Islamic calendar tool · Interactive tool
Hijri to Gregorian Date Converter (and Back)
Pick a date and see it in the other calendar instantly. The converter uses the Umm al-Qura calendar, the calculated Hijri calendar of Saudi Arabia, and runs entirely in your browser. Below it, you will find a short guide to how the Islamic calendar works.
Quick answer
To convert a Hijri date to a Gregorian one (or the reverse), enter the day, month and year and choose the direction. This tool uses the Umm al-Qura calendar. Because Hijri months follow the moon, a Hijri year has 354 or 355 days, so its dates move about 11 days earlier each Gregorian year.
Key takeaways
- The Hijri calendar is lunar: 12 months of 29 or 30 days, 354 or 355 days a year.
- Year 1 begins with the Hijra, the Prophet Muhammad's migration from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE.
- Hijri dates fall about 11 days earlier each Gregorian year.
- Umm al-Qura is calculated in advance; many communities still start months by sighting the new crescent.
- Results can differ by a day or two from local announcements.
Today is …
Calculated dates can differ by a day or two from those announced locally after sighting the new moon.
- Umm al-Qura (Saudi Arabia)
- Saudi Arabia's official calculated calendar, where the start of each month is computed in advance from the position of the moon as seen from Mecca.
- Tabular (civil) Islamic calendar
- A rule-based calendar with months of 30 and 29 days in alternation and 11 leap years in every 30-year cycle, counted from Friday 16 July 622.
- Astronomical approximation
- A generic astronomical estimate built into some browsers, which is not tied to any official calendar and may give a different result in a different browser.
How to use it
- Choose the direction: Gregorian to Hijri, or Hijri to Gregorian.
- Enter the day, month and year, or tap Today to start from the current date.
- Press Convert to see the matching date and the day of the week.
- Optionally switch calendar variant to compare Umm al-Qura with the tabular calendar.
What is the Hijri calendar?
The Hijri, or Islamic, calendar is a lunar calendar. It has 12 months, each lasting 29 or 30 days, so a year has 354 or 355 days. Each month traditionally begins when the new crescent moon (hilal) appears after sunset.
Years are counted from the Hijra, the migration of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE. The calendar was adopted under the second caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab, about 17 years later. Muslims use it to fix the dates of Ramadan, the two Eids and the Hajj pilgrimage, and it is still used for official purposes in several countries.
Why Hijri dates drift against the Gregorian calendar
Twelve lunar months add up to about 354.4 days, while the solar year that the Gregorian calendar follows is about 365.24 days. The Hijri calendar has no extra month to close that gap, so every Hijri date arrives about 11 days earlier each Gregorian year.
That is why Ramadan can fall in summer for some years and in winter a decade or so later. It takes about 33 years for a Hijri date to travel all the way around the Gregorian year, which also means that roughly 33 Hijri years pass for every 32 Gregorian ones.
Umm al-Qura or moon sighting?
Umm al-Qura is Saudi Arabia's calculated calendar. Since 1423 AH (2002), a month begins if, on the 29th day, the conjunction of sun and moon happens before sunset and the moon sets after the sun, both as seen from Mecca. Because it is computed, dates can be printed years ahead.
Many countries and communities, however, start months, above all Ramadan and Shawwal, only after the crescent is actually seen or officially announced, and Saudi Arabia itself confirms these months by sighting. Calculated and announced dates usually match, but a difference of one day, sometimes two, is normal. For religious dates, follow your local announcement.
Frequently asked questions
What year is it in the Hijri calendar?
Open the converter and press Today: the result shows today's Hijri day, month and year according to Umm al-Qura. As a rule of thumb, the Hijri year changes on 1 Muharram, which falls about 11 days earlier every Gregorian year, so the Hijri new year does not stay on a fixed Gregorian date.
Why does Ramadan start on a different date every year?
Ramadan is the ninth month of the lunar Hijri calendar, which is about 11 days shorter than the solar year. Each year Ramadan therefore begins roughly 11 days earlier in the Gregorian calendar. Over about 33 years it moves through every season, from winter to summer and back.
Is the Umm al-Qura calendar the same as moon sighting?
Not always. Umm al-Qura is calculated in advance from astronomical rules based on Mecca, while many countries and communities begin months, especially Ramadan and Shawwal, only after the new crescent is seen or officially announced. The two usually agree, but they can differ by a day.
What do AH and CE mean?
AH stands for Anno Hegirae, Latin for "in the year of the Hijra", and marks Hijri years. CE means Common Era and marks Gregorian years, the same count as AD. In Arabic, Hijri years are marked هـ and Gregorian years م.
How accurate is this converter for historical or far-future dates?
Browsers include Umm al-Qura month tables for roughly 1300 to 1600 AH (about 1882 to 2174 CE). Outside that range they fall back to the tabular calendar. For historical documents, keep in mind that the date actually used at the time may have been set by local moon sighting.
Sources
- Islamic calendar (Wikipedia)
- Tabular Islamic calendar (Wikipedia)
- Intl.supportedValuesOf(): calendar identifiers (MDN Web Docs)
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