Jumada al-Thani,[a] also known as Jumada al-Akhirah,[b]Jumada al-Akhir,[c] or Jumada II, is the sixth month of the Islamic calendar. The word Jumda (جمد), from which the name of the month is derived, is used to denote dry, parched land, a land devoid of rain.[citation needed]Jumādā (جمادى) may also be related to a verb meaning 'to freeze', and another account relates that water would freeze in pre-Islamic Arabia during this time of year.
The Islamic calendar is a purely lunar calendar, and months begin when the first crescent of a new moon is sighted. Since the Islamic lunar year is 11 to 12 days shorter than the solar year, Jumada al-Thani migrates throughout the seasons. The estimated start and end dates for Jumada al-Thani are as follows (based on the Umm al-Qura calendar of Saudi Arabia[1]):
