Overview of Islamic Calendar

Talking traditionally, Muslims do not “celebrate” the New Year beginning but here we accept the fact that the time can be utilized for reflecting your own morality. In the Islamic religion, the passage of time is measured by the calendar. This Islamic calendar has 12 lunar months, the beginning and ending are determined with sighting the crescent moon. In this calendar, years are counted since Hijrah, which means when Prophet Muhammad migrated from Makkah to Madinah (approx in July 622 AD).

Origin of Islamic Calendar:

The Islamic calendar was first introduced by a very close associate of Prophet Muhammad, Umar ibn Al-Khattab. In approx 638 A.D, during the leadership of Prophet Muhammad, he consulted with his experts regarding the dating systems which were used in this time. As it was decided by the whole Muslim community that suitable reference point is Hijrah and it has become the turning point for all the people in a Muslim community. After Muslims got emigrated to Madinah they can easily recognize the first ever “Muslim Community” with economic and political independence. Life in Madinah, Muslim community started to get more mature and strengthened and the entire community was formed as per the Islamic principles.  

Islamic Months

The Islamic months starts at sunset of the first day, means the day when first-time lunar crescent is sighted visually. The lunar year is counted as 364 days long, so the months rotate backward through the seasons and it is not fixed to the Gregorian calendar. The months of Islamic years are as under:

·       Muharram – Which means “forbidden” – It is a month in which it is forbidden to fight or doing any war.

·       Safar – Which means “Empty” or “Yellow”

·       Rabia Awal – Means “First Spring”

·       Rabia Thani – Means “Second Spring”

·       Jumaada Awal – Means “ First Freeze”

·       Jumaada Thani – Means “Second Freeze”

·       Rajab – Means “To Respect” – it is another holy month when fighting is prohibited.

·       Sha’ban – Means to “Spread”

·       Ramadan – Means “Parched Thirst” – it is the month of daytime fasting

·       Shawwal – To be light and vigorous

·       Dhul- Qi’dah – the month of Rest – Another holy month when war or fighting is allowed.

·       Dhul- Hijjaj – The month of Hajj – in this month annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Hence, no fighting or war is allowed.  

Islamic Prayers

In Islam, Muslims prays directly to Allah and believes that it should be done with clean heart, mind, and body. Muslims performs the prayers in the state of purity and free from physical impurities. In this respect, ritual ablutions is performed which is called as wudu and is necessary before each Islamic prayer time. In this process, they wash the parts of the body which are generally exposed to dirt. Ablution (wudu) helps the devotee to take a break from normal running life to prepare to enter the state of worship.

Muslim Athan is an android app which helps the worshipers to Show the times for the Fajr, Sunrise, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib and Isha prayers, get prayer times from all around the world, hear the Azan at every prayer time, scheduling the prayer time at monthly basis, etc.