The Muslim or Islamic calendar is officially known as the Hijri calendar. The word hjri comes from the word Hijrah, which means migration. More specifically, it refers to the Prophet Muhammad’s (s) migration from Mecca to Medina when he was fleeing his assassins.

So the migration therefore marks year one in the Muslim calendar. The Muslim calendar has 12 months just like the Gregorian calendar, and it has around 354 or 355 days.

The Hijri calendar is a lunar calendar. The difference between the solar and lunar calendar is that the solar calendar is a measure of the earth’s rotation around the sun which is around 365 days. The lunar calendar is a measure of the moon’s rotation around the earth which is about 354 days. For this reason, the lunar calendar is shorter so you will see a drastic change in a month’s season as as the years ago by.

The current year in the Islamic calendar is 1437 and there is usually an “A.H” that follows it, meaning “After Hijrah.”

The names of the Islamic months are as follows:

1. Muharram
2. Safar
3. Rabi al-Awwal
4. Rabi al-Thani
5. Jumada al-Awwal
6. Jumada al-Thani
7. Rajab
8. Sha'ban
9. Ramadan
10. Shawwal
11. Dhu al-Qa'dah or al-Qi'da
12. Dhu al-Hijjah

To learn more, please tune into the full version of this lesson.