hijra

name

1. The flight of Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Yathrib (later Medina) in 622 ce, which forms the first year of the Islamic era (ah 1).
2. AH: the Islamic era, dated from the Hijra.

   “Since the Muslim lunar year contains only 354 days, the year 2005 is approximately equivalent to Hijra 1426.”

3. The Islamic calendar, dated from the Hijra.

noun

1. A eunuch in South Asia, especially one who dresses as a woman.

   “When the Mughal court was disbanded, Muslim hijras were exposed for the first time to the other, Hindu, tradition of eunuchry.”

2. A (typically biologically male or intersex, but sometimes biologically female) member of a somewhat feminine third gender found in India and Pakistan.

   “The subjects of this study are hijras or the "third sex" of India, individuals who occupy a unique, liminal space between male and female, sacred and profane.”

   “Even more surprisingly, there are female hijras, women who were born women, who are drawn into the gharanas by the attraction and apparent safety of the hierarchies' substitute for family life.”

   “While videographers were shooting him as he sat on the floor among a group of male and female sex workers, two transgender (male-to-female) hijras came to sit next to him, one on either side.”

   “Nanda profiles […] an uncastrated hijra who is married to a man and has an adopted son; and a hermaphrodite hijra […]”

3. (alt-of)Alternative letter-case form of Hijra.
4. Any similar flight or emigration to a better place.
5. Emigration from a non-Muslim country to a Muslim one.

   “Hijrah means Moving from a land of Shirk to a land of Islaam.”