Every first day of the year in the Islamic Calendar month of Muharram, the Hijri New Year (considered an official holiday in most Islamic nations) is celebrated. Muslims are celebrating the year 1443 AH this year.
The Hijri calendar is one of 5 main calendars now in use around the world. Miladi, Hijri, Chinese, Georgian, and Persian calendars are among these five. The Hijri calendar is famous for being the official calendar of Saudi Arabia.
The Hijri Year honors the migration (Hijira) of our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) from Makkah to Al Madina El Monawara in 622AD.
The Hijri calendar, which is made up of 12 months and is controlled by the lunar cycle, is credited to Khalifa Umar ibn Al-Khattab. The full and crescent moons are still used to determine the start and end of each month, especially for determining the start of Ramadan, the start of Shawwal, and the dates of Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr.
Before the Hijri calendar, Muslims used a range of important events in Muslim history to mark the passage of time, such as Am Al-Fil, the year in which the Prophet Muhammad was born. However, seventeen years after the Prophet’s migration and in the third or fourth year of Khalifa Umar ibn al-succession, Khattab’s Abu Musa al-Ash’ari, a Basrah (Iraq) official, complained about a lack of regular dates on the correspondence he received. In a letter to Khalifa Umar, Abu Musa al-Ash’ari requested that he invent a new method of calculating dates. Khalifa Umar conferred with his advisers about the matter. Some urged that the Prophet’s birth date be used to start a new calendar, while others offered his death date. The majority, however, decided that the calendar should start on the date of his migration.
Uthman ibn Affan and Ali bin Abi Talib, the Prophet’s esteemed companions, were then consulted, and they concurred. After much deliberation, Khalifa Umar declared that the Hijri calendar would begin the year in which the Prophet Mohammad migrated. The calendar would start on the first day of Muharram and end on the last day of Dhu Al Hijja. As a result, 622 AD (the year of the Prophet’s migration) became the Hijiri calendar’s first year. The Hijri year comprises 12 months, as Allah states in Surat al-Tawbah verse (36) of the Quran:
“The number of months in the sight of Allah is twelve (in a year)- so ordained by Him the day He created the heavens and the earth; of them four are sacred: that is the straight usage. So wrong not yourselves therein, and fight the Pagans all together as they fight you all together. But know that Allah is with those who restrain themselves.
Each Hijri month start at the begin of a new lunar cycle. The number of days in each Hijri calendar month changes as the moon moves around the globe. Except for the month of Dhu al-Hijjah, each month is 29 to 30 days long. The number of days in the month of Dhu al-Hijjah varies throughout a 30-year cycle, indicating that the Hijri calendar is affected by the moon’s long-term movements around the earth. The Hijri calendar marks the dates of annual religious rites mandated by Allah for Muslims, such as Hajj and fasting .
Hijrah Month is divided into two part (i.e, scared months and the non scared months)
Sacred Months: Four of the twelve months (Dhul Qadah, Dhul Hijjah, Muharram, and Safar) are considered “Sacred Months” because of a prohibition on war during these months. As Allah says in the Quran in verse (5) of Surat al-Tawbah
“Then, when the (four) sacred months (of respite, during which fighting with those who associate partners with God and violate their treaties was prohibited to you,) are over, then (declare war on them and) kill them wherever you may come upon them, and seize them, and confine them, and lie in wait for them at every conceivable place. Yet if repent and (mending their ways) establish the Prescribed Prayer and pay the Prescribed Purifying Alms, let them go their way. Surely God is All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate.Non-Sacred Months:
The remaining eight months (Safar, Rabi Al Awwal, Rabi Al Thani, Jumada Awwal, Jumada Thani, Sha’aban, Ramadan, and Shawwal) are known as non-sacred months, with no prohibitions on war.
