The extraordinary manuscripts of Cútar, found in 2003 in a false ceiling in the town of Malaga, are the focus of the Andalusian Almanac of 2026, which can now be downloaded from the website of the Sharqí Malaqa Association. The new calendar, published in collaboration with the Las Fuentes Foundation, promoter of the Medina Network, integrates the conventional yearbook with the lunar count, which is characteristic of the Islamic and Andalusian tradition. As opposed to the solar calendar, typical of the West, the lunar calendar began its computation on July 16, 622, the date of the migration of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, also known as hegira.

Cútar is a beautiful village of half a thousand inhabitants located in the heart of the Axerquía in Malaga, 40 kilometers from the Andalusian capital. It belonged to the Taha de Comares, one of the administrative demarcations of the Nasrid Kingdom, until the Christian conquest of 1478. In 2003, during the renovation of a house, three books dating from the beginning of the 16th century were discovered, apparently hidden by the alfaquí Muhammad Al Yayyar before the massive diaspora of the Mudejars after the forced conversion ordered by the Catholic Monarchs.

One of the three books discovered is a Koran, presumably the oldest one found in the Iberian Peninsula to date. The manuscripts were deposited in the Provincial Historical Archive of Malaga. Muhammad Al Yayyar is a copyist, writer and alfaqui from Cútar, where he performed legal, notarial and religious functions. He was captured in Seville in 1488, after the capture of Ronda and Malaga. In March 1490, he was released and returned to the Axerquia, until the decree of decree of conversion of the Muslims promulgated in 1500.

The Islamic year is composed of 12 lunar months, which are shorter and total 354 or 355 days, so that they are shifted each year in relation to the solar calendar. The year 2026 corresponds to 1447 and 1448 of the Islamic era.

The months of the Almanaque Andalusí have Arabic names. E.g., muharram, safar, rabi’ al awwal, rabi’ al thani, jumada al awwal, jumada al thani, etc. Ramadan is the holy month and each year it is shifting in relation to the conventional calendar. This year of 2026, Ramadan will begin on February 21.

While in the Christian almanac the holy day is Sunday, in the Islamic world it coincides with Friday or yom al yumu’a, day of the gathering where all Muslims congregate in the mosque to pray. This custom was already observed in Al Andalus and is still observed throughout the Islamic world.

The website of the Sharqí Malaqa Association allows you to download the complete almanac, month by month, where the most important festivals are collected, as well as the most important events of the Axerquia of Malaga.