Ashmolean Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Salam Ma'al Hijra! Eastern Art Online welcomes you to explore its collection of artworks from the Islamic World on the occasion of the Islamic New Year (AH 1433), which falls on November 26, 2011.

The Islamic New Year or Ra’s al-Sana al-Hijriyya marks the beginning of a new Islamic calendar year and falls on the first day of the month of Muharram, one of the most important and sacred months in Islam. The Islamic or Hijri calendar began in 622 AD, the year of the Prophet Muhammad’s migration (hijra) from Mecca to Medina. The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar of 12 months which is not aligned with the seasons. Thus, the first day of the year does not fall always on the same day every year as in the Gregorian calendar.

For more information, please see the links on the right.