This is the view of the majority of imams, so that people could conduct their business on that basis, with no confusion.ДЄl-Bukhari narrated in his Saheeh (3934) that Sahl ibn SaвЂd said: They did not start the calendar from the beginning of the ProphetвЂ™s mission or from his death they only started it from the time of his arrival in Madinah.ДЄl-Haafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The point is that they made the beginning of the Islamic calendar the year of the Hijrah, and they made the first month of the Islamic year Muharram,as was narrated from them. вЂUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) was inclined to choose the date of the Hijrah because it is known when it occurred, and they agreed with him. Others suggested dating it from the birth of the Messenger of Allah п·є, or from the beginning of his mission, or from his migration (Hijrah) or from his death. Someone else suggested adopting the Byzantine calendar, but he did not like that.

Someone suggested adopting the Persian calendar, but Umar did not like that. вЂUmar said Which ShaвЂbaan? The ShaвЂbaan of this year we are in now or of last year or of next year? Then he summoned the Sahaabah and consulted them about adopting a calendar from which they could determine when debts became due and the like.

That was because a case was referred to Ameer al-MuвЂ™mineen вЂUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) concerning a contract that one man had with another, saying that what he owed him became due in ShaвЂbaan. The Sahaabah (may Allah be pleased with them) reached a unanimous decision in 16 AH вЂ“ or, it was said, 17AH or 18 AH вЂ“ during вЂUmarвЂ™s caliphate,to make the Islamic calendar begin with the year in which the Hijrah occurred. Before that the Muslims did not have a state or any political system to unite them. So the features of the Islamic state began to develop and it took on a clear form geographically, socially, militarily and politically. This decision was made at the time of вЂUmar ibnal-Khattaab (may Allah be pleased with him),because it is the actual date of the founding of the Islamic state, when the Prophet п·є and migrated and settled in Madinah, and the people gathered around him and supported him, and he built the mosque, and other events that followed the Hijrah.

Decision was unanimousД«ut the reason why the people adopted the Hijri calendar as a means of defining the year in which a particular event took place, which is something that people need to do, is that this date is the one that the Sahaabah unanimously agreed to take as the beginning of their calendar. This is something that nowise person would doubt, and no one would deny it at all, whether he is Muslim or otherwise. No doubt the years that the prophet п·є spent in Makkah before the Hijrah (migration to Madinah), when he was calling people to the path of his Lord, enduring persecution and patiently putting up with the annoyance and accusations of the foolish, could is part of the age of Islam indeed they are among the greatest years of Islam because during this time the Prophet п·є was relying completely upon his Lord, thinking positively of Him, and patiently bearing persecution for His sake.

When did the islamic calendar begin