Editing Islamic calendar (section)

==Uses==
[[File:Inscription of years by A.H.&A.D. eras.jpg|thumb|250px|Civil and Hijri establishment dates of a library in Old City, Jerusalem]]
The Islamic calendar is now used primarily for religious purposes, and for official dating of public events and documents in Muslim countries. Because of its nature as a purely lunar calendar, it cannot be used for agricultural purposes and historically Islamic communities have used other calendars for this purpose: the [[Egyptian calendar]] was formerly widespread in Islamic countries, and the [[Iranian calendars|Iranian calendar]], the [[Tarikh-e-Elahi|Akbar's calendar]] (from where the [[Bengali calendar]] originated),<ref>{{cite book |author1=Kunal Chakrabarti |author2=Shubhra Chakrabarti |title=Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVOFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA114 |year=2013 |publisher=Scarecrow |isbn=978-0-8108-8024-5 |pages=114–115 |access-date=11 October 2024 |archive-date=15 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415073820/https://books.google.com/books?id=QVOFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA114 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2015 |title=Pahela Baishakh |encyclopedia=Banglapedia |publisher=Asiatic Society of Bangladesh |location=Dhaka, Bangladesh |url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Pahela_Baishakh |access-date=11 October 2024 |archive-date=7 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190907065950/http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Pahela_Baishakh |url-status=live}}</ref> the 1789 [[Rumi calendar|Ottoman calendar]] (a modified [[Julian calendar]]) were also used for agriculture in their countries.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}} In the [[Levant]] and [[Iraq]] the [[Arabic names of Gregorian months#Iraq and the Levant|Aramaic names of the Babylonian calendar]] are still used for all secular matters. In the [[Maghreb]], Berber farmers in the countryside still use the Julian calendar for agrarian purposes.<ref name="EB">{{cite journal |last1=Gast |first1=M. |last2=Delheur |first2=J. |last3=E.B. |title=Calendrier |url=http://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/2039 |journal=Encyclopédie Berbère |year=1992 |issue=11 |pages=1713–1720 |publisher=OpenEdition |doi=10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.2039 |access-date=5 July 2018 |language=fr |doi-access=free |archive-date=6 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180706022747/https://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/2039 |url-status=live }}</ref> These local solar calendars have receded in importance with the near-universal adoption of the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}} Saudi Arabia uses the lunar Islamic calendar.{{efn|The start of each lunar month determined not ahead of time by astronomical calculation, but only after the crescent moon is sighted by the proper religious authorities.<ref>[[#HT2009|Tripp, ''Culture Shock'', 2009]]: pp. 154–5).</ref>}} In Indonesia, the [[Javanese calendar]] combines elements of the Islamic and pre-Islamic [[Indian national calendar|Saka]] calendars.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}}

British author [[Nicholas Hagger]] writes that after seizing control of [[Libya]], [[Muammar Gaddafi]] "declared" on 1 December 1978 "that the Muslim calendar should start with the death of the prophet Mohammed in 632 rather than the hijra (Mohammed's 'emigration' from Mecca to Medina) in 622". This put the country ten solar years behind the standard Muslim calendar.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hagger |first=Nicholas |title=The Libyan Revolution: Its Origins and Legacy |year=2009 |publisher=O Books |location=Winchester, UK |pages=109}}</ref> However, according to the 2006 ''Encyclopedia of the Developing World'', "More confusing still is Qaddafi's unique Libyan calendar, which counts the years from the Prophet's birth, or sometimes from his death. The months July and August, named after [[Julius Caesar|Julius]] and [[Augustus]] Caesar, are now [[Gamal Abdel Nasser|Nasser]] and [[Hannibal]] respectively."<ref>''Encyclopedia of the Developing World'' (2007), volume 3, p. 1338.</ref> Reflecting on a 2001 visit to the country, American reporter [[Neil MacFarquhar]] observed, "Life in Libya was so unpredictable that people weren't even sure what year it was. The year of my visit was officially 1369. But just two years earlier Libyans had been living through 1429. No one could quite name for me the day the count changed, especially since both remained in play.&nbsp;... Event organizers threw up their hands and put the Western year in parentheses somewhere in their announcements."<ref name="MacFarquhar2010">{{cite book|author=Neil MacFarquhar|title=The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday: Unexpected Encounters in the Changing Middle East|url={{Google books|gzQBfS5nkiAC|page=PA38|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|year=2010|publisher=ReadHowYouWant|isbn=978-1-4587-6009-8}} pages 37–38.</ref>