As we look forward to a new year, thought I
would pass along some calendar info. Saudi Arabia adopted the
lunar Islamic calendar when it was founded in 1932. In October
2016, that all changed. Saudi Arabia moved from the lunar based
Hijri calendar, which starts with the emigration of Muhammad
from Mecca to Medina, and adopted the standard Gregorian
calendar as a leap into modernity and as a basis for paying
civil servants.
Government employees complained they would have to work an extra
11 days each year, because the Islamic lunar calendar is 11 days
shorter than the 365-day solar year.
There are other calendars still in use around the world. It is
1395 in Iran, 2628 in Kurdistan, and 5776 in Israel’s Knesset,
2559 in Thailand, and year 28 (of the Heisei era) in Japan.