Algeria 50 Centimes 1980

History

50 Centimes 1980, KM# 111, Algeria, 1400th Anniversary of the Islamic Calendar (Hijra)

Obverse. Photo © NumisCorner.com

Description

The Hijri calendar also known as the Lunar Hijri calendar and (in English) as the Islamic, Muslim or Arabic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to determine the proper days of Islamic holidays and rituals, such as the annual period of fasting and the proper time for the Hajj. In almost all countries where the predominant religion is Islam, the civil calendar is the Gregorian calendar, with Syriac month-names used in the Levant and Mesopotamia (Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine) but the religious calendar is the Hijri one.

This calendar enumerates the Hijri era, whose epoch was established as the Islamic New Year in 622 CE. During that year, Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Medina and established the first Muslim community (ummah), an event commemorated as the Hijrah. In the West, dates in this era are usually denoted AH (Latin: Anno Hegirae, "in the year of the Hijrah"). In Muslim countries, it is also sometimes denoted as H from its Arabic form (سَنَة هِجْرِيَّة, abbreviated ھ). In English, years prior to the Hijra are denoted as BH ("Before the Hijra").

Obverse	Book Quran Temple (church, mosque, synagogue, pagoda etc.) The Prophet's Mosque, Kaaba Depicted the logo of the 1400th-anniversary celebration with an outline of Kaaba and the Prophet's Mosque (dome and minaret) in Medina surrounded by Arabic H letter and 15. The 92nd verse of chapter 21 from the Holy Quran "Truly, this, your Ummah is one religion" below in Arabic. Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, known in English as The Prophet's Mosque, and also known as Al Haram Al Madani and Al Haram Al Nabawi by locals, is a mosque built by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the city of Medina in the Al Madinah Province of Saudi Arabia. It was the second mosque built by Muhammad in Medina, after Masjid Quba'a, and is now one of the largest mosques in the world. It is the second holiest site in Islam, after the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. The Kaaba ("The Cube") is a building at the centre of Islam's most sacred mosque, Al-Masjid al-Haram (lit. 'The Sacred Mosque'), also known as the Great Mosque of Mecca, in Mecca, al-Hejaz, Saudi Arabia. It is the most sacred site in Islam. It is considered the "House of Allah" and has a similar role to the Tabernacle and Holy of Holies in Judaism. Wherever they are in the world, Muslims are expected to face the Kaaba when performing salat (prayer). From any point in the world, the direction facing the Kaaba is called the qibla. ١٥هـ إن هذه أمتكم أمة واحدة
Reverse	Value and date in a circle surrounded by the Arabic legend "People's Democratic Republic of Algeria". الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشعبية 1980-1400 50 سنتيما
Edge	Reeded (milled)