Definition: The initials A.H. stand for Anno Hegirae, Latin for "Year of the Hegira" (or Hijrah). The Muslim calendar dates from the Hijrah, the event in 622 A.D. when Muhammad fled persecution in Mecca to a safe haven in Medina. While western scholarship uses A.D. or C.E., documents from the Middle East may be dated using the A.H. system of reckoning.
Examples:
The Abbadids began ruling Andalusia in southern Spain in A.H. 401 (A.D. 1023).
