Kees Couprie
Determining the date of an Islamic observance, festival, holiday or feast can be done by using the FirstIslamicDateInCivilYear and LastIslamicDateInCivilYear routines.
Since the islamic year is approximately 11 days shorter than the Civil (Gregorian) or Julian year, it possible that the specified Islamic observance, festival, holiday or feast occurs twice in the given Civil (Gregorian) or Julian year. Use LastIslamicDateInCivilYear to get the Julian Day Number of the last occurence of that date in the given Civil (Gregorian) or Julian year. If you want to know the first occurence, you can use FirstIslamicDateInCivilYear
Some Islamic events, like Quds Day, require special attention.
| Islamic Date | Event | Explanation |
| 1 Muharram (1/1) | Hijra New Year | A holiday in many countries. |
| 10 Muharram (1/10) | Ashura' | Shi'a holiday celebrating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein. Devout Shi'a beat themselves with chains and even barbed wire in memory of the martyrdom. |
| 12 Rabi' I (3/12) | Mawlid an Nabi | The birthday of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him). |
| 27 Rajab (7/27) | Lailat al Miraj | The Ascent of the Prophet (PBUH). |
| 15 Sha'ban (8/15) | Lailat al Bara'a | |
| Ramadan (9/1 to 30) | Month of fasting | Believers take no food, drink or tobacco from
sunrise to sunset, and abstain from sexual relations. In many cities, the
start of the fast is marked each day by a drummer who beats the bounds
of each district and the end of the fast by the firing of a cannon. Technically,
the fast begins each day at dawn, which for Muslims comes nearly two hours
before sunrise. Sunrise marks the end of the first period of prayer. Dawn
is reckoned as the time when the sun's first light is seen on the horizon,
or, according to a Hadith, when a white cord may be distinguished from
a black cord. Traditionally, the fast is broken with a bowl of soup and
a special salad (fattoush) but the evening breakfast ('iftar) is often
an opportunity for revelling which may go on late into the night.
Ramadan is not a holiday, but work schedules may be seriously disrupted or altered. It is known as Hari Rayah in Asia. |
| 27 Ramadan (9/27) | Lailat al Qadr | Evening of destiny, revelation of the Qur'an. Muslims pray that Allah will grant them a good destiny. |
| Last Friday in Ramadan | Quds Day | A recent addition to the calendar, in memory of Jerusalem. |
| 1 Shawwal (10/1) | 'Id al Fitr | This feast marks the end of Ramadan. It commonly lasts 3 days. Known as Seker Bayram in Turkish, Hari Raya Puasa in South East Asia. |
| 9 Dhu al Hijja (11/9) | Arafat Day | The eve of Adha. |
| 10 Dhu al Hijja (12/10) | 'Id al Adha | Festival of sacrifice. The culmination of the Hajj or holy pilgrimage. Commonly a 4 day holiday. Known as Kurban Bayram in Turkish, Hari Raya Hajj in South East Asia and Tabaski in parts of Africa. |
The date of Quds Day can be determined by first calculating the day of the week of the last day of Ramadan and then counting back a couple of days to the last Friday of Ramadan. See the example below.
These examples will determine the date the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) in the years 2014 and 2015.
Const Gregorian = 1 Const Julian = 2 firstMawlidAnNabi = FirstIslamicDateInCivilYear(2014, 3, 12, Gregorian) ' this results in 2456672, which is the Julian Day Number of January 14, 2014. firstMawlidAnNabi = LastIslamicDateInCivilYear(2014, 3, 12, Gregorian) ' this also results in 2456672, which is the Julian Day Number of January 14, 2014. firstMawlidAnNabi = FirstIslamicDateInCivilYear(2015, 3, 12, Gregorian) ' this results in 2457026, which is the Julian Day Number of January 5, 2015. firstMawlidAnNabi = LastIslamicDateInCivilYear(2015, 3, 12, Gregorian) ' but this results in 2457381, which is the Julian Day Number of December 24, 2015!
The next example determines the end of Ramadan eand the date of Quds Day in the Gregorian year 2001.
Const Gregorian = 1 EndOfRamadan = FirstIslamicDateInCivilYear(2001, 9, 30, Gregorian) QudsDay = EndOfRamadan - ((weekday(EndOfRamadan, 1) - 5) Mod 7)
In this case using LastIslamicDateInCivilYear in stead of FirstIslamicDateInCivilYear would yield exactly the same results.
FirstIslamicDateInCivilYear, LastIslamicDateInCivilYear, The Worldwide Holiday and Festival Site
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| Julian Day Number: | 2452004 |
| Gregorian date: | April 4, 2001 |
| Julian date: | March 22, 2001 |
| Hebrew date: | Nisan 11, 5761 |
| Islamic date: | Muharram 10, 1422 |
| Back to Calendar Math. |
Kees Couprie |
Other pages by the same author. |