Welcome to Ahmadiyyat, The True Islam — Page 489
− ISLAMIC CALENDARS − The Hijri Qamri Calendar − − One of the Islamic calendars is called or calendar. It Hijri Hegirian − − starts from the day of the (Emigration) of the Holy Prophet from Hijrah sa Mecca to Medina. It is based upon the cycles of the moon rather than upon those of the sun, on which are based the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The Calendar year consists of twelve lunar months (some of Hijri − twenty-nine and some of thirty days) their lengths vary because of the need to round out a year, otherwise a year is only 354 days, 8 hours, and 48 minutes long. The annual holidays thus advance about ten days each year so that in thirty-six years, , the month of fasting, moves around Ramadan ± − the entire solar year, sometimes taking place in winter, sometimes in summer. The took place in September of 622 (The exact date is not Hijrah known with certainty); the first day, 1 , of the year in progress Muharram ± coincided with 16 July 622, which was thus the first day of the first year of the calendar (Since the Islamic day begins at sunset the evening Hegirian of the day before was also 1 ). The names of the months in the Muharram ± Islamic calendar are as follows: Hijri Qamri − − − 1. Muharram (The sacred month; the first month of ± the Islamic Calendar − 2. Saffar (The month which is void) ± 3. Rabi‘ul-Awwal (The first spring) − 4. Rabi uth-Thani (The second spring) − − − 5. Jamadi ul Awwal (The first month of dryness) ‘ − − 6. Jamadi ul Thani (The second month of dryness) ‘ − − − − 7. Rajab (The revered month) 8. Sha ban (The month of division) ‘ − 9. Ramadan (The month of great heat; the month ± − in which the Holy Qur’an started to − be revealed, and the month in which Muslims fast) 10. Shawwal (The month of hunting; on the first − day of this month is ‘Idul fitr − ± 489