Why does the Muslim New Year come after Jan 1?

No, it's nothing to do with Muslim Standard Time (inside joke on how Muslims are often late for interviews/appointments/functions/flights etc.)

The Saudi Aramco magazine carried this really informative article on the Islamic Hijri Calendar that should clear up the why's and wherefores for anyone who wants to know more about the calendar that Muslims follow.

Hamzah Moin's website 'ManiacMuslim' has more on following MST:

''When September 11th happened, news stations everywhere were starting to speculate that it was “Muslim”-like or something stupid like that.
I disagree.

The heinous acts of terrorism against the World Trade Center were too well-timed and organized to be run by Muslims. I’m serious. I worked for the Muslim community for the last 6 years of my life and there are some cold, hard facts about Muslims today:
1) we’re not organized enough to pull off a 9/11

2) we’re never on time.

If there was such a thing as a Muslim terrorist, he would have missed the flight.''