Ramadan
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and the month of fasting. Adult Muslims who are able go without food, drink and intimacy from dawn until sunset each day. It moves about eleven days earlier each year, so it passes through every season.
For this year's dates and HAF's Ramadan appeals, see the Ramadan page.
What the Name Means
The root behind Ramadan carries the sense of scorching heat, of ground baked hard by the sun.
The month was named when the Arabic calendar months were fixed, and at that point it fell in high summer. Because the Islamic year is shorter than the solar one, the name stayed while the month moved. Ramadan now travels right around the seasons, so a British Muslim fasting in December and one fasting in June are keeping the same month in very different conditions.
Scholars have also linked the name to the way fasting is said to burn away wrongdoing. Both explanations are old.
Why This Month
Two verses do most of the work.
The first says that fasting has been prescribed for those who believe, as it was prescribed for those before them, so that they might become conscious of Allah (Qur'an 2:183). Fasting is presented as something older than this community, not as something new.
The second names the month directly: Ramadan is the month in which the Qur'an was sent down, as guidance for mankind and clear proof of that guidance. Whoever is present for the month should fast it, and whoever is ill or on a journey should make up the same number of days later (Qur'an 2:185).
Sitting between the fasting verses is one that has nothing to do with food. It says that when servants ask about Allah, He is near, and answers the one who calls on Him (Qur'an 2:186). The placement is deliberate, and it tells you what the month is for.
Who Must Fast, and Who Does Not
Fasting is required of a Muslim who is an adult, of sound mind, settled rather than travelling, and physically able.
Several groups are excused, and they fall into two kinds.
People who will make the days up later. Anyone temporarily ill. Travellers. Women who are menstruating or bleeding after childbirth. In most views, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. The missed days are fasted at another time of year, which is called qada.
People who cannot make them up at all. The elderly who no longer have the strength, and those with a long-term illness a doctor does not expect to improve. They feed a poor person for each day instead, which is Fidya.
Children are not required to fast, though many families let them try short days to get used to it.
Breaking a fast deliberately, with no valid reason, is a separate matter and carries Kaffarah.
What Breaks a Fast, and What Does Not
Three things break it: eating, drinking, and sexual intimacy, done deliberately during fasting hours.
What does not break it tends to worry people far more than it should.
Forgetting and eating does not break the fast at all. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ taught that someone who forgets and eats or drinks should carry on with their fast, because Allah has fed them. Nothing is owed and nothing needs repeating.
Involuntary vomiting does not break it. Deliberately making yourself sick does.
Swallowing your own saliva, tasting food on the tongue without swallowing, rinsing the mouth, bathing, and swimming are all fine. Unintentional dust, smoke or the smell of cooking break nothing.
Anger, backbiting and bad language do not technically invalidate a fast, but they empty it. The Prophet ﷺ said that whoever does not give up false speech and acting on it, Allah has no need of him giving up his food and drink.
The Three Ten-Day Parts
You will see Ramadan described as three stages: ten days of mercy, ten of forgiveness, ten of freedom from the Fire. It appears on posters, on social media, and across most charity websites.
It comes from a narration of Salman al-Farisi (may Allah be pleased with him), recorded by Ibn Khuzaymah. Hadith specialists classify it as weak.
That does not make it forbidden to use. Scholars of the Hanafi school, among others, allow acting on a weak narration where it encourages good deeds rather than establishing a ruling, and dividing the month this way harms nobody. But it is often quoted as a direct statement of the Prophet ﷺ with no mention of its standing, and that is a different thing.
Take it as a helpful way of pacing a month rather than as something established. Nothing requires you to organise Ramadan in thirds.
The Three Ten-Day Parts
Fasting is the obligation. It is not the whole of it.
Tarawih is the long night prayer offered in congregation through Ramadan. Reciting and listening to the Qur'an carries particular weight, since this is the month it was revealed. Charity increases, and the Prophet ﷺ was described as being at his most generous in Ramadan.
The month closes with its two best-known features. The last ten nights contain Laylatul Qadr, the night the Qur'an calls better than a thousand months. And before the Eid prayer, every household pays Zakat al-Fitr so that nobody spends Eid hungry.
Frequently Asked Questions
These are modern questions and scholars have not settled on one answer. A blood test taking a small sample is generally held not to break the fast. Injections that carry medicine rather than nourishment are usually treated the same way, while a drip providing nutrition does break it. Inhalers are the most disputed, since something reaches the throat; several scholars permit them for asthma, others do not. Ask someone who can hear your own medical situation.
Brushing is fine, and so is a miswak. Keep toothpaste out of the throat and rinse carefully, and avoid swallowing. Mouthwash is best used outside fasting hours where possible, since it is hard to be sure nothing goes down. If something is swallowed by accident, the fast stands.
No, and the Qur'an gives this concession directly. You fast the same number of days later instead. The distance that counts as travel differs between the schools, and a short commute is not travel. Many people prefer to fast anyway when it is easy to do so, which is permitted — the concession is an allowance, not an instruction.
In most of the country, dawn and sunset are clearly distinguishable, so the local times apply however long the day runs. In the far north in midsummer, where night barely arrives, scholars have permitted following the timings of the nearest place where night can be told apart, or those of Makkah. Anyone in that position should ask rather than guess, and anyone struggling with a long day should speak to a doctor as well as a scholar.
Yes, if you missed them with a valid reason and never made them up. Work out as accurately as you can and fast them at a time of year that suits. Some scholars also require a fidya payment alongside, where the delay ran past the following Ramadan without excuse. There is no deadline that closes the door.
What Breaks a Fast, and What Does Not
Three things break it: eating, drinking, and sexual intimacy, done deliberately during fasting hours.
What does not break it tends to worry people far more than it should.
Forgetting and eating does not break the fast at all. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ taught that someone who forgets and eats or drinks should carry on with their fast, because Allah has fed them. Nothing is owed and nothing needs repeating.
Involuntary vomiting does not break it. Deliberately making yourself sick does.
Swallowing your own saliva, tasting food on the tongue without swallowing, rinsing the mouth, bathing, and swimming are all fine. Unintentional dust, smoke or the smell of cooking break nothing.
Anger, backbiting and bad language do not technically invalidate a fast, but they empty it. The Prophet ﷺ said that whoever does not give up false speech and acting on it, Allah has no need of him giving up his food and drink.
You will see Ramadan described as three stages: ten days of mercy, ten of forgiveness, ten of freedom from the Fire. It appears on posters, on social media, and across most charity websites.
It comes from a narration of Salman al-Farisi (may Allah be pleased with him), recorded by Ibn Khuzaymah. Hadith specialists classify it as weak.
That does not make it forbidden to use. Scholars of the Hanafi school, among others, allow acting on a weak narration where it encourages good deeds rather than establishing a ruling, and dividing the month this way harms nobody. But it is often quoted as a direct statement of the Prophet ﷺ with no mention of its standing, and that is a different thing.
Take it as a helpful way of pacing a month rather than as something established. Nothing requires you to organise Ramadan in thirds.
Fasting is the obligation. It is not the whole of it.
Tarawih is the long night prayer offered in congregation through Ramadan. Reciting and listening to the Qur'an carries particular weight, since this is the month it was revealed. Charity increases, and the Prophet ﷺ was described as being at his most generous in Ramadan.
The month closes with its two best-known features. The last ten nights contain Laylatul Qadr, the night the Qur'an calls better than a thousand months. And before the Eid prayer, every household pays Zakat al-Fitr so that nobody spends Eid hungry.
Frequently Asked Questions
These are modern questions and scholars have not settled on one answer. A blood test taking a small sample is generally held not to break the fast. Injections that carry medicine rather than nourishment are usually treated the same way, while a drip providing nutrition does break it. Inhalers are the most disputed, since something reaches the throat; several scholars permit them for asthma, others do not. Ask someone who can hear your own medical situation.
Brushing is fine, and so is a miswak. Keep toothpaste out of the throat and rinse carefully, and avoid swallowing. Mouthwash is best used outside fasting hours where possible, since it is hard to be sure nothing goes down. If something is swallowed by accident, the fast stands.
No, and the Qur'an gives this concession directly. You fast the same number of days later instead. The distance that counts as travel differs between the schools, and a short commute is not travel. Many people prefer to fast anyway when it is easy to do so, which is permitted — the concession is an allowance, not an instruction.
In most of the country, dawn and sunset are clearly distinguishable, so the local times apply however long the day runs. In the far north in midsummer, where night barely arrives, scholars have permitted following the timings of the nearest place where night can be told apart, or those of Makkah. Anyone in that position should ask rather than guess, and anyone struggling with a long day should speak to a doctor as well as a scholar.
Yes, if you missed them with a valid reason and never made them up. Work out as accurately as you can and fast them at a time of year that suits. Some scholars also require a fidya payment alongside, where the delay ran past the following Ramadan without excuse. There is no deadline that closes the door.