The Islamic calendar is based on Lunar months. A lunar month is the time between successive new moons. As there is not an exact number of lunar months in a solar year (i.e. a Western, 365 day year), Islamic years do not correspond with Western years.

Islamic years are counted from the year that Muhammed left Makkah for Madinah, on the journey known as the Hijrah. As a result, Islamic year 1 (1 HE) is 574 AD.

The Islamic months:

Note that the names of the Islamic months are transliter