# Before Christ, anno Domini, hijra قبل الميلاد، ميلادي، هجري



## Jana337

I have learnt that you say  قبل المسيح or قبل الميلاد and  بعد المسيح or  بعد الميلاد  

   for before and after Christ. Which is more common? My guess:  الميلاد 



  How do you express the years of the Muslim calendar? 

  1425 بعد الهجرة؟

  EDIT: 1425 should be before بعد but I cannot convince the stupid software to put it there, sorry.

Thanks

Jana


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## elroy

*الميلاد* is much more common. 

For the Muslim calendar, you would say *هجري*. 

PS: For "A.D.," you can also say *ميلادي*.


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## Tabac

Jana337 said:
			
		

> I have learnt that you say قبل المسيح or قبل الميلاد and بعد المسيح or بعد الميلاد
> 
> for before and after Christ. Which is more common? My guess: الميلاد
> 
> 
> 
> How do you express the years of the Muslim calendar?
> 
> 1425 بعد الهجرة؟
> 
> EDIT: 1425 should be before بعد but I cannot convince the stupid software to put it there, sorry.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Jana


Other than a vulgar expression I learned years ago, I know absolutely no arabic, except for the occasional word that pops up in Turkish.  But, I thought I would let you know, in case you don't already, that _anno domini_ does not mean 'after Christ' or 'after death, but rather 'the year of our Lord', refering to the year in which Jesus was reportedly born.  

_Shalom, selam, pax, _peace_._


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## Jana337

Tabac said:
			
		

> Other than a vulgar expression I learned years ago, I know absolutely no arabic, except for the occasional word that pops up in Turkish. But, I thought I would let you know, in case you don't already, that _anno domini_ does not mean 'after Christ' or 'after death, but rather 'the year of our Lord', refering to the year in which Jesus was reportedly born.
> 
> _Shalom, selam, pax, _peace_._



Hi Tabac,

yes, I was aware of the translation of "anno Domini". But as far as I know, AD is used as an opposite of BC - and not AC which could stand for "after Christ".

Thanks for your comment, 

Jana


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## Tabac

Jana337 said:
			
		

> Hi Tabac,
> 
> yes, I was aware of the translation of "anno Domini". But as far as I know, AD is used as an opposite of BC - and not AC which could stand for "after Christ".
> 
> Thanks for your comment,
> 
> Jana


Correct.  And, to be politically correct, B.C.E. and C.E. are used by many, to mean "before the common era" and "common era", which takes Jesus out of the question, so to speak.  I usually use this because I do have many Jewish friends and colleauges.

I made my earlier comment because I, myself, thought for quite a child as a youngster that A.D. meant "after the death".


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## ayed

What about if is altered to be "After Jesus"--A.J ?
or After Ascension --A.A?


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## elroy

ayed said:
			
		

> What about if is altered to be "After Jesus"--A.J ?
> or After Ascension --A.A?


 
I don't anticipate that happening in the near future - "A.D." (anno domini) is the accepted name and "C.E." the modern "politically correct" alternative.

Furthermore, "A.A." is problematic because the point of reference is actually not the ascension but Christ's birth. "A.J." sounds awkward because He was still on earth for the first 33 years after the first year of the calendar. "B.C." makes sense because it means "before Christ's coming to earth" but "A.J." doesn't quite work the same way.

In any case, though, this thread is about the _Arabic_ words for these terms, so we better not get too off-topic.


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## ayed

I like "A.J" --After Jesus .


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## elroy

ayed said:
			
		

> I like "A.J" --After Jesus .


 
To each his own. 

But won't you at least grant me that "A.C." would be better, by analogy with "B.C."?


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## Whodunit

elroy said:
			
		

> But won't you at least grant me that "A.C." would be better, by analogy with "B.C."?


 
Still not correct. You should use "A.C.B." and "B.C.B." for after Christ's birth and before Christ's birth. In English, we need something like the German equivalent "nach unserer Zeitrechnung" (after our calendar ~ after the beginning of the calendar's date).


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## ayed

elroyQuote:
Originally Posted by *ayed*
_I like "A.J" --After Jesus ._



To each his own. 

But won't you at least grant me that "A.C." would be better, by analogy with "B.C."?



			
				Whodunit said:
			
		

> Still not correct. You should use "A.C.B." and "B.C.B." for after Christ's birth and before Christ's birth. In English, we need something like the German equivalent "nach unserer Zeitrechnung" (after our calendar ~ after the beginning of the calendar's date).


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## elroy

Whodunit said:
			
		

> Still not correct. You should use "A.C.B." and "B.C.B." for after Christ's birth and before Christ's birth. In English, we need something like the German equivalent "nach unserer Zeitrechnung" (after our calendar ~ after the beginning of the calendar's date).


 
It's not a question of "correct or incorrect."  It's just a question of preferences.  Furthermore, I don't like "AC" either; I'm just saying it would make more sense.

Personally, I'm a fan of "BC" and "AD."


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## Whodunit

elroy said:
			
		

> Personally, I'm a fan of "BC" and "AD."


 
But "AD" ended 2000 years ago.   Okay, this is just splitting hairs.


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## elroy

Whodunit said:
			
		

> But "AD" ended 2000 years ago.  Okay, this is just splitting hairs.


 
What do you mean?  We are still "in the year of our Lord" because God operates outside the realm of time.


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## Whodunit

elroy said:
			
		

> What do you mean? We are still "in the year of our Lord" because God operates outside the realm of time.


 
Ah that's the side you see it. With "Dominus" (nomanative of Domini) I meant Jesus Christ, who died about 2000 ago. Got it?


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## elroy

Whodunit said:
			
		

> Ah that's the side you see it. With "Dominus" (nomanative of Domini) I meant Jesus Christ, who died about 2000 ago. Got it?



Yes, but according to the Christian tradition, Jesus Christ is God and He's still alive.  Got it?


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## Whodunit

elroy said:
			
		

> Yes, but according to the Christian tradition, Jesus Christ is God and He's still alive. Got it?


 
Yes, but ... that will "end up in an endless" D) discussion, won't it?


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## elroy

Whodunit said:
			
		

> Yes, but ... that will "end up in an endless" D) discussion, won't it?


 
This discussion should have ended many a post ago.  As I said in post #7, the original question was about Arabic and not English.  That said, stopping it here would be more than prudent.


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