Literature & Web Links

Published Sources

Primary Sources

• Comparison Calendar 1356 AH to 1411 AH (14 March 1937 to 11 July 1991) (Dhahran: King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals Research Institute, c. 1991) [pdf link].
• Taqwīm Umm al-Qurá al-Muqāran: 1300-1429 HQ, 1882-2007 Mīlādīyah, 1261-1386 HSh (Riyadh: Wizārat al-Mālīyah wa-al-Iqtiṣād al-Waṭanī, 1413 AH [1992/93]).
• Taqwīm Umm al-Qurá al-Muqāran: 1420-1450 HQ, 1999-2029 Mīlādīyah, 1377-1407 HSh (Riyadh: Wizārat al-Mālīyah wa-al-Iqtiṣād al-Waṭanī, [2003]) [pdf link].
• Ahmed, Fadhl Noor Muhammad, 2000 Years Civil Hijri Comparative Calendar (Lexington [KY]: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012) [Internet Archive link].

Secondary Sources

• Victor Mayes, “Saudi Timekeeping”, Sky & Telescope, 66 (1983), 284 [ADS link].
• “Calendar, Clocks”, in: I.I. Nawwab, P.C. Speers & P.F. Hoye (eds.), Saudi Aramco and its World: Arabia and the Middle East (Dhahran: Saudi Arabian Oil Company, 1995), rev. ed., pp. 167-168.
• Zaki A. al-Mostafa & Moataz N. Kordi, “A New Local Observation Record for a Young Moon from Saudi Arabia”, The Observatory, 123 (2003), 49-50 [ADS link].
• Ayman S. Kordi, “The Psychological Effect on Sightings of the New Moon”, The Observatory, 123 (2003), 219-222 [ADS link].
• Zaki A. al-Mostafa, “Lunar Calendars: The New Saudi Arabian Criterion”, The Observatory, 125 (2005), 25-30 [ADS link].
• Adnan A. Gadi, “A Historically Comparative Study of the Beginning of Ramadan (1380-1425H) between Announced Dates and Astronomical Dates in Saudi Arabia”, in: N. Guessoum & M.Sh. Odeh (eds.), Applications of Astronomical Calculations to Islamic Issues: Proceedings of the First Emirates Astronomical Conference, Held at the Center for Documentation and Research, Abu-Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 22-23 Thul Kaedah 1427 AH, 13-14 December 2006 CE (Abu-Dhabi: ICOP, 2007), pp. 97-110 [in Arabic] [ICOP link].
• Ayman S. Kordi, “Sighting of Ramadan Crescent: When Religion meets Astronomy”, Arab News (6 May 2019) [pdf link].

Web Sources

• Umm al-Qura Calendar: The Umm al-Qura calendar as developed and computed by the KACST (available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Indonesian, Malaysian, Turkish and Urdu).
• Hilal Sighting in Saudi Arabia – A First Hand Report: An account of the Umm al-Qura calendar as it was observed in Saudi Arabia in 1416-1421 AH (1995-2000 CE) by Salman Zafar Shaikh.
• Haj Date Change Leads to Confusion (article from Arab News, 17 January 2005).
• The Actual Saudi Dating System (on the website of the Islamic Crescents’ Observation Project).
• The History of the UK Following the Saudi Arabia Moonsighting Decision: An insightful account by Mufti Muhammad Yusuf Danka.
• Saudi Moon Sighting Reports – A Review: An astronomical analysis of lunar crescent sighting reports from Saudi Arabia by Mahmood Jawaid.
• Sky View Café: Convenient online astronomy applet for determining the times of sunset, moonset and the appearance of the lunar crescent at Mecca (or any other location on Earth).
• Predicting the First Visibility of the Lunar Crescent: Accurate astronomical predictions for the first visibility of the lunar crescent with global visibility maps from 1432 AH to 1440 AH (2010 to 2019).
• Aramco World Hijri Calendars: Printable calendars based on the Umm al-Qura calendar (from 2005 onwards) can be downloaded from the Aramco World website for the years:
• Gregorian-Hijri Calendar for 2004 (1424/1425 AH)
• Gregorian-Hijri Calendar for 2005 (1425/1426 AH)
• Gregorian-Hijri Calendar for 2006 (1426/1427 AH)
• Gregorian-Hijri Calendar for 2007 (1427/1428 AH)
• Gregorian-Hijri Calendar for 2008 (1428/1429/1430 AH)
• Gregorian-Hijri Calendar for 2009 (1430/1431 AH)
• Gregorian-Hijri Calendar for 2010 (1431/1432 AH)
• Gregorian-Hijri Calendar for 2011 (1432/1433 AH)
• Gregorian-Hijri Calendar for 2012 (1433/1434 AH)
• Gregorian-Hijri Calendar for 2013 (1434/1435 AH)
• Gregorian-Hijri Calendar for 2014 (1435/1436 AH)
• Gregorian-Hijri Calendar for 2015 (1436/1437 AH)
• Gregorian-Hijri Calendar for 2016 (1437/1438 AH)
• Gregorian-Hijri Calendar for 2017 (1438/1439 AH) – not issued
• Gregorian-Hijri Calendar for 2018 (1439/1440 AH)
• Gregorian-Hijri Calendar for 2019 (1440/1441 AH)

• Qibla Plus: Islamic app (qibla, prayer times, Islamic calendar) in several languages for the iPhone and iPod which allows the conversion of Western calendar dates into various Islamic calendars, including the Umm al-Qura calendar.

Disclaimer

Note that this webpage on the Umm al-Qura calendar is intended for informative purposes only. Only a few English-language websites describe the Umm al-Qura calendar in any detail and the author cannot be held responsible for any errors resulting from faulty information on this webpage.

I am grateful to Mohammed Alshehri, Winfried Görke, Joachim Krüger and John Stockton for pointing out some errors and suggesting improvements and additions.