In view of our practical circumstances, Muslims generally do not use the Hijrī dating system these days. Many are not aware of the year and month except during Ramaḍān. A simple act of including the Islamic date alongside the Gregorian date where possible revives a Sunnah and may be the “small” act which earns us Allāh’s pleasure. Indeed the simple act of stating a date used to be an avenue to express love for Allāh’s Messenger (Allāh’s salutations and peace be upon him). We find scholars of the past writing along the lines of:

Event ABC took place on date X of year Y of the Hijrah of the Chosen One (Allāh’s salutations and peace be upon him).

Thus writing a date, in addition to fulfilling the Sunnah dating system, was also an opportunity to draw closer to Muḥammad (Allāh’s salutations and peace be upon him).

In addition to being the dating system of Muḥammad (Allāh’s salutations and peace be upon him), we deduce Allāh’s pleasure in maintaining the Islamic lunar calendar from verse 189 of Sūrah ʾal-Baqarah:

 يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْأَهِلَّةِ ۖ قُلْ هِيَ مَوَاقِيتُ لِلنَّاسِ وَالْحَجِّ

They ask you [O Muḥammad] about the phases of the moon. Say, “They are for the calculation of time for people and the Ḥajj…

Misconception 1

Come Muḥarram, many orators speak about the Hijrah. May Allāh reward them for their good intentions and deeds. However, due to this constant custom and a failure to mention pertinent details, the misconception has spread that 1^st Muḥarram = the date of the Hijrah.

• The lunar calendar existed before Islām amongst the Arabs, albeit with certain unsavoury practices which Allāh abolished.
• Muḥammad (Allāh’s salutations and peace be upon him) left Makkah during the last days of the month of Ṣafar, most likely the 26^th.
• ʿUmar and the Companions (may Allāh be pleased with them) chose that YEAR of the Hijrah to commence dating the Islāmic calendar. They did not change the dating of 26 Ṣafar to 1 Muḥarram. The dates continued as they did. Only the year received a definite number.
• Muḥammad (Allāh’s salutations and peace be upon him) reached ʾal-Madīnah on the 12^th Rabīʿ ʾal-ʾAwwal.

Misconception 2

Even the Islamically educated explain A.H. as “after Hijrah”. This is incorrect. Logically the phrase makes no sense. For how can 25 Ṣafar 1 A.H. be “after Hijrah” when the Hijrah had not yet occurred? I prefer to use “year of the Hijrah” or “Hijrī year” etc to avoid this inaccuracy.

I believe that a misconception amongst westerners in regards A.D. transferred to Muslims in regards A.H. I shall quote Paul Brians in this regard:

“A.D.” does not mean “after death,” as many people suppose. “B.C.” stands for the English phrase “before Christ,” but “A.D.” stands confusingly for a Latin phrase: anno domini (“in the year of the Lord”—the year Jesus was born). If the calendar actually changed with Jesus’ death, then what would we do with the years during which he lived?

https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/05/16/a-d/

It does not help that history is perhaps the most neglected subject amongst Muslim scholars and the masses extract their “knowledge” of history from Hollywood style “Islamic” movies.

A.H. does not originate with any Arabic convention, but the same Latin convention of A.D. which is explained above. A.H. is Latin for Anno Hegirae, “in the year of the Hijrah”. “After Hijrah” is linguistically, historically and logically incorrect.

سليمان الكندي

@sulayman_Kindi