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Every year, around 1.9 billion people change the shape of their days for a month. They stop eating and drinking from before dawn until sunset, they pray longer at night, and they give more than they do in any other month. If you have a Muslim friend, colleague or neighbour, you have probably seen it happen and wondered what sits underneath it. This is the meaning of Ramadan in Islam, from the word itself to the morning of Eid.
What the word Ramadan means
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. The name comes from the Arabic root ramida or ar-ramad, which refers to scorching heat and dryness. Classical scholars gave two reasons for the name. The first is simple: when the months were first named, Ramadan fell in the hottest part of the Arabian summer. The second is the one most Muslims will tell you: the month burns away sins the way heat burns dry ground.
Because the Islamic calendar is lunar, a lunar year is about eleven days shorter than a solar year, and Ramadan moves backwards through the Gregorian calendar. In 2027 it is expected to begin around February 8. Over roughly 33 years, it visits every season.
Ramadan in the Quran
The command to fast is in Surah Al-Baqarah, verses 183 to 185. The first of those verses is the one you will hear in every Ramadan khutbah.
Arabic
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ
Transliteration
Ya ayyuhal-ladhina amanu kutiba ‘alaykumus-siyamu kama kutiba ‘alal-ladhina min qablikum la’allakum tattaqun.
Meaning
O you who believe, fasting has been prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may attain taqwa. (Quran 2:183)
Two things in that verse explain the whole month. Fasting is not new to Islam; the Quran says earlier communities were given it too. And the stated purpose is not weight loss or discipline for its own sake. It is taqwa, a consciousness of Allah that stays with you when the month ends.
Verse 185 then names the month and gives its other reason: “The month of Ramadan is that in which the Quran was revealed, a guidance for mankind.” Muslims believe the first verses of the Quran came down to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ through the angel Jibreel (Gabriel) in this month, in the cave of Hira near Makkah. So Ramadan is both the month of fasting and the month of the Quran, and the two are tied together in every Muslim home. Most families try to read the whole Quran, one juz (thirtieth) a day, finishing by Eid. If you read in English, The Clear Quran is the translation most people find easiest to keep up with, and a colour-coded Tajweed Quran helps anyone still learning to read the Arabic.
One of the five pillars of Islam
Fasting Ramadan is the fourth of the five pillars of Islam, alongside the testimony of faith, the five daily prayers, zakat (obligatory charity) and the pilgrimage to Makkah. The Prophet ﷺ listed them in a hadith recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. That is why Ramadan is not optional for an adult Muslim who is able. It is an act of worship on the same level as prayer.
He also described the reward. “Whoever fasts Ramadan out of faith and seeking reward, his previous sins will be forgiven” (Sahih al-Bukhari 38). And: “When Ramadan begins, the gates of Paradise are opened, the gates of Hell are closed, and the devils are chained” (Sahih al-Bukhari 1899).
What the daily fast actually involves
From the first light of dawn (Fajr) until sunset (Maghrib), a fasting Muslim does not eat, drink anything at all including water, smoke, or have marital relations. The Quran is explicit about the hours: eat and drink “until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct from the black thread, then complete the fast until the night” (2:187).
The fast is more than the stomach. The Prophet ﷺ said that whoever does not give up false speech and bad conduct, Allah has no need of his giving up food and drink (Sahih al-Bukhari 1903). So arguing, backbiting, swearing and anger are understood to damage the fast even if they do not technically break it. Ramadan is a month of dropping bad habits, not just skipping lunch.
A typical day looks like this:
- Suhoor, the pre-dawn meal, eaten before Fajr. The Prophet ﷺ encouraged it and said there is blessing in it.
- Fajr prayer, then the day’s work, school or home as normal.
- Iftar, breaking the fast at sunset, traditionally with dates and water, followed by the Maghrib prayer and a meal.
- Taraweeh, the special night prayers held in mosques throughout Ramadan, in which the whole Quran is often recited over the month.
For what to say at sunset, read our post on the dua for breaking fast. For the meal itself, we have Ramadan iftar recipes and a healthy Ramadan meal plan.
Who does not have to fast
Islam does not ask fasting of everyone. The Quran itself, in 2:184 and 2:185, excuses the sick and the traveller and tells them to make up the missed days later. Scholars extended the same mercy, based on the Sunnah, to:
- Pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, if fasting would harm them or the child
- Women during menstruation and post-natal bleeding (they make the days up afterwards)
- Children who have not reached puberty (many start with half days to practise)
- Elderly people and those with chronic illness who cannot fast at all; they feed a poor person for each day instead (fidya)
Someone with diabetes or another medical condition should speak to a doctor who understands fasting before Ramadan begins. Choosing not to fast on medical advice is not a failure. It is following the Quran.
Laylatul Qadr, the Night of Power
Inside Ramadan sits a single night the Quran calls “better than a thousand months” (Surah Al-Qadr, 97:3). Laylatul Qadr, the Night of Power or Night of Decree, is the night the Quran was first revealed. Its exact date is not known; the Prophet ﷺ told us to seek it in the odd nights of the last ten days (Sahih al-Bukhari 2017), so Muslims intensify worship from the 21st night onwards, and especially on the 27th.
This is why the last ten nights of Ramadan feel different. Mosques are fuller, some people stay in the mosque in seclusion (i’tikaf), and the dua of the night, taught by the Prophet ﷺ to Aisha, is on every tongue: Allahumma innaka ‘afuwwun tuhibbul-‘afwa fa’fu ‘anni, O Allah, You are Forgiving and You love forgiveness, so forgive me (Tirmidhi 3513). If you want a structure for those nights, the Ramadan Planner 2027 has a page for each of the last ten.
Charity: zakat and sadaqah
Ramadan is the most generous month of the Muslim year. Many Muslims pay their annual zakat, the obligatory 2.5 percent of savings, during Ramadan because rewards are believed to be multiplied. Beyond that is sadaqah, voluntary giving, which the Prophet ﷺ increased in Ramadan more than at any other time; Ibn Abbas said he was “more generous than the blowing wind” in this month (Sahih al-Bukhari 1902).
There is also a specific charity tied to the end of the month. Zakat al-Fitr is a small, fixed amount of food or its value, given on behalf of every member of the household before the Eid prayer, so that the poor can celebrate too (Sahih al-Bukhari 1503).
How Ramadan begins and ends
Ramadan starts with the sighting of the new moon. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Fast when you see it and break your fast when you see it” (Sahih al-Bukhari 1909). This is why the start date can differ by a day between countries and why the announcement is often made the night before.
When the next new moon is sighted, Ramadan is over, and the first day of the following month, Shawwal, is Eid al-Fitr, the Festival of Breaking the Fast. Muslims gather for a congregational prayer in the morning, wear their best clothes, visit family, give gifts (a Turkish coffee set or a bottle of oud are classics), and eat during the day for the first time in a month. If you are looking for gifts, we have lists for Ramadan gift ideas and Eid gifts for him.
What to say to a Muslim during Ramadan
“Ramadan Mubarak” (blessed Ramadan) or “Ramadan Kareem” (generous Ramadan) at the start of the month, and “Eid Mubarak” at the end. You do not have to be Muslim to say either, and a fasting friend will be glad you noticed. If you want to do more, ask if you can join them for iftar one evening. It is the best way to understand the month, and no one in a Muslim home will ever say no to an extra guest at sunset.
The meaning, in one paragraph
Ramadan is the month the Quran came down, so Muslims fast from dawn to sunset to grow in taqwa, read the Quran they were given, pray longer at night, give more, and seek the one night that outweighs a thousand months. It is a yearly reset of the soul, and the fact that it is hard is the point. Thirty days of doing without makes a person notice what they have, Who gave it, and who around them has less.
