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🇮🇩 Indonesia /Culture & Society

History of the Hijri Calendar, Umar bin Khattab's Legacy Enduring 14 Centuries

From Republika · () Indonesian

Translated from Indonesian, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

Explainer Named sources Context piece
  • The Islamic Hijri calendar, officially implemented during the reign of Caliph Umar bin Khattab around 638 AD, marks the Islamic New Year 1448 Hijriyah.
  • The calendar is based on the lunar cycle (qamariyah), with months alternating between 29 and 30 days, totaling 12 months per year.
  • Before Islam, Arabs used the lunar system but did not number the years, only referencing the month and day.

The Islamic world recently entered the year 1448 Hijriyah, marking the Islamic New Year. The Hijri calendar, a system based on the lunar cycle, was officially established during the caliphate of Umar bin Khattab, approximately in 17 Hijriyah or 638 AD.

Both calculation systems have existed for a long time, long before the mission of Prophet Muhammad SAW. The Arabs and also the Jews used the lunar calendar calculation system, which is based on the rotation of the moon around the earth.

— Ustadz Ahmad SarwatExplaining the historical use of the lunar calendar system.

Ustadz Ahmad Sarwat, founder of Rumah Fiqih Indonesia, explained that two primary calendrical systems have historically been used: the solar (syamsiyah) system, based on Earth's orbit around the sun, and the lunar (qamariyah) system, based on the moon's orbit around the Earth. The lunar system, which predates Islam, was used by Arab and Jewish communities.

In the lunar system, months vary in length, typically having 29 or 30 days, resulting in a 12-month year. The months are Muharram, Safar, Rabiul Awwal, Rabiuts Tsani, Jumadil Awwal, Jumadits Tsani, Rajab, Sya'ban, Ramadhan, Syawal, Zulkaidah, and Zulhijjah.

In that system, the length of a month is not always the same, but sometimes 29 days and sometimes 30 days.

— Ustadz Ahmad SarwatDescribing the variable length of months in the lunar calendar.

Prior to the formal implementation of the Hijri calendar, Arab society recognized the lunar system for dating months and days but lacked a system for numbering years. Individuals could identify a date like '1 Muharram' but did not specify the year it occurred within.

According to Ustadz Sarwat, Arabs at that time could say the day fell on 1 Muharram, but they did not know or establish the year.

Detailing the pre-Islamic Arab practice of dating.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Republika in Indonesian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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