A Lunar CalendarThe Islamic calendar is purely lunar. Each month begins very near new moon (when crescent is first visible). Months alternate 30 days, 29 days, . . ., except that the last month has 29 days in ordinary years, 30 in leap years. There are 11 leap years in a 30-year cycle. An excellent lunar calendar: Average length of a month is 29.53056 days, so close to the moon’s average period that it will be off by one day after 2500 years.but it ignores the sun. 1 year = 12 months = 354 or 355 days. A month that begins on the first day of spring one year will begin 11 or 12 days earlier the following year, etc. A 100 year old follower of this calendar has seen only 97 winters. If you know that an event occurred Moharrem 7, . . .
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