What Does AH Mean? Hijri Year Numbers, BH and AH Explained

If you have seen a date like “4 Jumada al-Ula 1448 AH” and wondered what the two letters at the end mean, the short answer is: AH means “after the Hijrah”, the year count used by the Islamic calendar. The longer answer — what is being counted, from when, and how to write it properly — is what this guide covers.

AH: Anno Hegirae

AH is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase Anno Hegirae, meaning “in the year of the Hijrah”. It was coined by European scholars on the model of AD, Anno Domini. Just as AD years count from a traditional date for the birth of Jesus, AH years count from the year of the Hijrah — the migration of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and his companions from Makkah to Madinah.

The word Hijrah (هِجْرَة) means migration or departure. The Latinised form Hegira is where the “H” in AH comes from.

In Arabic, the abbreviation is the single letter هـ, short for hijri (هجري), written after the year number. So 1448 AH is written ١٤٤٨ هـ. You may also see ه without the connecting tail; both are acceptable, but هـ is clearer because it cannot be mistaken for a word.

Why the Hijrah, and not the Prophet’s birth?

When the second caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab, introduced an official year count around 17 AH (638 CE), the companions discussed several possible starting points: the Prophet’s birth, the start of revelation, his death, and the Hijrah. They chose the Hijrah.

The reasons reported in the historical sources are practical and symbolic. The Hijrah was a clear, well-known turning point: it marked the beginning of the Muslim community as a society in Madinah. Its year was not in dispute, unlike the exact year of the Prophet’s birth.

What exactly is “year 1”?

Year 1 AH is the Hijri year in which the Hijrah happened — but it does not start on the day of the migration. The Prophet ﷺ arrived in Madinah in Rabi’ al-Awwal. When the calendar was set up, the companions kept Muharram as the first month, since it was already the conventional start of the Arab year. So the calendar’s first day, 1 Muharram 1 AH, falls about two months before the migration itself.

That first day corresponds to Friday 16 July 622 in the Julian calendar (19 July in the proleptic Gregorian calendar, the calendar extended backwards). Some astronomical tables use Thursday 15 July instead, depending on whether the day is counted from the evening crescent or by arithmetic. Both appear in reference books; neither is a mistake.

There is no year zero

Like the AD system, the Hijri count has no year zero. The year before 1 AH is 1 BH.

BH stands for Before Hijrah. It is mainly used by historians — for example, the beginning of revelation is often dated to 13 BH, and the Prophet’s birth to around 53 BH. In everyday Islamic usage you rarely need BH; dates of the Prophet’s early life are usually given in Gregorian years instead.

AH years are shorter than AD years

A Hijri year has 354 or 355 days, about 11 days fewer than a Gregorian year. That is why the AH count advances slightly faster:

• In 622 CE, the difference between the two counts was 621.
• In 2026 CE, it is 578 (2026 − 1448).

Every 33 or so Gregorian years, the Hijri count gains a full year. You can feel this in daily life: Ramadan, Eid and every Islamic date fall about 11 days earlier each Gregorian year.

AH vs CE vs AD

You will also meet these abbreviations in the same documents:

Abbreviation	Meaning	Calendar
AH	Anno Hegirae, year of the Hijrah	Islamic (Hijri)
BH	Before the Hijrah	Islamic (Hijri)
CE	Common Era	Gregorian
AD	Anno Domini	Gregorian
SH	Solar Hijri	Iranian / Afghan solar calendar

The last row catches people out. SH (Solar Hijri) is a different calendar used in Iran and Afghanistan. It also counts from the Hijrah, but its years are solar and its months are Persian (Farvardin, Ordibehesht…). In 2026 the Solar Hijri year is 1405, not 1448. If an Iranian document says 1405, it is not a typo.

How to write an AH date in English

The standard English order is day, month, year, AH:

• 4 Jumada al-Ula 1448 AH
• 1 Ramadan 1448 AH

A few conventions are worth following:

1. Put AH after the year, not before. “AH 1448” is an older style still seen in academic work, but “1448 AH” is now far more common.
2. Use the full month name in running text. Numbers (04/05/1448) are fine in forms and tables.
3. Give the Gregorian equivalent when the reader needs it: “1 Ramadan 1448 AH (8 February 2027)”.
4. Say which calendar you used if the date matters — “Umm al-Qura” or “by local sighting” — because the two can differ by a day.

How to write an AH date in Arabic

In Arabic, write the day and year in numerals and the month in full, then هـ:

• ٤ جمادى الأولى ١٤٤٨ هـ
• or with Western numerals: 4 جمادى الأولى 1448 هـ

In official letters in the Gulf, you will often see both calendars together, for example ١٤٤٨/٠٥/٠٤ هـ الموافق ٢٠٢٦/١٠/١٥ م. The letter م stands for miladi (ميلادي), the Gregorian calendar.

How do I convert an AH year to a Gregorian year?

For a quick estimate, use:

Gregorian year ≈ AH year × 32 ÷ 33 + 622

For 1448 AH: 1448 × 32 ÷ 33 + 622 = 2026.1. Because every AH year straddles two Gregorian years, you need the exact day to know which one. 1448 AH began in June 2026 and ends in June 2027.

For exact conversion, use the Hijri converter, which works in both directions and lets you choose the calculation method.

Hijri centuries

Hijri centuries are numbered the same way as Gregorian ones. The 15th century AH began on 1 Muharram 1400, which fell on 21 November 1979; it was marked across the Muslim world with conferences and commemorative stamps. The 15th century ends with the year 1500 AH, which is expected to begin in late 2076.

When you read that a scholar lived “in the 7th century AH”, that means roughly the years 601–700 AH, or about 1204–1301 CE. Because Hijri centuries are shorter (about 97 Gregorian years each), they do not line up neatly with Gregorian centuries.

Reading AH dates on coins, manuscripts and gravestones

AH dates appear on centuries of Islamic objects, and knowing a few conventions helps you read them.

• Coins from the Umayyad period onward usually state the year in words, in Arabic: sanat thalath wa-sab’in wa-mi’a — “the year 173”. Dirhams and dinars often give the mint and year together.
• Manuscripts usually end with a colophon giving the copyist’s name and the date of completion, often down to the day and month: “completed on Thursday, 12 Rajab 1102”.
• Gravestones and building inscriptions frequently use a chronogram (ta’rikh): a phrase whose letters, added up using the abjad numerical values of Arabic letters, give the year. This was especially popular in Ottoman, Persian and Mughal inscriptions.

If you need to convert a historical AH date, use the tabular method in the converter, which is the standard convention historians use when the exact sighting is unknown.

Common questions about AH

Is AH a religious term? No — it is a European academic abbreviation. Muslims writing in English adopted it because it is short and clear. In Arabic, the native term has always been simply hijri.

Should I write “AH” or “H”? Both appear. “H” is common in Malaysia and Indonesia (1448 H) and is perfectly understood. In English-language writing aimed at a general audience, “AH” is the safer choice.

What year is it now? As of this writing it is 1448 AH. The Hijri date today page always shows the current Hijri day, month and year.