Writing the dates: Hijri, Gregorian or both

The dates are the easiest part of an inscription to get subtly wrong. Families frequently want the Islamic date of death alongside the civil one, and the conversion, the numerals and the layout each have a trap in them. Here is how to avoid all three.

Which dates to show

Three conventions are common on Muslim headstones in North America:

• Gregorian only. The dates on the death certificate, as everyone will search for them. Simple and unambiguous.
• Both calendars. The Gregorian dates, with the Hijri date of death (and sometimes of birth) beneath or beside them. This is what most families who ask about Hijri dates end up choosing.
• Hijri only. Rare in North America, and worth avoiding unless the cemetery and the whole family are comfortable reading it, because visitors and record-keepers will struggle.

If you show both, make the civil date the primary line and label the Islamic one clearly, for example with AH (anno Hegirae) after the year, or with the Arabic هـ. A reader in fifty years should not have to guess which calendar is which.

Converting to the Hijri calendar

The Islamic calendar is lunar. Its year is about eleven days shorter than the solar year, so there is no fixed offset to add or subtract, and a year number alone is never enough. Use a converter, and then check three things:

1. Use two converters and compare. Tabular (calculated) calendars and sighting-based calendars can differ by a day. If two reputable tools disagree, the family or the mosque should decide which to follow.
2. Remember that the Islamic day begins at sunset. A death after Maghrib on a Tuesday evening falls on the Wednesday Hijri date. This is the most common source of a one-day error.
3. Confirm with the family. Many families observe the date of death by the local moon sighting used for prayer and fasting. If they have been marking the anniversary on a certain date, use that date, whatever the calculation says.

The twelve months, in order: Muharram, Safar, Rabiʿ al-Awwal, Rabiʿ al-Thani, Jumada al-Ula, Jumada al-Akhirah, Rajab, Shaʿban, Ramadan, Shawwal, Dhu al-Qaʿdah, Dhu al-Hijjah. Spellings vary; pick one and use it consistently, or write the month in Arabic script.

Which numerals

Arabic script has two sets of digits in everyday use, and the family may have a strong preference:

• Western digits (0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9) are used in most Arabic-speaking countries west of Egypt and are universally understood.
• Eastern Arabic digits (٠ ١ ٢ ٣ ٤ ٥ ٦ ٧ ٨ ٩) are used in Egypt, the Levant, the Gulf and beyond, and look natural beside Arabic text.
• Urdu and Farsi use their own forms of the Eastern digits (۰ ۱ ۲ ۳ ۴ ۵ ۶ ۷ ۸ ۹), with distinct shapes for four, five and six.

Numbers always read left to right, even inside right-to-left text; a correctly shaped inscription handles this automatically, which is one reason to keep the text as text until the engraver's final step. In the studio, type the digits you want and the inscription keeps them in order, in any of the bundled typefaces.

Layout

A few arrangements that read well:

• Two lines, one calendar each. "12 March 1941 — 3 June 2026" above "٢٥ ذو الحجة ١٤٤٧ هـ". Set the Hijri line slightly smaller.
• Years only. "1941 — 2026" is enough for many families and leaves room for the words.
• Birth and death on separate lines, labelled "Born" and "Died" (or "Returned to Allah"), when both full dates in both calendars are wanted. This takes four lines, so plan the stone's height around it.

Whichever you choose, use the same dash and the same date order on every line, and proof the finished face at full size. A dimensioned PDF plan from the studio shows the dates at the size they will be cut, which is the moment most families notice a wrong digit.