Afghans do not use a single type of calendar. There are three different types of calendars used in Afghanistan which are as follow:

• Hijri Shamsi  (solar Islamic)
• Miladi /Isawee ( Gregorian /Christian)
• Hijre Qamari  (lunar Islamic)

Based on the Afghan constitution the official calendar of Afghanistan is Hijri Shamsi. Hijra means emigration and Shamsi means solar. The Hijrai Shamsi year starts from the year the Prophet of Islam Muhammad, peace be upon him, emigrated from the holy city of Mecca to Medina.  The Hijri Shamsi calendar has twelve months.

The beginning of the First month, Hamal, corresponds to the 21^st of March in the Solar Christian Calendar. The government offices and official documents use the Hijri Shamsi calendar.  However, some of the official documents like passports, or correspondence that has to do with foreigners or foreign embassies in Afghanistan use the Christian Calendar. Also, Majority of Non-government Organizations use the Christian calendar.

The Lunar Islamic, Hijri Qamari, which also starts from the emigration of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is used to calculate the religious holidays. The Lunar Islamic also has twelve months but is ten days shorter than the Solar Islamic year. The ninth month of the Lunar Islamic calendar, Ramadan, is the fasting month for Muslims all over the world.

The Christian year 2012 corresponds to the 1391 Hijri Shamsi year. As demonstrated in the accompanying video, a calendar poster or card usually shows all three calendar types and you can easily find out the dates for each calendar.  However if you want to convert the Christian year to Hijri Shamsi or vise versa you subtract or add the year 622.

The following are the names of the Hijri Shamis months in Dari:

Hijri Shamsi Month in Dari            Corresponding Christian month

Hamal                                                   March-April

Sawer                                                   April-May

Jawza                                                    May-June

Saratan                                                 June-July

Asad                                                      July-August

Sonbula                                                August-September

Mizaan                                                   September-October

Aqrab                                                    October-November

Qaws                                                     November-December

Jadi                                                        December –January

Dalwa                                                    January-February

Hoot                                                      February-March