| Islamic New Year | |
|---|---|
| Official name | Arabic:رأس السنة الهجرية Raʿs as-Sanah al-Hijrīyah |
| Also called | Hijri New Year |
| Observed by | Muslims |
| Type | Islamic |
| Begins | Last day ofDhu al-Hijjah |
| Ends | 1Muharram |
| Date | 29/30 Dhu al-Hijjah – 1 Muharram |
| 2025 date | 25 – 26 June 2025 |
| 2026 date | 16 June 2026 (estimated[a]) |
| Part ofa series on |
| Islamic culture |
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TheIslamic New Year (Arabic:رأس السنة الهجرية,Raʿs as-Sanah al-Hijrīyah), also called theHijri New Year, is the day that marks the beginning of a new lunarHijri year, and is the day on which the year count is incremented. The first day of theIslamic year is observed by mostMuslims on the first day of the month ofMuharram. Theepoch (reference date) of theIslamic era was set as the year of the emigration ofMuhammad and his followers fromMecca toMedina, known as theHijrah, which equates to622CE in theGregorian calendar.[1] All religious duties, such asprayer,fasting in the month ofRamadan, andpilgrimage, and the dates of significant events, such as celebration of holy nights andfestivals, are calculated according to the Islamic calendar. Hijri New Year is observed by 24 countries as apublic holiday.[2]
While someIslamic organizations prefer determining the new month (and hence the new year) by local sightings of themoon,[3] most Islamic institutions and countries, includingSaudi Arabia,[4] followastronomical calculations to determine future dates of the Islamic calendar. There are various schemas for calculating thetabular Islamic calendar (i.e. not based on observation), which results in differences of typically one or even two days between countries using such schema and those that use actual lunar sightings. For example, theUmm al-Qura calendar used in Saudi Arabia was reformed several times in recent years. The current scheme was introduced in 1423AH (15 March 2002).[5]
A day in the Islamic calendar is defined as beginning atsunset. For example, 1 Muharram 1432 was defined to correspond to 7 or 8 December 2010 incivil calendars (depending on the country). For an observation-based calendar, a sighting of thenew moon at sunset of 6 December would mean that 1 Muharram lasted from the moment of sunset of 6 December to the moment of sunset of 7 December, while in places where the new moon was not sighted on 6 December 1 Muharram would last from the moment of sunset of 7 December to the moment of sunset of 8 December.[6]
Twelver Shia Muslims believe the Islamic new year is the first of Rabi' al-Awwal rather than Muharram, due to it being the month in which theHijrah took place.[7] This has led to difference regarding description of the years in which some events took place, such as the Muharram-occurringbattle of Karbala, which Shias say took place in 60 AH, while Sunnis say it took place in 61 AH.[8]
Since the Islamiclunar year is eleven to twelve days shorter than thesolar year as approximated by theGregorian calendar, the Islamic New Year does not occur on the same Gregorian calendar date every year.
The following dates beyond the current year are the Gregorian calendar dates are predicted to correspond with 1 Muharram (Islamic new year), according to Saudi Arabia'sUmm al-Qura calendar.[9] (Dates calculated according to thetabular Islamic calendar may differ from the Umm al-Qura calendar dates by one or even two days on either side, because the motions of the sun and moon are not strictly linear and because observation methods and locations differ.[10])
| Islamic year | Gregorian date[a] |
|---|---|
| 1446 AH | 8 July 2024[11] |
| 1447 AH | 26 June 2025[12] |
| 1448 AH | 16 June 2026 (estimated)[13] |
| 1449 AH | 6 June 2027 (estimated) |
| 1450AH | 25 May 2028 (estimated) |
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Bold indicates major holidays commonly celebrated in Algeria, which often represent the major celebrations of the month. See also:Lists of holidays. | |
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