Ajay Kumar at 19:03, 28 September 2023

2023-09-28T19:03:19Z

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{{short description|Era in the Islamic calendar}}
{{about|the Islamic era|the calendar year|Islamic calendar}}
{{Islam}}
{{Today/AD/AH}}
The '''Hijri year''' ({{lang-ar|سَنة هِجْريّة}}) or '''era''' ({{lang|ar|التقويم الهجري}} ''at-taqwīm al-hijrī'') is the [[Calendar era|era]] used in the [[Islamic lunar calendar]]. It [[Epoch|begins its count]] from the [[Islamic New Year]] in which [[Muhammad]] and his followers migrated from [[Mecca]] to Yathrib (now [[Medina]]) in 622 CE. This event, known as the [[Hijrah]], is commemorated in [[Islam]] for its role in the founding of the first Muslim community (''[[ummah]]'').

In the West, this era is most commonly denoted as '''AH''' ({{lang-la|Anno Hegirae}} {{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|n|oʊ|_|ˈ|h|ɛ|dʒ|ᵻ|r|iː}}, 'in the year of the Hijra') in parallel with the [[Anno Domini|Christian]]/[[Common Era|Common]] (AD/CE) and [[Anno_Mundi|Jewish era]]s (AM) and can similarly be placed before or after the date. In [[Muslim world|predominantly Muslim countries]], it is also commonly abbreviated '''H''' ("Hijra") from its Arabic abbreviation ''[[He (letter)#Arabic hāʾ|hāʾ]]'' ({{lang|ar|{{linktext|هـ}}}}). Years prior to AH 1 are reckoned in English as '''BH''' ("Before the Hijrah"), which should follow the date.<ref>{{Citation |title=Registration locations |url=http://www.sharjah.ae/registration-locations.aspx?Val=111 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202005514/http://www.sharjah.ae/registration-locations.aspx?Val=111 |publisher=Government of Sharjah |access-date=21 January 2017 |archive-date=2 February 2017 |url-status=dead}}.</ref>

A year in the Islamic lunar calendar consists of twelve [[lunar month]]s and has only 354 or 355 days in its year. Consequently its New Year's Day occurs ten days earlier each year relative to the [[Gregorian calendar]]. The year {{CURRENTYEAR}} CE corresponds to the Islamic years AH {{#expr: floor( {{CURRENTYEAR}} - 622 + ({{CURRENTYEAR}} - 622) / 32) }} – {{#expr: floor( {{CURRENTYEAR}} - 622 + ({{CURRENTYEAR}} - 622) / 32)+1 }}; AH 1444 corresponds to 2022{{snd}}2023 in the Common Era.{{efn|See [[List of Islamic years#Modern]].}}

==Definition==
{{See also|Lunar calendar|Solar calendar}}
The Hijri era is calculated according to the [[Islamic lunar calendar]], whose [[epoch]] (first year) is the year of Muhammad's [[Hijrah]], and begins on the first day of the month of [[Muharram]] (equivalent to the [[Julian calendar]] date of July 16, 622 CE).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Thomann |first1=Johannes |title=Islamischer Kalender |url=https://www.aoi.uzh.ch/de/islamwissenschaft/hilfsmittel/tools/kalenderumrechnung/hegira.html |website=Universität Zurich Universität Zürich Asien-Orient-Institut |access-date=11 April 2023}}</ref> {{efn|This date is based on a reconstruction of the early Islamic calendar and, assuming that intercalation was performed before 10 AH, an earlier date in April is also possible.}}

The date of the Hijrah itself did not form the [[Islamic New Year]]. Instead, the system continues the earlier ordering of the months, with the Hijrah 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:<ref name=hms/> for example, the year of the birth of Muhammad and of [[Ammar ibn Yasir]] (570 CE) was known as the "[[Year of the Elephant]]".<ref name="Hajjah">Hajjah Adil, Amina, "''Prophet Muhammad''", ISCA, Jun 1, 2002, {{ISBN|1-930409-11-7}}</ref> The first year of the Hijra (622-23 CE) was named the "Permission to Travel" in this calendar.<ref name=hms/>

===Establishment===
17 years after the [[Hijra (Islam)|Hijra]],<ref name="hms">{{Cite web |last=Aisha El-Awady |date=2002-06-11 |title=Ramadan and the Lunar Calendar |url=http://www.islamonline.net/English/Science/2002/11/article02.shtml |access-date=2006-12-16 |publisher=[[Islamonline.net]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hakim Muhammad Said |year=1981 |title=The History of the Islamic Calendar in the Light of the Hijra |url=http://al-islam.org/al-serat/hijrah.htm |access-date=2006-12-16 |website=[[Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project]]}}</ref> 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 (reference date)|epoch]] for the new Muslim calendar the [[hijrah]], the emigration of Muhammad and 70 Muslims from [[Mecca]] to [[Medina]].<ref>[https://www.soundvision.com/article/the-beginning-of-hijri-calendar The Beginning of Hijri calendar]{{snd}} Paul Lunde, ''Saudi Aramco World Magazine'' (November/December 2005), retrieved 1/1/2019</ref> [[Hadith|Tradition]] credits [[Uthman ibn Affan|Othman]] with the successful proposal, simply continuing the order of the months that had already been established by [[Prophet Muhammad]], beginning with [[Muharram]], {{citation needed|date=September 2015}} as there was no set order of months during the pre-Islamic era (Age of Ignorance - [[Jahiliya]]). Adoption of this calendar was then enforced by Umar.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Umar bin Al-Khattab |year=2002 |title=Islamic Actions and Social Mandates: The Hijri Calendar |url=http://www.witness-pioneer.org/vil/Articles/companion/14_umar_bin_al_khattab.htm#The%20Hijri%20Calendar |access-date=2006-12-16 |publisher=witness-pioneer.org}}</ref>

== Formula ==
{{see also|List of Islamic years|Islamic New Year}}
Different ''approximate'' conversion formulas between the Gregorian (AD or CE) and Islamic calendars (AH) are possible:<ref>[http://www.classicalislam.com/pages/history/dating.htm Islamic and Christian Dating Systems]</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Clark |first=Malcolm |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zPXu561ZpvgC&pg=PT489 |title=Islam for dummies |date=2013 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1118053966 |location=Hoboken, N.J. |page=489}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hodgson |first=Marshall G. S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=18b-K9AMLlwC&pg=PA21 |title=The venture of Islam conscience and history in a world civilization |date=1977 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0226346862 |location=Chicago |page=21}}</ref>

AH = 1.030684 × (CE − 621.5643)
CE = 0.970229 × AH + 621.5643
or
AH = (CE − 622) × 33 ÷ 32
CE = AH × 32 ÷ 33 + 622

Given that the [[Islamic New Year]] does not begin January 1 and that a Hijri calendar year is about 11 days shorter than a Gregorian calendar year,<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Hejira |volume=13 |page=218}}</ref>{{efn|As the mean duration of a [[tropical year]] is 365.24219 days, while the long-term average duration of a [[lunar month#Synodic month|lunar year]] is 354.36707 days,<ref>{{cite book | title=Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac |year=1992 | editor=P. Kenneth Seidelmann |page=577 |url=https://archive.org/details/131123ExplanatorySupplementAstronomicalAlmanac/page/n302/mode/1up | quote=For convenience, it is common to speak of a lunar year of twelve synodic months, or 354.36707 days.}} (which gives a mean synodic month as 29.53059 days or 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes and 3 seconds)</ref> the average lunar year is (365.24219 − 354.36707 ≈) 10.88149 days shorter than the average solar year, causing months of the Hijri calendar to advance about eleven days earlier relative to dates in the Gregorian calendar every calendar year. The precise number of days varies, depending on accumulated differences and potential for leap-years to happen at different times. }} 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,<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 20, 2007 |title="Islamic New Year Observed Today; President Airs Wish for Peace on Amon Jadid Exhorts Muslims to Assist in Nat'l Resurgence |work=Manila Bulletin |publisher=|url=https://www.questia.com/library/1G1-157963129/islamic-new-year-observed-today-president-airs-wish |access-date=}}{{dl|date=July 2021}}</ref> all of 1429,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-01-10 |title=Islamic New year to be observed on 11th January |url=http://www.aaj.tv/2008/01/islamic-new-year-to-be-observed-on-11th-january/ |access-date=2013-05-22 |website=AAJ News |publisher=Aaj.tv |archive-date=2018-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181222034225/http://www.aaj.tv/2008/01/islamic-new-year-to-be-observed-on-11th-january/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the first few days of 1430.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Visibility of Muharram Crescent 1430 AH |url=http://www.icoproject.org/icop/muh30.html |website=Islamic Crescents' Observation Project |access-date=2018-12-21 |archive-date=2021-02-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210223233155/http://www.icoproject.org/icop/muh30.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Similarly, the year 1976 CE corresponded with the last few days of AH 1395, all of 1396, and the first week of 1397.

==Months==
{{main|Lunar Hijri months}}
{{Muslimmonths}}
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 ({{transl|ar|[[wikt:hilal#Noun|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 [[Alavi Bohras|Alavis]], [[Dawoodi Bohra|Dawoodis]] and [[Sulaymani]]s 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 ==
{{Portal|Islam}}

* {{Annotated link |Battle of Badr}}
* {{Annotated link |Prophetic biography}}
* {{Annotated link |Glossary of Islam}}
* {{Annotated link |Solar Hijri calendar}}
* {{anli|Hijra (Islam)}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite journal |last=F. A. Shamsi |year=1984 |title=The Date of Hijrah |journal=Islamic Studies |volume=23 |pages=189–224 & 289–332}}

[[Category:Arabic words and phrases]]
[[Category:Islamic calendar]]
[[Category:Islamic terminology]]
[[Category:Calendar eras]]
[[Category:Hijrah]]

[[sv:Muslimska kalendern]]

Hijri year - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 19:03, 28 September 2023