Ramadan fasting

How it works

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar. A lunar month is 29 or 30 days, so the fast lasts 29 or 30 dawns, not a fixed Gregorian block. Each fast begins at dawn (fajr) and ends at sunset (maghrib). The pre-dawn meal is suhoor. The meal that opens the evening is iftar. Night is not a fast. Eating after maghrib does not break the next day’s fast, which has not started yet.

The Gregorian date walks backward about ten to twelve days each solar year, because the lunar year is shorter. Ramadan 2026 fell in February and March. On 3 September 2026 that month has already ended. The next Ramadan is in 2027. Neighbouring communities can differ by a day, because the month begins with a crescent sighting or with the civil calendar a country uses. A mosque announcement outranks a projection on a website.

Fasting in Ramadan is one of the Five Pillars of Islam for adult Muslims who are able. It is worship and restraint, not a diet challenge and not a public holiday everywhere. Some countries close or shorten public hours for parts of the month. Others do not. The religious rule is the dawn-to-sunset fast. The civic timetable is local.

Ramadan fasting rules from dawn to sunset

Ramadan fasting rules are simple to state and easy to trip over at the edges. Between dawn and sunset, eating, drinking (including water), smoking, and sexual activity break the fast. Intention matters: a fast is an act of worship, not an accidental skipped breakfast. Suhoor should finish before dawn. Iftar should not start before sunset. Dates and water are the traditional first bite at maghrib; a larger meal can follow.

Stop eating and drinking before dawn on each fasting day. Keep the fast until the sun has set at your location. Break the fast at maghrib, then eat and drink at night as you need. Sleep, then take suhoor before the next dawn.

On the last day, the fast still ends at sunset; Eid al-Fitr is the next morning, not another Ramadan fast. Long northern summer days make a long fast. Short winter days make a short one. The rule does not change with the season; the hours do. Polar daylight needs a local scholarly timetable, not a guess from a temperate city. Travel across time zones resets “your sunset” to where you actually are that evening.

The fast is from light to light. A clock app is a servant of the horizon, not a replacement for it.

Who is not required to fast

Children before puberty are not obliged. People who are ill, elderly in hardship, travelling, menstruating, pregnant, or breastfeeding are among those traditionally excused or given alternatives such as making up days later or giving a feeding to the poor, depending on the case and the school of law. The details belong with a trusted scholar or imam, not with a holiday page. Forcing a fast that harms a person is not the point of the month.

Taraweeh night prayers are a common companion to the fast. They are not a substitute for it. Charity in the month, including zakat al-fitr before Eid, is a separate duty from the empty stomach. If you are not Muslim and you were only looking up restaurant hours, this page is the worship rule, not a city closing list.