1429 Hijra

Today marks Islam’s Prophet Muhammad birthday according to the Islamic Hijra Calendar called Mawlid

Yes we have our very own calendar for the clueless

The current Islamic Year is 1429 H versus the Gregorian year which is 2008 currently

The H refers to Hijra because it was the very year Prophet Muhammad migration from Mecca to Medina. Hijra literately means migration itself

Our calendar is 11 days shorter than the solar year, making it about 354 days

We still have 12 lunar months in a year however and the need to shift 11 days earlier each successive solar year due to the shorter days

There’s of course the Sunni (85% following) and Shi’a (15% following) Islamic following, the two major denominations of Islam.

I won’t go into details but it similar to the Catholic vs Protestant difference

Today’s observance of the birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad is following the Sunni’s calendar

Singapore unlike Malaysia and other Islamic nations, don’t recognize today as a public holiday, bummer eh … If not our holidays would have started today, tomorrow’s Good Friday and plus the weekends

So there you go, some information about Islam

I’m not trying to be pious and thrust this info in your face but it may be helpful to those who wants to know more of Islam or for non-Muslims having partners and friends of Islam faith.

You can now impress and surprise them with this info :)

More Links
Below are more info about the Islamic history dates

• Maulid
• Siti & Yeazid
• Islamic Events

Disclaimer: If I got any of the info wrong, please pardon, it’s been awhile since I learned this from my younger heydays at Mosques. Highlight the issue and I’ll correct it