# Islamic/Hijri calendar



## Pacerier

Hi all. I've heard that the Arabic date system has its own year numbering (in other words its not year 2011 now) and I was wondering does anyone actually use that year system or do more people use the 2011 year system?


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## AndyRoo

There is the Islamic calendar, known as the hijri calendar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_calendar in which the year is currently 1432.

Mostly the Gregorian calendar is used, you do see the Islamic date e.g. on some newspapers.


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## Pacerier

Heys thanks for the help =)


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## Zakizack

and we use it or write it sometimes in schools university you know ^^


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## Abu Rashid

In Saudi Arabia it is used extensively I believe, in most other countries only for religious purposes.


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## إسكندراني

In KSA it is the official calendar, in other countries it is used somewhat informally, but not restricted to religious usage. For Example in school, the teacher would write both dates on the board.


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## Pacerier

Heys Zakizack / Abu Rashid so if let's say you visit a website (translated to Arabic) would it be cool if the dates are translated to the Arabic date system (year 1432) or would it actually be less confusing and more appropriate if the original date system (2011) is used?


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## cherine

I don't know about cool, but if the website is not addressing one Arab country in particular, I suggest you keep the western calendar. If you want to add the Hijri one, fine. But don't use it solely.


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## Tracer

One other thing to keep in mind: if you use the *Hijri* calendar, not only will you be using a different YEAR (1432), but you'll also have to use a different MONTH and DAY.

In other words, you can't write, for today, for example: *15 MAY 1432.* That wouldn't make sense in any country.

===========
*Today*, in the Gregorian and Hijri calendar, would be:

*Sunday, 15 May 2011  =  Jumada II 12, 1432  *


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## إسكندراني

Pacerier said:


> Heys Zakizack / Abu Rashid so if let's say you visit a website (translated to Arabic) would it be cool if the dates are translated to the Arabic date system (year 1432) or would it actually be less confusing and more appropriate if the original date system (2011) is used?


If this is the motive for your question, best practice for big websites in my opinion is:
الأحد 15/5/2011 الموافق 14 جمادى الثانى 1432
This avoids using one Gregorian name system over another if visitors are from many countries.
Smaller websites use the minimalist 15/5/2011


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## Ustaath

note that it's dd/mm/yy as in Europe and not mm/dd/yyy as in the U.S


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## Pacerier

Heys all thanks for the replies.



إسكندراني said:


> If this is the motive for your question, best practice for big websites in my opinion is:
> الأحد 15/5/2011 الموافق 14 جمادى الثانى 1432



Yes that's the motive for my question. If الأحد 15/5/2011 الموافق 14 جمادى الثانى 1432
is too long, should I prefer the Gregorian or the Hijiri calendar when performing an Arabic-translation from an English website? (I can only choose one of them)


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## إسكندراني

Unless it is strongly focused on KSA, use the Western calendar.


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## Pacerier

Ok cool, btw just another quick question, which would be worse:

A) an Arabic speaker from KSA is shown the western calendar format-system instead of the hajiri calendar

or

B) an Arabic speaker not from KSA is shown the hajiri calendar format-system instead of the western calendar


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## Abu Rashid

I don't think either is bad. I'm sure they'd be able to work out how to convert it, if it were an issue for them.


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## Pacerier

perhaps i should rephrase my question. Which would be more "annoying to the user" ? My goal is to give the user a "good experience" and never annoy the user.


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## cherine

If you can choose one calendar only, then go for the one that suites the majority. The only Arab country that solely used the Hijri calendar is KSA. (versus the rest of the Arab world).
You choose. 

P.S. I'm sure that Saudis can manage to understand the western calendar just fine.


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## Tracer

One more thing in this regard:

As far as I know, KSA is the only country that still has what you might call a "Hijri" weekend. 

In other words, it is *Thursday and Friday* that are the days off in KSA, *not Saturday and Sunday* like in the West or the *Friday and Saturday* of some Muslim countries. Even Bahrain has recently switched over to Friday and Saturday.


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## Ustaath

Oman still has Friday Saturday, and uses Hijri calender quite extensively as well


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## إسكندراني

Pacerier said:


> If الأحد 15/5/2011 الموافق 14 جمادى الثانى 1432
> is too long, should I prefer the Gregorian or the Hijiri calendar when performing an Arabic-translation from an English website? (I can only choose one of them)


Can also be written:
ـ15\5\2011ـ


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