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An Islamic year has a total of about 354 days, which is about 11-12 days shorter than our year. There are exactly 12 months in an Islamic year. The calendar begins at the date of Muhammad's jouney to Medinah, or the Hejira. This is why the calendar is sometimes called the "Hijri Calendar". Since the Islamic year is shorter than the regular calendar, days are periodically added to correct it.
For information about how the dates move around the seasons, click here.
There are 12 months in the Islamic calendar, which alternate between 29 days in length and 30 days in length. A new month begins at the first sighting of the lunar crescent, or the "hilal", after sunset on the 29th day of the previous month. If the hilal is not sighted on the 29th day (due to weather, etc.), then the month begins after the 30th day of the previous month. The sighting of the hilal is usually done by a trustworthy person to the community, under the supervision of a committee of Muslim leaders.
For information about the names of the months, click here.
For information about the significance of individual months, click here.
Like the Gregorian calendar, the Islamic calendar also has 7 day weeks. Each day in the week has its own name. The first day is called sabbath day, the last day is called gathering day, while the rest are just named first day, second day, etc.
For information on the names of the days of the week, click here.
On the Islamic calendar, there are 354 days in a year, 29~30 days in a month, and 7 days in a week. The days have names according to which day of the week they are, and/or what holiday/important date they host. A new day begins at sundown, because it is the time at which Muhammad and his followers reached Medinah.
For information about the holidays and important dates on the Islamic calendar, click here.
For information about the correlating dates between the Islamic calendar and the Gregorian calenar, click here.
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