Islamic New Year 2028: Date, History & Significance

Many Muslims mark it with reflection on the meaning of the Hijra — the willingness to leave home for the sake of faith and to build a just community — and with resolutions, extra prayer and Qur'an reading. It is not celebrated with the festivity of the two Eids; for Shia Muslims especially, Muharram is a month of mourning building toward Ashura on the tenth, so the new year is entered soberly.

When persecution in Mecca grew severe, the Prophet and his companions migrated to Yathrib, which became Medina, 'the City'. There the first Islamic polity was formed, with the Constitution of Medina binding Muslims, Jews and others into one community. Years later the caliph Umar, needing a calendar, chose to date it not from the Prophet's birth or the first revelation but from the Hijra, as the moment the community began.

Source: The scriptures and calendar of the tradition; community religious practice in India

The Hijri era was established by Caliph Umar around 638 CE, counting back to 622. Because the year is lunar, 1 Muharram moves through the Gregorian seasons. In India it is a gazetted holiday (Muharram), though the holiday is generally observed for Ashura on the tenth rather than the first.

• Wikipedia

1. The Hijri year begins on 1 Muharram, counted from the Prophet's migration from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE; the day is marked quietly rather than with celebration.
2. Mosques hold sermons on the Hijra and its lessons, and people make supplications for the year ahead.
3. For Shia Muslims it opens the first ten days of Muharram, the mourning period that leads to Ashura.

• Across India. A reflective day; mosque sermons on the Hijra, and for Shia communities the opening of the Muharram mourning that runs to Ashura.

• No festive meal — The day carries no special dish; Shia households keep a simple table as Muharram begins.

Islamic New Year (1 Muharram) falls on Thursday, 25 May 2028. First day of the Hijri year.

at sunrise

1 Muharram — the first month of the Islamic (Hijri) lunar year. The Islamic (Hijri) calendar is purely lunar with no intercalation, so its dates move about eleven days earlier through the Gregorian year on a 33-year cycle.

The date is set by the Hindu lunisolar calendar and shifts against the Gregorian year.