| Of course, current date does not change unless you are in Saudi Arabia where there is a slight twist to that rule—but more on that later ; it remains consistent regardless of where in the Arab World you find yourself | This is because some countries, like Syria, for example, have opted to rename Gregorian calendar months after their Aramaic counterparts, which are based on the Babylonian calendar |
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| So what month is it exactly? But since the Islamic calendar year with only 354 days is about 11 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar year with 365 days, this correspondence between the Gregorian calendar month May and the corresponding Islamic calendar month will change from year to year | Well, it depends on who you ask and where you are |
| The first year of the Islamic calendar is based on the year in which the Prophet Mohamad left the city of Mecca and headed to Medina, 622CE | Going further west to Algeria and Morocco yields a similar result with a slight variation |
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| For a multitude of reasons names of calendar months vary across the Arab World | The Gregorian calendar is universally accepted for civil use, but—depending on where you are—you may find Aramaic and Babylonian calendar month names being used |
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