Ramadan | Fasting, Traditions, & Facts - Britannica

Timing

Did You Know?

The month of Ramadan begins with the appearance of the waxing crescent moon. In some Muslim communities the waxing crescent moon, and thus the start of Ramadan, is determined by astronomical calculation; in many others, clerics’ visual confirmation of the waxing crescent moon is required to declare the beginning of the month of fasting. In some instances cloud cover can create a delay in the start of the month. Therefore different Muslim communities in different parts of the globe might begin observing Ramadan on slightly different dates.

Ramadan, like all months in the Islamic calendar, begins and ends with the sighting of the slightest waxing crescent moon, just following a new moon. The determination of when the month of Ramadan starts, based on sighting the crescent moon, is made locally within different countries or even by different mosques, thus creating variability of the precise beginning of fasting. Some communities or countries—such as Turkey (Türkiye)—base the beginning of Ramadan on astronomical calculations, while other communities require leaders to make visual confirmation of the crescent moon’s appearance, in which case cloud cover can create a delay. Islamic months last 29 or 30 days depending on the sighting of the waning crescent moon, so Muslims fasting for Ramadan do so for approximately 29 or 30 days. Because the Muslim calendar year is shorter than the Gregorian calendar year, Ramadan begins 10–12 days earlier each year, allowing it to fall in every season throughout a 33-year cycle.

Ramadan dates for 2025–30

Gregorian year (ce)	Islamic year (ah)	approximate Gregorian start date	approximate Gregorian end date
The precise dates listed above per the Gregorian calendar might prove to be off by one day or so due to differences in visual sightings of the crescent moon in Mecca or in other localities.
2026	1447	February 18	March 19
2027	1448	February 8	March 8
2028	1449	January 28	February 25
2029	1450	January 16	February 13
2030	1451	January 5	February 3
2031	1452	December 26, 2030	January 23, 2031

During the month of Ramadan Muslims keep a fast, abstaining from food and drink from sunrise (fajr) to sunset (maghrib), but are permitted to eat and drink during the nighttime hours. The Qurʾān indicates that eating and drinking are permissible only until the “white thread of light becomes distinguishable from the dark thread of night at dawn” (2:187).

Britannica Quiz World Religions & Traditions

These timing stipulations based on daylight hours necessitate adjustments in special circumstances. Muslims observing Ramadan close to the north and south poles, where the sun never or barely rises in winter and never or barely sets in summer, would fast not at all or incessantly if these rules were followed to the letter. In these instances, Muslims, in consultation with clerics, might opt to follow Mecca’s timing or the timing of a nearby major city. A similar special case arises for Muslims in space: before Malaysian astronaut Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor embarked for the International Space Station during Ramadan in October 2007, the Malaysian government assembled 150 clerics and scientists to find a solution to this space-age conundrum. The clerics decreed that a Muslim in orbit during Ramadan could either make up the fasting days after returning to Earth or perform the fast based on the daylight timings at their point of liftoff into space.