Arabic form ( سَنة هِجْريّة, abbreviated هـ). In the West, dates in this era are usually denoted AH (Latin: Anno Hegirae, “in the year of the Hijra”) in parallel with the Christian (AD), Common (CE) and Jewish eras (AM). During that year, Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Yathrib (now Medina) and established the first Muslim community ( ummah), an event commemorated as the Hijra. The Islamic calendar employs the Hijri era whose epoch was established as the Islamic New Year of 622 AD/CE. Rents, wages and similar regular commitments are generally paid by the civil calendar. Notable exceptions to this rule are Iran and Afghanistan, which use the Solar Hijri calendar. The civil calendar of almost all countries where the religion is predominantly Muslim is the Gregorian calendar. It is used to determine the proper days of Islamic holidays and rituals, such as the annual period of fasting and the proper time for the pilgrimage to Mecca. The Islamic, Muslim, or Hijri calendar ( ا لتقويم الهجري ‎ at-taqwīm al-hijrī) is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days.

Islamic calendar 2019