Hijri Calendar -- Free Online Islamic Date Converter and Monthly View
The Hijri calendar, also known as the Islamic calendar or the lunar calendar, is the timekeeping system used by Muslims across the globe to determine the dates of religious observances, festivals, and acts of worship. Unlike the Gregorian solar calendar that tracks Earth's orbit around the sun, the Hijri calendar is based entirely on the phases of the moon. Each month begins with the sighting of the new crescent moon immediately after the new moon phase, giving the calendar its distinctly lunar character. A Hijri year comprises 12 lunar months totalling either 354 or 355 days, making it approximately 10 to 12 days shorter than the Gregorian year. This progressive shift means that Islamic occasions move steadily through all four seasons over a roughly 33-year cycle, a feature unique among major calendar systems in active use today. Get-Tools provides this free, browser-based converter so you can look up any date instantly without installing software.
Historical Origins of the Hijri Calendar
The Hijri calendar was formally established by the second Caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab, in the year 17 AH (638 CE). He selected the Prophet Muhammad's migration -- known as the Hijra -- from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE as the epoch (starting point) of the new calendar. The decision was made after consultation with senior companions of the Prophet, who agreed that the Hijra represented the most significant turning point in early Islamic history: the moment when Muslims moved from persecution to the founding of their own community and governance. The calendar rapidly became the standard method of dating throughout the expanding Islamic world, and it remains officially used in Saudi Arabia and several other Muslim-majority countries to this day. More than 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide rely on the Hijri calendar for scheduling Ramadan fasting, the Hajj pilgrimage, Eid celebrations, and other religious duties.
The Twelve Hijri Months and Their Duration
The Islamic year is divided into 12 months that alternate between 30 and 29 days: Muharram (30 days), Safar (29), Rabi al-Awwal (30), Rabi al-Thani (29), Jumada al-Awwal (30), Jumada al-Thani (29), Rajab (30), Sha'ban (29), Ramadan (30), Shawwal (29), Dhu al-Qa'da (30), and Dhu al-Hijja (29 days in a common year, 30 in a leap year). Four of these months are designated as sacred -- Muharram, Rajab, Dhu al-Qa'da, and Dhu al-Hijja -- during which fighting was traditionally prohibited. Leap years in the tabular Hijri calendar occur 11 times within every 30-year cycle, adding one extra day to Dhu al-Hijja to keep the calendar synchronized with the actual lunar cycle.
Major Islamic Occasions Marked in the Hijri Calendar
The Hijri calendar is rich with religious occasions that punctuate the Muslim year. The Islamic New Year falls on 1 Muharram, followed by the Day of Ashura on 10 Muharram, a day of fasting commemorating various prophetic events. The birthday of the Prophet Muhammad (Mawlid al-Nabi) is observed on 12 Rabi al-Awwal. The miraculous Night Journey (Isra and Miraj) is remembered on 27 Rajab. The holy month of Ramadan, the month of fasting and spiritual reflection, begins on 1 Ramadan, with the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr) sought during the last ten nights, particularly on the 27th. Eid al-Fitr on 1 Shawwal celebrates the completion of the fast. In Dhu al-Hijja, the Day of Arafat on the 9th marks the pinnacle of the Hajj pilgrimage, while Eid al-Adha on the 10th is one of the two greatest celebrations in Islam.
How to Use the Get-Tools Hijri Calendar Converter
This tool offers effortless date conversion in both directions. To convert a Gregorian date to its Hijri equivalent, select the "Gregorian to Hijri" tab, enter the day, month, and year in the input fields, then press "Convert" to instantly receive the corresponding Hijri date complete with the month name and year. To perform the reverse conversion from Hijri to Gregorian, switch to the "Hijri to Gregorian" tab and enter the Hijri date. Beyond conversion, you can browse through Hijri months using the navigation arrows, with Islamic occasions highlighted directly on each calendar cell. The "Today" button returns you to the current Hijri month at any time. All Islamic events for the displayed month are also listed in a legend section beneath the calendar grid for quick reference.
Key Differences Between the Hijri and Gregorian Calendars
The fundamental distinction lies in the astronomical basis: the Hijri calendar tracks the moon's synodic period of roughly 29.53 days per month, while the Gregorian calendar tracks the tropical year of approximately 365.25 days. Because the Hijri year is shorter by 10 to 12 days, the year 1447 AH corresponds to parts of both 2025 and 2026 CE. It is important to note that the algorithmic tabular calendar used in this tool may differ by one to two days from the official Umm al-Qura calendar employed in Saudi Arabia, which depends on actual astronomical observation of the crescent moon rather than mathematical calculation alone.
Privacy and Accessibility
The Get-Tools Hijri Calendar runs entirely in your browser. No data is sent to any external server, ensuring complete privacy. There is no need to create an account or install any application -- simply open the page and start using the tool immediately. The interface is fully responsive across desktops, tablets, and smartphones, and supports right-to-left layouts for Arabic and similar languages.