Islamic months and the Islamic calendar

Sources

Every claim on this page comes from one of these. Gradings are reported with the scholar's name; we do not grade hadith ourselves.

1. 1

   Abu Bakrah reported the Prophet saying that time has come round to its shape on the day Allah created the heavens and the earth; the year is twelve months, four of them sacred: three in a row, Dhul-Qa'dah, Dhul-Hijjah and Muharram, and Rajab of Mudar, which comes between Jumada and Sha'ban.

   Sahih al-Bukhari 3197 Book 59, Hadith 8

   Authentic: in Sahih al-Bukhari

2. 2

   Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet said: the best fasting after Ramadan is Allah's month al-Muharram, and the best prayer after the obligatory prayer is the prayer at night.

   Sahih Muslim 1163 Book 13, Hadith 261

   Authentic: in Sahih Muslim

3. 3

   Al-Hakam ibn al-A'raj reported that he asked Ibn Abbas about fasting Ashura; Ibn Abbas told him to count from the crescent of Muharram and be fasting on the ninth day, and said yes when asked whether this was how the Messenger of Allah fasted it.

   Sahih Muslim 1133a Book 13, Hadith 170

   Authentic: in Sahih Muslim

4. 4

   Ibn Abbas reported that when the Prophet came to Madinah and saw the Jews fasting on the day of Ashura, he asked about it, was told that it is a righteous day on which Allah saved the Children of Israel from their enemy and that Musa fasted it, said that he had more claim to Musa than they did, fasted it and ordered that it be fasted.

   Sahih al-Bukhari 2004 Book 30, Hadith 109

   Authentic: in Sahih al-Bukhari

5. 5

   A report from Anas says that when Rajab began, the Prophet would say: O Allah, bless us in Rajab and Sha'ban, and bring us to Ramadan.

   Mishkat al-Masabih 1369 Book 4, Hadith 774

   Weak: da'if (Al-Albani); weak (Al-Albani); its chain has weakness (Al-Nawawi); its chain has weakness (Ibn Rajab); its chain is weak (Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut); its chain is weak (Ahmad Shakir); weak (Ibn Baz); it has been criticised (Ibn 'Uthaymin); not strong (Al-Bayhaqi); it contains Za'ida ibn Abi al-Ruqad and Ziyad al-Numayri, both weak (Al-Dhahabi). Remarks: it contains Za'ida ibn Abi al-Ruqad, who has been criticised and also declared reliable (Al-Haythami); narrated only through this chain; Za'ida ibn Abi al-Ruqad alone reports it (Al-Tabarani)

6. 6

   'Aisha reported that the Prophet used to fast until it was said he would not stop and stop until it was said he would not fast; she never saw him complete the fast of a whole month except Ramadan, and never saw him fast more in any month than in Sha'ban.

   Sahih al-Bukhari 1969 Book 30, Hadith 76

   Authentic: in Sahih al-Bukhari

7. 7

   Ibn Abbas reported that the Prophet said there are no days in which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allah than these ten days; asked whether not even jihad, he said not even jihad, except a man who goes out with his life and wealth and returns with nothing.

   Jami' at-Tirmidhi 757 Book 8, Hadith 76

   Authentic: Sahih (Darussalam); hasan sahih gharib (Al-Tirmidhi); sahih (Ibn al-'Arabi); stated in the introduction of his book that its chain is sahih ('Abd al-Haqq al-Ishbili); hasan sahih (Ibn Qudamah); sahih (Al-Albani); established (Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab); sahih (Ibn Baz)

8. 8

   Ibn Umar reported that the Prophet said the month is 'like this and this', which the narration explains as sometimes twenty-nine days and sometimes thirty.

   Sahih al-Bukhari 1913 Book 30, Hadith 23

   Authentic: in Sahih al-Bukhari

9. 9

   Ibn Umar reported that the Prophet said the month is twenty-nine nights, that people should not fast until they see it, and that if it is overcast they should complete the count as thirty.

   Sahih al-Bukhari 1907 Book 30, Hadith 17

   Authentic: in Sahih al-Bukhari

10. 10

    Sahl ibn Sa'd said the companions counted the years neither from the Prophet's mission nor from his death, but from his arrival in Madinah.

    Sahih al-Bukhari 3934 Book 63, Hadith 159

    Authentic: in Sahih al-Bukhari

11. 11

    The number of the months with Allah is twelve, four of them sacred.

    At-Tawbah 9:36 Arabic from the Tanzil Project (CC BY 3.0). English: adapted from Marmaduke Pickthall's translation (1930), modernised and checked against modern translations.

12. 12

    Ibn Kathir, commenting on At-Tawbah 9:36, reads the Prophet's words that time has come round to its form on the day Allah created the heavens and the earth as his confirmation of the matter as Allah set it at the beginning, with no advancing or delaying, no adding or subtracting, no postponement (nasi') and no change.

    Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Azim, ed. al-Salamah, vol. 4, p. 146 Read on shamela.ws, 27 October 2026.

13. 13

    Ibn Kathir, commenting on At-Tawbah 9:36, explains that the sacred months are four, three in a row and one on its own, for the sake of performing the rites of Hajj and Umrah: Dhul Qa'dah before the Hajj month, Dhul Hijjah for the rites, Muharram so that people could return to their distant lands in safety, and Rajab in the middle of the year for visiting the House and performing Umrah.

    Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Azim, ed. al-Salamah, vol. 4, p. 148 Read on shamela.ws, 27 October 2026.

14. 14

    Ibn Kathir, in al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, says there is no disagreement that the Prophet was born on a Monday; most place the birth in Rabi' al-Awwal, with the night given as the 2nd, 8th, 10th or 12th (the 12th being Ibn Ishaq's); a view that it was in Ramadan he calls very strange; and he reports that the birth in the Year of the Elephant is the view of the majority, with other reports placing it ten or more years after; he also reports al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar saying the Prophet was born in Makkah, in the house later known as that of Muhammad ibn Yusuf, brother of al-Hajjaj.

    Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, vol. 2, pp. 319 to 321 Read on shamela.ws, 21 October 2026.

15. 15

    Ibn Kathir, in al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, records that the Prophet died on a Monday in Rabi' al-Awwal of year eleven, with the date given as the 12th (Ibn Ishaq and al-Waqidi, which he calls the well-known view), the 1st (al-Layth) or the 2nd (Sa'd ibn Ibrahim al-Zuhri, Khalifah ibn Khayyat); he reports al-Suhayli's objection to the 12th and answers it; and on his age he gives 63 from 'Aisha and others, and explains Anas's sixty as the Arab habit of dropping the fraction.

    Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, vol. 5, pp. 276 to 278 Read on shamela.ws, 21 October 2026.

16. 16

    Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was revealed, a guidance for mankind, with clear proofs of the guidance and the Criterion.

    Al-Baqarah 2:185 Arabic and English as above.

17. 17

    Ibn Hajar, in Fath al-Bari on Sahih al-Bukhari 969, concludes from the wordings of the report (including that of Jabir, may Allah be pleased with him, in the Sahihs of Abu 'Awanah and Ibn Hibban) that the days meant in Ibn Abbas's hadith about the best days for deeds are the ten days of Dhul Hijjah.

    Ibn Hajar, Fath al-Bari, vol. 2, p. 459 Read on shamela.ws, 27 October 2026.

18. 18

    Ibn Hajar, in Fath al-Bari on Sahih al-Bukhari 969, says that what appears to him to be the reason the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah are distinguished is that the main acts of worship come together in them: prayer, fasting, charity and Hajj.

    Ibn Hajar, Fath al-Bari, vol. 2, p. 460 Read on shamela.ws, 27 October 2026.

19. 19

    The Umm al-Qura calendar is the calculated lunar calendar Saudi Arabia uses for civil purposes; since 1423 AH a month ends after its 29th day if, that evening at Makkah, the conjunction comes before sunset and the moon sets after the sun, and otherwise the month has 30 days. Its makers know the crescent may first be seen up to two days later, and communities that follow actual sighting can differ from it by one, two or even three days.

    R. H. van Gent, The Umm al-Qura Calendar of Saudi Arabia, Utrecht University Read 22 October 2026.

20. 20

    Al-Biruni, in al-Athar al-Baqiya, records that the Arabs began their day (day and night together) at sunset, because their months follow the moon and begin with the appearance of the new moon, which is seen towards sunset; so with them the night comes before its day.

    Al-Biruni, al-Athar al-Baqiya, chapter I, tr. C. E. Sachau, The Chronology of Ancient Nations (London, 1879), pp. 4 to 5

21. 21

    Postponement of a sacred month is an excess of disbelief by which those who disbelieve are misled.

    At-Tawbah 9:37 English as above.

22. 22

    Ibn Hajar, in Fath al-Bari, reports from al-Sha'bi's account that 'Umar adopted dating from the Hijrah, saying the Hijrah separated truth from falsehood, and chose Muharram as the first month because people return from Hajj then.

    Ibn Hajar, Fath al-Bari, vol. 7, p. 268 Read on shamela.ws, 24 October 2026.

23. 23

    A modern reference gives the Prophet Muhammad's dates in the Western (Common Era) calendar: born in Makkah in 570, the Hijrah to Madinah in 622 (the year the Islamic calendar begins), and his death in 632.

    BBC Religions, "Islam: Prophet Muhammad (570-632)" Read 21 October 2026.

24. 24

    The Unicode Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR) gives the Arabic names of the twelve Islamic months, from Muharram to Dhul-Hijjah, as listed in this record's value.

    Unicode CLDR, Arabic locale data (ar.xml), Islamic calendar months Read 22 October 2026.

25. 25

    The Unicode Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR) gives the English names of the twelve Islamic months as listed in this record's value, which is how browsers and phones that use CLDR print them.

    Unicode CLDR, English locale data (en.xml), Islamic calendar months Read 27 October 2026.