Islamic New Year – Muharram 1428AH: Indonesia

Today across the archipelago of Indonesia is the Islamic New Year – Muharram 1428 AH. I would like to extend my best wishes to all Muslims on this special day.

I was doing some research on the Islamic New year and came across this piece in Wikipedia that explains it perfectly. It also includes the dates for the upcoming Islamic New Year’s:

The Muslim New Year is a cultural event which some Muslims partake on the first day of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic Calendar. Although there is no religious significance attached to this day, many Muslims use the day to remember the life of the Prophet Muhammad and the Hijra, or emigration, he made to the city now known as Medina. Recently, in many areas of Muslim population, people have begun exchanging cards and gifts on this day.

However, not all Muslims partake of this event. Shia Muslims do not partake in such activities since the month is observed as a month of mourning in honor of Imam Hussain, who was martyred in the Battle of Karbala on Muharram 10th. Sunni Muslims believe that this is the day that the first Caliph Abu Bakr died.

Since the Islamic lunar calendar year is 11 to 12 days shorter than the solar year, Muharram migrates throughout the seasons.

The estimated start dates for Muharram are as follows (all future dates are estimates and depend on sightings of the new moon), though strictly speaking the month starts at sunset on the previous day:

1428 AH: 20 January 2007
1429 AH: 10 January 2008
1430 AH: 29 December 2008
1431 AH: 18 December 2009
1432 AH: 7 December 2010
1433 AH: 26 November 2011
1434 AH: 15 November 2012