Islamic Date Today in Pakistan (Karachi) – Hijri Date 1448

Today's Islamic date in Karachi, Pakistan is 23 Jumada al-Ula 1448 AH (۲۳ جمادی الاول ۱۴۴۸ھ), corresponding to Wednesday, 4 November 2026. The Islamic date changes at Maghrib, so after sunset at 5:50 PM it becomes 24 Jumada al-Ula 1448. This date follows Pakistan's official moon sighting by the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee, which is often one day behind Saudi Arabia.

Islamic Calendar for This Month in Pakistan – Jumada al-Ula 1448

The table below lines up every day of the current Islamic month with its Gregorian date in Pakistan. Today's row is highlighted. The final row of a month is always provisional until the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee announces the new moon, because a month can end after 29 or 30 days.

How the Islamic Date Is Decided in Pakistan

Pakistan does not use a printed, pre-calculated Hijri calendar to decide its Islamic dates. Each month starts only when the new crescent moon, the hilal, has been seen. This follows the hadith in which the Prophet ﷺ told Muslims to start and end the fast of Ramadan on seeing the new moon, and to complete thirty days if it is hidden from them (Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim).

The responsibility for this lies with the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee, a body of religious scholars working under the federal Ministry of Religious Affairs. Its chairman since 2020 has been Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad. On the evening of the 29th of every Islamic month, the central committee meets together with zonal committees in the provincial capitals. Observers across the country, including staff from the Pakistan Meteorological Department's observatories, look for the crescent just after sunset, and members of the public can report a sighting to their nearest committee.

Once the reports are in, the committee decides one of two things:

• The moon has been sighted: the current month ends after 29 days, and the 1st of the new month is the very next day.
• The moon has not been sighted: the current month is completed as 30 days, and the new month begins the day after.

Before each meeting, the Pakistan Meteorological Department and SUPARCO publish forecasts of the moon's age, its height above the horizon at sunset and the expected weather. These forecasts help the committee check whether a claimed sighting is even possible, but the final decision is always based on actual sighting reports. That is why the Islamic date for Pakistan can only be fully confirmed on the evening of the 29th.

Why Pakistan's Islamic Date Is Often One Day Behind Saudi Arabia

Many people in Karachi notice that WhatsApp forwards, mobile apps and websites from the Gulf show a different Islamic date. Today, for example, the date in Saudi Arabia is shown in the box above, while Pakistan's date is 23 Jumada al-Ula 1448. There are three main reasons for the gap:

• Different methods: Saudi Arabia uses the Umm al-Qura calendar for civil dates, which is set largely by astronomical calculation. Pakistan waits for an actual local sighting of the crescent.
• Geography: the new moon is born at the same moment everywhere, but it becomes easier to see the further west you are, because it has had more time to move away from the sun by local sunset. Pakistan lies well to the east of Makkah, so on borderline evenings the crescent can be visible over Arabia but still too low and faint over Karachi.
• Weather: haze, dust and monsoon cloud over Sindh and Punjab can hide a young crescent that would otherwise be visible, so the month runs to 30 days.

The result is that Pakistan is usually the same as Saudi Arabia or one day behind it, and very rarely ahead. Ramadan and both Eids in Pakistan have often started a day after Saudi Arabia for exactly this reason. For anything in Pakistan, from Ramadan timetables to Eid holidays and Muharram processions, always go by Pakistan's own date.

When Does the Islamic Date Change? At Maghrib, Not Midnight

In the Islamic calendar, a new day begins at sunset. The evening and night come first, and the daytime follows. So when the sun sets in Karachi today at 5:50 PM, the Islamic date moves forward to 24 Jumada al-Ula 1448, even though the Gregorian calendar will not change until midnight. You can check today's exact Maghrib time, along with the other four prayers, on our Karachi prayer time page.

This matters most for the special nights of the year. Shab-e-Barat is the night of the 15th of Shaban, so it is observed on the evening of the 14th. Shab-e-Qadr on the 27th of Ramadan is observed on the evening of the 26th. The first Taraweeh is prayed on the night the Ramadan moon is sighted, the evening before the first fast. The live box at the top of this page shows both: the date for today's daylight hours, and the date that takes over at Maghrib.

Islamic Months 1448 AH in Pakistan – Start Dates

Here are all twelve months of the Islamic year 1448 AH with the date each one began, or is expected to begin, in Pakistan. Months marked "Confirmed" follow the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee's announcement. The rest are worked out from the crescent's height above Karachi's horizon at sunset and may still move by one day.

* Month length not yet confirmed. The length of a month is only fixed once the next month's moon has been sighted.

Important Islamic Dates in Pakistan Coming Up

These are the next major Islamic dates for Pakistan, based on the current Hijri calendar. Nights such as Shab-e-Barat and Shab-e-Qadr are listed on the evening they are observed.

• Shab-e-Meraj: evening of Tuesday, 5 January 2027 (27 Rajab 1448) – expected
• Shab-e-Barat: evening of Saturday, 23 January 2027 (15 Shaban 1448) – expected
• Ramadan begins: Tuesday, 9 February 2027 (1 Ramadan 1448) – expected
• Shab-e-Qadr (27th night): evening of Saturday, 6 March 2027 (27 Ramadan 1448) – expected
• Eid ul Fitr: Wednesday, 10 March 2027 (1 Shawwal 1448) – expected

Ramadan 1448 AH is currently expected to begin in Pakistan on Tuesday, 9 February 2027, with the first Taraweeh on the night before. As with every month, the final date depends on the moon sighting on the 29th of Shaban.

How Islamic Public Holidays in Pakistan Follow the Moon

Several of Pakistan's public holidays depend on the Islamic date, so their Gregorian dates change every year and are only fixed once the moon is sighted. The main ones are:

• Eid ul Fitr on 1 Shawwal, usually with holidays on either side.
• Eid ul Adha on 10 Dhul Hijjah, again usually a holiday of two to three days.
• Ashura on 9 and 10 Muharram.
• Eid Milad-un-Nabi on 12 Rabi al-Awwal.

The federal government normally publishes the year's holiday list in advance with expected dates, then confirms the exact days after the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee's announcement. Provincial governments, including Sindh, issue their own notifications for Karachi's schools and offices. This is why an Eid holiday can move by a day at short notice, and why it pays to plan travel to your hometown with a day's flexibility. If you are booking tickets for Eid ul Fitr or Eid ul Adha, check the expected dates in the table above, then confirm them on the evening of the 29th.

Banks, schools and courts also use the Islamic calendar for some deadlines and closures, and the State Bank of Pakistan announces bank holidays for the Islamic holidays on the same basis. Mosques, madrasas and imambargahs in Karachi follow the Hijri date for Jumuah announcements, Muharram majalis, Taraweeh and Eid prayer timings.

Reading the Moon on This Page

The moon in the live box shows how much of its face is lit tonight, which is a good visual check on the Islamic date. Because every month starts with the new crescent, the moon's shape follows the Hijri date closely:

• 1st to 3rd: a thin crescent low in the west just after sunset.
• Around the 7th or 8th: a half moon (first quarter), high in the sky at sunset.
• 13th, 14th and 15th: the full or nearly full moon. These are the Ayyam al-Bid, the "white days", on which many people keep voluntary fasts.
• Around the 22nd: a half moon again (last quarter), rising around midnight.
• 27th to 29th: a thin crescent seen only before dawn, then nothing until the new moon is sighted.

If you can see a fat, bright moon early in the evening and a calendar insists it is the 2nd of the month, that calendar is not following Pakistan's moon sighting.

Hijri Date Converter – Gregorian to Islamic Date (Pakistan)

Want to know the Islamic date of a birthday, a nikah, an old document or an upcoming event? Pick any Gregorian date below to see the matching Hijri date as observed in Pakistan. Past months use the official dates where known, and future months use the same crescent-visibility method as the rest of this page.

The Hijri Calendar Explained

The Islamic calendar is called the Hijri calendar because its first year begins with the Hijrah, the migration of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ from Makkah to Madinah in 622 CE. It was introduced as an official calendar during the caliphate of Hazrat Umar ibn al-Khattab (RA), around 17 years after the Hijrah. Years are counted as AH, from the Latin Anno Hegirae, "in the year of the Hijrah".

It is a purely lunar calendar. Each of its twelve months begins with a new crescent moon and lasts 29 or 30 days, so a Hijri year has 354 or 355 days. That is about 11 days shorter than the 365-day Gregorian year, which is why Ramadan, Eid and Muharram move about 11 days earlier every year and travel through all the seasons over roughly 33 years. In 1448 AH, Ramadan falls in February, and each following year it will arrive about 11 days earlier.

Four months of the Hijri year are sacred months in which fighting was forbidden: Muharram, Rajab, Dhul Qadah and Dhul Hijjah. The twelve months, with their common spellings in Pakistan, are:

1. Muharram – the first month; the 10th is Ashura.
2. Safar.
3. Rabi al-Awwal (Rabi ul Awwal) – the 12th is Eid Milad-un-Nabi.
4. Rabi al-Thani (Rabi us Sani, Rabi al-Akhir).
5. Jumada al-Ula (Jamadi ul Awwal, Jumada al-Awwal).
6. Jumada al-Akhirah (Jamadi us Sani, Jumada al-Thani).
7. Rajab – Shab-e-Meraj is observed on the 27th night.
8. Shaban – Shab-e-Barat on the 15th night.
9. Ramadan (Ramzan) – the month of fasting.
10. Shawwal – the 1st is Eid ul Fitr.
11. Dhul Qadah (Zil Qad, Zul Qadah).
12. Dhul Hijjah (Zil Hajj) – Hajj, the Day of Arafah and Eid ul Adha.

Aaj Ki Islamic Tareekh – Islamic Date Today in Urdu

Many people in Pakistan search for the date as "aaj ki islamic tareekh" or "chand ki tareekh". In Urdu, today's Islamic date is:

آج کی اسلامی تاریخ: ۲۳ جمادی الاول ۱۴۴۸ھ

The Urdu names of the Islamic months are محرم، صفر، ربیع الاول، ربیع الثانی، جمادی الاول، جمادی الثانی، رجب، شعبان، رمضان، شوال، ذوالقعدہ and ذوالحجہ. The year is written with ھ after the number, short for Hijri.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Islamic date today in Pakistan?

Today, Wednesday, 4 November 2026, the Islamic date in Pakistan is 23 Jumada al-Ula 1448 AH. After Maghrib today it becomes 24 Jumada al-Ula 1448.

Is the Islamic date the same in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad?

Yes. The Ruet-e-Hilal Committee announces one Islamic date for the whole of Pakistan, so Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta and every other city follow the same Hijri date. The only local difference is the exact time of Maghrib, when the date changes.

Why is the Islamic date in Pakistan different from Saudi Arabia?

Saudi Arabia follows the Umm al-Qura calendar, which is decided largely by calculation, while Pakistan starts each month only after the new crescent is actually sighted inside the country. Because Pakistan is further east, the young moon is often too low to see on the same evening, so Pakistan is frequently one day behind Saudi Arabia.

When does the Islamic date change in Pakistan?

The Islamic day begins at Maghrib (sunset), not at midnight. So the night before a date already belongs to that date. This is why Shab-e-Barat, Shab-e-Qadr and the first Taraweeh are observed on the evening before the date shown on the calendar.

Who announces the new Islamic month in Pakistan?

The Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee, working under the Ministry of Religious Affairs, meets on the evening of the 29th of each Islamic month. It collects moon-sighting reports from zonal committees and the public, then announces whether the next month begins the following day or after 30 days.

How many days are there in an Islamic month?

Every Islamic month has either 29 or 30 days. It never has 28 or 31. If the new moon is not seen on the evening of the 29th, the month is completed as 30 days.

What is the current Islamic year?

The current Islamic year is 1448 AH. It began in Pakistan on Wednesday, 17 June 2026, and 1449 AH is expected to begin around Sunday, 6 June 2027.

How accurate is the Hijri date on this page?

Months that have already been announced use the official Ruet-e-Hilal dates. Future months are predicted from the height of the new crescent above Karachi's horizon at sunset, a rule that matches every Ruet-e-Hilal decision we tested from 2025 and 2026. A prediction can still move by one day because of weather or the committee's decision.