Islamic calendar

The (lunar) Hijri calendar (Arabic: ٱلتَّقْوِيم ٱلْهِجْرِيّ, romanized: al-taqwīm al-hijrī), also known in English as the Islamic calendar or Muslim calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to determine the dates of Islamic holidays and rituals, such as the annual fasting and the annual season for the great pilgrimage. In almost all countries where the predominant religion is Islam, the civil calendar is the Gregorian calendar, with Syriac month-names used in the Levant and Mesopotamia (Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine), but the religious calendar is the Hijri one. This calendar enumerates the Hijri era, whose epoch was established at the Islamic New Year in 622 CE. During that year, Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Medina and established the first Muslim community (ummah), an event commemorated as the Hijrah. Although the "Persian" solar Hijri calendar shares this epoch, it counts years of 365 or 366 days and is therefore currently 42–43 years behind. In the West, dates in this era are usually denoted AH (Latin: Anno Hegirae, lit. 'In the year of the Hijrah'). In Muslim countries, it is also sometimes denoted as H from its Arabic form (سَنَة هِجْرِيَّة, abbreviated ھ). In English, years prior to the Hijra are denoted as BH ("Before the Hijra"). Since 16 June 2026 CE, the current Islamic year is 1448 AH. In Gregorian calendar terms, 1448 AH runs to approximately 5 June 2027.