The month of the Quran
RAMADAN is the ninth MONTH of the Islamic calendar. Muslims believe that the QURAN was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad during it, on a night in the last ten nights of the month called Laylat al-Qadr, the Night of Power, which the Quran describes as better than a thousand months. Many Muslims spend those last nights in extra PRAYER at the MOSQUE. How the month begins and ends with the sighting of the new moon is covered on our Eid page.
FASTING during Ramadan is one of the five core duties of Islam, which our Islam page describes. From DAWN until SUNSET, Muslims who are able to ABSTAIN from all food and drink, not even a sip of water. Young children, people who are ill, travellers, pregnant women and the elderly do not have to fast; many make up the days later or give food to the poor instead.
Suhoor, iftar and a cannon at sunset
The day starts before SUNRISE with SUHOOR, a meal eaten in the dark before dawn. In parts of Egypt and the Middle East, a drummer called a mesaharati still walks the streets in the early hours, calling people by name to wake them for it.
At SUNSET the fast is broken with IFTAR. Many Muslims begin, as the Prophet is said to have done, with DATES and water, before prayer and a larger meal with family and friends. In several Middle Eastern cities a cannon is fired at DUSK to announce the moment. Mosques and charities serve free iftar meals to anyone who comes, and in Britain the Ramadan Tent Project has held open iftars since 2013, inviting people of every faith and none to join the meal.
The whole Quran in a month
After the evening prayer, many Muslims attend TARAWEEH, extra prayers held only during Ramadan. The Quran is divided into thirty equal parts, so that reading one part a night lets a person RECITE the whole book over the month, and many mosques aim to complete it during taraweeh.
Ramadan is meant as a time of REFLECTION, PATIENCE and DEVOTION, a SPIRITUAL reset as well as a physical one, and of GENEROSITY: feeling HUNGER is supposed to remind people of those who go without every day, and many Muslims give much more to charity during the month. Many also try to give up bad habits and unkind words as well as food.
Fasting at the top of the world
Because the Islamic year is shorter than the solar year, Ramadan moves through the seasons, and the length of the fast depends on where you live. When it falls in summer, Muslims in northern Europe may fast for nineteen hours or more, while those near the equator fast for about twelve. In places such as northern Norway, where the sun barely sets in summer, many follow the timetable of Mecca or the nearest city with a normal day and night.
Sport has adapted too. Since 2023, referees in the English Premier League have paused matches briefly around sunset so that fasting players can take a drink and an energy snack.