AQLC / Practice / Calendar
Islamic calendar
The Hijri year with its months, the significant days, fasting dates and the Islamic observances — with the basis for each where scholars differ.
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The Hijri date is shown in the Umm al-Qura calculation. Local moon sighting may differ by a day — a Muslim community follows its own sighting or its established calendar.
Converter
Hijri ↔ Gregorian
Month
The current Islamic month
Significant days
The Islamic year, month by month
Muharram
The first month and one of the four sacred months. The 10th, Ashura, is a recommended fast.
Safar
Fasting the middle days is recommended. No special observance is prescribed for this month.
Rabi' al-Awwal
The month in which the Prophet ﷺ is generally held to have been born and to have died. Muslims differ on whether to hold a specific commemoration.
Rabi' al-Thani
A month of ordinary worship.
Jumada al-Ula
A month of ordinary worship.
Jumada al-Akhirah
A month of ordinary worship.
Rajab
One of the four sacred months. Fasting is recommended, though no specific night is prescribed in the authentic texts.
Sha'ban
The month in which the Prophet ﷺ fasted most after Ramadan, and the month immediately before it.
Ramadan
The month of fasting, the Qur'an's revelation, and the last ten nights containing Laylat al-Qadr.
Shawwal
Eid al-Fitr falls on the 1st. Six voluntary fasts are recommended within the month.
Dhul Qa'dah
One of the four sacred months and one of the months of hajj.
Dhul Hijjah
The month of hajj. The first ten days are the most virtuous of the year, and Arafah falls on the 9th.
Fasting
Optional and recommended fasts
- ·Mondays and Thursdays — the days the Prophet ﷺ fasted most regularly.
- ·The 13th, 14th and 15th of each Hijri month (ayyam al-bid).
- ·Ashura — the 10th of Muharram, with the 9th.
- ·Arafah — the 9th of Dhul Hijjah, for those not on hajj.
- ·Six days of Shawwal — after Eid al-Fitr.
- ·The first nine days of Dhul Hijjah — the most virtuous days of the year.
Where sources differ
Dates are not always uniform
The Islamic calendar is lunar. A month begins with the sighting of the new moon, so the same Gregorian date can be the 29th of a month in one country and the 1st of the next month in another.
AQLC states the basis of every date it publishes. Where an observance is disputed — the exact night of Laylat al-Qadr, for example — we say so rather than picking one and presenting it as settled.
For the start of Ramadan, Eid and the day of Arafah, follow the sighting or calendar authority your own community follows.