Five days named by number
Counting from Sunday as the first day of the week:
| Day | Arabic | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday | al-Ahad | ahad, “one”, the first day |
| Monday | al-Ithnayn | ithnan, “two” |
| Tuesday | ath-Thulatha | thalatha, “three” |
| Wednesday | al-Arbia | arbaa, “four” |
| Thursday | al-Khamis | khamsa, “five” |
Friday and Saturday
- al-Jumuah (Friday) comes from ijtima, “gathering”, as people gather for the Friday prayer. Language sources record its older name as Aruba.
- as-Sabt (Saturday) carries the sense of cutting off or resting, and is related to the name of the same day in other Semitic languages.
The old Arabic day names
Classical language sources record older names, starting from Sunday: Awwal (Sunday), Ahwan (Monday), Jubar (Tuesday), Dubar (Wednesday), Mu’nis (Thursday), Aruba (Friday) and Shiyar (Saturday). Sources differ on the exact vowels of some of them, so transliterations vary. They survive in old poetry and dictionaries.
Sunday or Monday first?
In Saudi Arabia and most Arabic calendars the week starts on Sunday, so the Hijri Calendar on this site starts weeks on Sunday. The international ISO 8601 standard used for week numbers starts on Monday, which is what Day of the Year uses.
To find the weekday of any date, including your birthday, use Birth Date & Weekday.
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