The Islamic New Year — Where the Calendar Began
A new Hijri year — marking the Prophet's ﷺ migration and the start of the Islamic calendar
The Islamic calendar opens with Allah's sacred month of Muharram, the first month of the Hijri year. Its starting point was set neither at the Prophet's ﷺ birth nor his first revelation, but at his migration (Hijrah) from Mecca to Madina — for the Hijrah was the turning point that distinguished truth from falsehood and the founding of the Muslim community.
This was decided during the caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab (RA), who consulted the Companions for a dating system to unite the Muslims; they agreed it should begin with the year of the Hijrah. The choice itself is a lesson: what endures is sincere action and sacrifice for Allah's sake — not time alone.
The new Hijri year is an occasion for reckoning and renewal: "O you who believe, fear Allah, and let every soul look to what it has sent forth for tomorrow" (al-Hashr 59:18). As the Companions migrated with their faith, let us migrate from heedlessness to remembrance, and from shortcoming to obedience. No specific act of worship is prescribed for the year's first day, but it is a fitting time to renew one's intention and return to the recitation of Allah's Book.