Muharram: The First Month of the Islamic Year

Muharram is the first month of the Hijri (Islamic lunar) calendar, and its name means "the sacred". The word comes from the Arabic root ḥ-r-m, which carries both the sense of "forbidden" and of sacredness. Muharram is one of the four sacred months named in the hadith, its first day opens each new Hijri year, and its 10th day is Ashura. By the calculated Umm al-Qura calendar, 1 Muharram 1449 falls on Sunday 6 June 2027.

Key Takeaways

• Muharram means "the sacred". It is the first of the 12 Hijri months and one of the four sacred months.
• The Hijri era begins on 1 Muharram AH 1, which corresponds to 16 July 622 in the Julian calendar.
• In Sahih Muslim, the Prophet ﷺ said the most excellent fast after Ramadan is in "God's month", al-Muharram.
• The 10th of Muharram is Ashura: a voluntary fast day in Sunni practice and a day of mourning for Husayn in Shia communities.
• Calculated dates for 1449 AH: Muharram runs from Sunday 6 June to Sunday 4 July 2027. Local announcements may differ by a day.

What the name Muharram means

Encyclopaedia Britannica's entry on Muharram explains that the name means "the sacred" and derives from the root ḥ-r-m. One meaning of that root is "forbidden" (ḥarām), but it also conveys sacredness.

Britannica notes that Muharram was already the holy first month of the year in pre-Islamic Arabia, and one of four months in which fighting was prohibited. Islam kept the month's name and its sacred status.

In Arabic the month is usually written with the definite article, al-Muharram. The Arabic text of the hadith in Sahih Muslim 1163a uses that form: shahr Allah al-Muharram, God's month, al-Muharram.

One of the four sacred months

The Quran states that the year has twelve months and that four of them are sacred. Sahih International's translation of the meaning of Surah at-Tawbah 9:36 says, "of these, four are sacred," and continues, "so do not wrong yourselves during them."

The verse does not list the four by name. The Prophet ﷺ did, in a sermon reported in Sahih al-Bukhari 3197. He said the year is of twelve months, "out of which four months are sacred": three in succession, Dhul-Qa'da, Dhul-Hijja and Muharram, and the fourth, Rajab, which comes between Jumada al-Thani and Sha'ban.

That makes Muharram the last of a run of three sacred months. Dhu al-Qi'dah and Dhu al-Hijjah close one Hijri year, and Muharram opens the next, so the sacred season crosses the new year. The sister post on the four sacred months in Islam covers all four together.

Why Muharram starts the Hijri year

The Hijri year is counted from the Hijra, the Prophet's ﷺ migration from Makkah to Madinah in 622 CE. In Sahih al-Bukhari 3934, Sahl ibn Sa'd reports that the Companions did not count the calendar from the start of the Prophet's mission or from his death, but from his arrival in Madinah.

The calendar as a dated era came later. According to Britannica's entry on the Hijrah, the Prophet ﷺ dated his own letters and treaties by other events. It was the second caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab, who introduced the Hijrah era in 639 CE and began the first year with the first day of Muharram.

The US Naval Observatory's Islamic calendar page gives the resulting epoch: the count of years begins with 1 Muharram AH 1, which corresponds to Friday 16 July 622 in the Julian calendar. Every Hijri year since then has begun on 1 Muharram.

So 1 Muharram marks the start of the Hijri year, which many people call the Islamic New Year. How Umar reached that decision, and why the count opens with Muharram rather than another month, are covered in the sister posts on the Islamic New Year and why the Hijri year starts in Muharram.

Fasting in Muharram

The main text on fasting in Muharram as a whole is a short hadith from Abu Hurairah. In Sahih Muslim 1163a, the Prophet ﷺ said that "the most excellent fast after Ramadan is God's month", which he named as al-Muharram. The same hadith adds that the most excellent prayer after the obligatory prayers is prayer during the night.

The hadith does not set a number of days. Fasting in Muharram is voluntary, and scholars discuss how much of the month to fast and how to read the phrase "God's month". For your own practice, follow the scholar or mosque you trust.

Ashura, the 10th of Muharram

The best-known day of the month is Ashura, the 10th of Muharram. Britannica notes that its name comes from the Arabic word for ten.

Ashura in Sunni practice

In Sahih al-Bukhari 2002, Aisha reports that the Quraysh fasted on Ashura before Islam, and that the Prophet ﷺ fasted it too. After he came to Madinah he fasted it and told others to fast. When the fast of Ramadan was prescribed, Ashura became optional: whoever wished could fast it.

Many Muslims also fast the 9th. In Sahih Muslim 1134b, Ibn Abbas reports the Prophet ﷺ saying, "If I live till the next (year), I would definitely observe fast on the 9th." Britannica's Muharram entry adds that the fast was sometimes extended to the 9th and 11th, and that later Sunni scholars agreed it is a recommended (mustahabb) fast.

Ashura in Shia communities

For Shia Muslims, Muharram is above all a month of mourning. Britannica's Muharram entry explains that the 10th of Muharram is recorded as the day Husayn ibn Ali, the Prophet's grandson, was killed with a group of his followers at the Battle of Karbala on 10 October 680 CE. Husayn is revered by Shia Muslims as the third imam.

The same entry describes the first ten days of Muharram in Shia communities as days of intense mourning. People gather to hear sermons about Husayn's life and the events of Karbala, recite poems of mourning, and in many places stage passion plays (ta'ziyah) and hold processions. Britannica also notes that both Shia and Sunni communities agree on the date of Husayn's death.

The sister post on Ashura and the fast of the 9th goes through the hadith and the commemorations in more detail.

Muharram dates for the coming years

Because the Hijri year is about 11 days shorter than the Gregorian year, Muharram moves earlier each year. Britannica's entry notes that this lets the month fall in every season over a cycle of about 33 years.

These dates are calculated from the Umm al-Qura tables in the open-source hijri-converter library that this site uses. Each Hijri date begins at sunset on the evening before the Gregorian date shown, so the evening of Saturday 5 June 2027 already counts as the first night of 1449 AH. In communities that start the month by local crescent sighting, the dates can fall a day later.

Muharram 1448 has already passed. By the same calendar it ran from Tuesday 16 June to Tuesday 14 July 2026, with Ashura on Thursday 25 June 2026.

A worked example for 1449 AH

Suppose your community follows the calculated calendar for Muharram 1449.

• Saturday 5 June 2027, sunset: the new Hijri year 1449 begins.
• Sunday 6 June: 1 Muharram 1449.
• Monday 14 June: 9 Muharram, a fast day for those who fast the 9th.
• Tuesday 15 June: 10 Muharram, Ashura.
• Sunday 4 July: 29 Muharram. The calculated calendar gives this month 29 days, so Safar begins on Monday 5 July.

If your mosque announces that Muharram began a day later, shift each line by one day. The post on why the Islamic day begins at sunset explains why each date starts the evening before.

Plan the month

Open the Muharram 1448 calendar to see the month in a grid alongside the Gregorian dates, and move to 1449 for the next one. The Islamic months overview lists all 12 months in order, with the other three sacred months. Mark the dates as provisional, and confirm the start of Muharram with your local mosque or the authority you follow once the new moon is announced.