Calendars of Hijrah

Looking at the photo above will let you wondering. No, it's not Ramadan, nether it's Syawal.

It's Muharam! The first day of Muharam.

Muharam is the first month of Hijrah Calendar, which means today is the new year, 1434.

As many of you may know, Hijrah Calendar is according to the Lunar movement, in Islam we call it Al-Qamari. Hijrah started after Prophet Muhammad SAW moved to Madinah from Makkah to built the first ever Muslim country. The first leader who recognize Hijrah as the official Muslim Calendar is Umar Al-Khatab AS, the second 'khalifah', during the 17th years of Hijrah.

On the other hand, the calendar widely used today (including Malaysia) is the Gregorian Calendar, also known as the AD (Anno Domini). It is claimed that the calendar started at the birth of Jesus AS, and differ with the Hijrah Calendar, it is according to the movement of the sun instead, of what we Muslims call As-Syamsi. However, there are claims that Jesus AS was born years before the AD. Wallahualam.

To mark the years before AD, historians used the term BC (Before Christ). However, in between 1AD and 1BC, there is no year "0". Instead, right after 1BC, the calendar moved straight away to 1AD.

So, to all my Muslims brothers and sisters, Happy New Year, Salam Maal Hijrah.

And in Hijrah, today marks my 27th birthday. 

:-)