Hijri Calendar: Today's Islamic Date and Converter

How the Hijri calendar works

The Hijri calendar follows the moon and counts from the Prophet's migration from Mecca to Medina. According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, the Hijra was made the official starting point of the calendar in the caliphate of Umar (AH 17 / 638 CE), and Muharram became the first month. Twelve months add up to 354 or 355 days, so the Hijri year is about 11 days shorter than the Gregorian year and Ramadan, the Blessed Nights and the Eids move earlier in the Gregorian calendar every year.

Other calendars may differ from Diyanet's by a day

The month starts on this page rest on the lists Diyanet has published for 2026 and 2027. Diyanet works them out under the decisions of the 1978 Crescent Sighting Conference and the 2016 Hijri Calendar Union Congress, counting the crescent if it can be seen anywhere on Earth, and publication requires the approval of the Kandilli Observatory. In Muslim countries that look for the crescent only within their own borders, Ramadan and the Eids can begin a day earlier or later than in Türkiye. Diyanet treats this as a difference of juristic opinion, not a calculation error. If you see a one-day gap against another source, that difference in criteria may be the reason.

According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, a Blessed Night is always the night before the day it is named for; Diyanet's lists show it under the date of the evening on which the night begins. The month table above uses that convention.