More than 3.5 million Saudis are celebrating their birthday today, January 23, the first day of Rajab in a bizarre turn of events that came about 45 years ago.
When identification became mandatory over 60 years ago, many Saudi citizens did not know their birthdates. Older citizens used to tell their age by the year of their birth, disregarding the date and month. But when it came to registering for documents, this proved to be a unique problem.
So, about 45 years ago, the Ministerial Agency of Civil Affairs decided to register the first day of Rajab, the seventh month in the Hijri calendar, as the date of birth for millions of Saudis.
Since then, every year, about a tenth of the entire population of Saudi Arabia celebrate their birthday together on the first day of Rajab.