Ramadan 2027

Ramadan 1448 AH is expected to begin around 8 February 2027 and end around 9 March 2027, based on standard astronomical calculation — the confirmed start date depends on moon sighting and can shift by a day earlier or later depending on region and the method a local community follows.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar and the month in which fasting (sawm) — one of the five pillars of Islam — is obligatory for adult Muslims who are physically able, from the first light of dawn until sunset each day. Because the Islamic calendar is lunar, Ramadan moves earlier by roughly ten to eleven days every Gregorian year, cycling through all four seasons over a roughly 33-year period.

The date above is a calculated estimate, not a confirmed date. The actual start of Ramadan is determined by the sighting of the new crescent moon (hilal), and different countries and communities follow different methods — some rely on local physical sighting, others on astronomical calculation, and some follow the announcement of a specific country such as Saudi Arabia. This is why it's common to see Ramadan begin on different days in different parts of the world, sometimes by as much as a full day, and why this page will be updated once real moon-sighting announcements begin closer to the date, rather than presenting the calculated date as final.

Ramadan's core practice is straightforward in structure even though observing it well is not: no food, drink, or intimate relations from dawn (specifically, the start of the Fajr prayer window) until sunset (Maghrib), for each of the month's twenty-nine or thirty days. The pre-dawn meal (suhoor) and the meal breaking the fast (iftar) bracket each fasting day, both carrying their own Sunnah practices covered in this site's suhoor and iftar guide. Beyond fasting, the month is associated with increased prayer — particularly the nightly Taraweeh prayers performed in congregation — and with Laylatul Qadr, the Night of Decree, widely held to fall on one of the odd nights in the last ten days of the month and described in the Quran as better than a thousand months.

Exemptions from fasting exist and are treated seriously rather than as loopholes: illness, travel, pregnancy, breastfeeding, menstruation, and old age are all recognized valid reasons, with different rulings on whether the missed days are made up later (qada) or compensated for through fidya (feeding a person in need for each day missed) — the specific rule depends on the reason and, in some cases, on how temporary or permanent the underlying condition is.

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