ObservanceMonday, February 8, 2027
The Start of Ramadan
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Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar and the month in which observant Muslims fast from dawn to sunset, one of the five Pillars of Islam. Its first day is not a fixed date but a determination, made fresh each year from a crescent moon that different authorities read in different ways — which is why mosques in the same American city sometimes begin on different days. Because the lunar year runs about eleven days shorter than the solar one, it moves backward through the seasons, returning to where it started roughly every thirty-three years.
History
The fast is prescribed in the Quran. Surah al-Baqarah 2:183 establishes fasting for believers as it was for communities before them; 2:184 provides that those who are ill or traveling make the days up later, while those who cannot fast may feed a needy person for each day missed; 2:185 names Ramadan as the month in which the Quran was revealed and says that God intends ease, not hardship. Tradition dates that first revelation to Laylat al-Qadr, around 610 CE, the night the last ten nights of the month commemorate. The daily boundary comes from 2:187: eat and drink until the first light of dawn can be told from the darkness, then complete the fast until night. Dawn, not sunrise — usually an hour or more earlier, a distinction some reference works get wrong.
The movement through the seasons is a function of the calendar. The Hijri year is twelve lunar months of 29 or 30 days, totaling 354 or 355, counted from the Hijrah of 622 CE. Because that year is roughly eleven days shorter than the solar one, the named months retrogress through the seasonal year about every 32.5 years.
The disagreement over when Ramadan begins is a question of religious law, not of science against superstition, and it is the thing most often described badly. Tradition starts the month on a naked-eye sighting of the crescent, the most conservative position requiring two credible witnesses. In 2006 the Fiqh Council of North America announced it would set dates by astronomical calculation instead, and the Islamic Society of North America adopted calculation the same year. Its criterion, taken from the European Council for Fatwa and Research, is that if anywhere on earth at sunset the moon's elongation is at least 8 degrees and its altitude at least 5 degrees, the new month begins the next day. Other mosques and the Central Hilal Committee of North America still prefer sighting, and the Fiqh Council accepts other opinions and encourages Muslims to follow their local masjid. As Imam Dawud Walid has put it, unity does not equal uniformity.
Timeline
- 622 CE — The Hijrah, Muhammad's migration from Mecca to Medina, becomes the epoch of the Hijri calendar; year 1 begins on 1 Muharram, 16 July 622 in the Julian calendar. The caliph Umar I institutes the era in 639.
- 2006 — The Fiqh Council of North America announces it will set Islamic dates by astronomical calculation rather than moon sighting, and the Islamic Society of North America adopts calculation the same year.
- February 18, 2026 — 1 Ramadan 1447: the Fiqh Council's calculated date and Saudi Arabia's moon-sighting committee land on the same day.
- January 5 and December 26, 2030 — Ramadan begins twice in one Gregorian year, the clearest demonstration of the drift.
How to observe
Two meals bracket the fasting day: suhur before dawn and iftar after sunset. Iftar follows the sunset prayer, is usually eaten with family or at a mosque, and traditionally begins with dates, after the Prophet's custom. Nights bring taraweeh, lengthy congregational prayers. Charity is a hallmark of the month — iftar for the needy, boxes of pantry staples, free communal meals — and zakat al-fitr is an obligatory payment at its end. Laylat al-Qadr, the Night of Power, falls somewhere in the last ten nights, marked on the 27th by Sunnis and the 23rd by Shia. Eid al-Fitr ends the month.
If you work alongside someone who is fasting, the useful thing to know is the law: Title VII requires employers to reasonably accommodate a sincerely held religious practice absent undue hardship, and the EEOC states plainly that coworker objections rooted in hostility to religion, or customer prejudice, do not count as undue hardship.
Frequently asked questions
When does Ramadan begin?
Not something settled far ahead. The Fiqh Council of North America publishes a calculated date each year, while national committees and many individual mosques wait for a sighting. Any Ramadan date printed years out, including the one in the table on this page, is a projection rather than an announcement.
Why does the date move?
Twelve lunar months come to 354 or 355 days, about eleven short of the solar year, so Ramadan arrives ten to twelve days earlier each Gregorian year and works through every season in roughly 33 years. It falls twice in 2030.
Is it really no food or water all day?
Both, from dawn to sunset, along with marital relations during fasting hours. But Muslims eat every day of Ramadan, before dawn and after sunset; the common line that they go a month without eating is simply wrong.
Who is exempt from fasting?
Children, the ill, travelers, pregnant and nursing women, the elderly, and people with disabilities or mental health conditions. These are provisions of the religion rather than loopholes: the Quran allows the days to be made up later, or a poor person fed for each one missed.
When is The Start of Ramadan?
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | February 8 | Monday |
| 2028 | January 28 | Friday |
| 2029 | January 16 | Tuesday |
| 2030 | January 5 | Saturday |
| 2031 | December 15 | Monday |
Sources
- Quran.com, Surah al-Baqarah 2:183–187 — https://quran.com/2/183-187 → fasting prescribed as it was for communities before; the make-up provision for the ill and traveling; feeding a needy person for each day missed; Ramadan as the month of the Quran's revelation; God intending ease, not hardship; the dawn-to-night boundary and marital relations during the nights of fasting. (Verse numbers cited; the English wording is not quoted here because the page does not name its translator.)
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Ramadan — https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ramadan → Ramadan as the ninth month; the tradition that Muhammad received the first revelations of the Quran during it; fasting established in the Quran.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Ramadan (summary) — https://www.britannica.com/summary/Ramadan → the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar; abstention during daylight with meals before dawn and after sunset; the fast as one of the Five Pillars; Ramadan moving through every season over about 33 years; the month ending with Eid al-Fitr.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Islamic calendar — https://www.britannica.com/science/Islamic-calendar → the 354- or 355-day year with months beginning about at the new moon; the months retrogressing through the solar year every 32.5 years; the era counted from the Hijrah of 622 CE, instituted by Umar I in 639, with year 1 beginning 1 Muharram, 16 July 622 in the Julian calendar.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Are there exemptions for fasting during Ramadan? — https://www.britannica.com/question/Are-there-exemptions-for-fasting-during-Ramadan → exemptions for pregnant or nursing women, children, the elderly, the ill, people with disabilities, travelers and people with mental health conditions; missed days made up later.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, iftar — https://www.britannica.com/topic/iftar → iftar eaten at sundown after the sunset prayer, often as a family or mosque gathering, and typically started with dates following the custom of the Prophet.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, tarawih — https://www.britannica.com/topic/tarawih → taraweeh as lengthy prayers offered congregationally during Ramadan.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Laylat al-Qadr — https://www.britannica.com/topic/Laylat-al-Qadr → the Night of Power falling in the last ten nights, commonly marked on the 23rd by Shia and the 27th by Sunni Muslims; the first revelation through the angel Gabriel dated to around 610 CE.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eid al-Fitr — https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eid-al-Fitr → Eid al-Fitr marking the end of Ramadan.
- Fiqh Council of North America, Ramadan 1447 / 2026 announcement — https://fiqhcouncil.org/ramadan-2026-announcement/ → the first day of Ramadan 1447 as Wednesday, February 18, 2026; taraweeh beginning the night before; the European Council for Fatwa and Research criterion of at least 8 degrees elongation and 5 degrees altitude at sunset somewhere on earth.
- Fiqh Council of North America, Ramadan 1446 / 2025 announcement — https://fiqhcouncil.org/ramadan-2025-announcement/ → astronomical calculation recognized as an acceptable method; acceptance of the validity of other opinions and encouragement to follow one's local masjid; Makkah used only for Eid al-Adha.
- Fiqh Council of North America, Amount of Fidyah and Zakat al-Fitr — https://fiqhcouncil.org/fidyah-and-zakat-al-fitr/ → qada for a fast missed for a temporary reason such as illness or travel, against fidyah where the fast can never be made up; zakat al-fitr as an obligatory payment at the end of Ramadan; the fidyah grounded in Quran 2:184.
- Spokesman-Review, Setting the holiday (August 26, 2006) — https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2006/aug/26/setting-the-holiday/ → the Fiqh Council of North America announcing in 2006 that it would use astronomical calculation rather than moon sighting; the traditional requirement of two credible witnesses; scholars disagreeing over local sightings against Saudi sightings.
- Religion News Service, Reconciling the divide in Muslim life over when the moon appears (June 14, 2024) — https://religionnews.com/2024/06/14/reconciling-the-divide-in-muslim-life-over-when-the-moon-appears/ → the Islamic Society of North America deciding in 2006 to use astronomical calculations; moon sighting still preferred by other mosques and scholars; the Central Hilal Committee of North America's appeal for sighting; Imam Dawud Walid's "Unity does not equal uniformity."
- Associated Press (Mariam Fam), What is Ramadan and how do Muslims observe the Islamic holy month? (March 10, 2024), via PBS NewsHour — https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/what-is-ramadan-and-how-do-muslims-observe-the-islamic-holy-month → Islamic authorities declaring sightings differently or using different methods, so communities begin on different days; no sip of water during fasting hours; exemption for illness and travel with days made up later; charity as a hallmark of the month, including iftar for the needy and pantry boxes.
- Council on American-Islamic Relations, An Employer's Guide to Islamic Religious Practices — https://www.cair.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/An-Employer's-Guide-to-Islamic-Religious-Practices.pdf → Ramadan as the ninth lunar month; refraining from eating, drinking and smoking from break of dawn to sunset; travelers exempt; fasting employees eating after sundown or before dawn.
- Council on American-Islamic Relations, Ramadan Toolkit 2026 — https://www.cair.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/RamadanToolkit2026.pdf → the fast as abstaining from food, drink and marital relations from dawn (fajr) until sunset (maghrib), citing Quran 2:183.
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Religious Accommodation Fact Sheet (October 31, 2024) — https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2024-11/20241031_ReligiousAccommodationFactSheet_A.pdf → Title VII's requirement to reasonably accommodate sincerely held religious practice; coworker objections based on hostility to religion and customer prejudice not constituting undue hardship; schedule changes and workspace for prayer among the listed accommodations.
- Al Jazeera, Ramadan 2026: Fasting hours, suhoor and iftar times around the world (February 15, 2026) — https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/15/ramadan-2026-fasting-hours-suhoor-and-iftar-times-around-the-world → Ramadan starting 10 to 12 days earlier each Gregorian year with the lunar calendar about 11 days shorter; months of 29 or 30 days; Saudi Arabia's committee sighting the crescent on February 17 and announcing fasting from February 18, 2026; Ramadan beginning twice in 2030, on January 5 and December 26.
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