Mystical systems
Ramadan
Direct answer
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar year, in which adult Muslims who are able fast each day from dawn to sunset, taking neither food nor drink.
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At a glance
- Also called
- sawm
- Found in
- Mystical Systems
- Related
- Asceticism, Lent, Yom Kippur, Sufism
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar year, in which adult Muslims who are able fast each day from dawn to sunset, taking neither food nor drink.
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What is Ramadan?
Ramadan is the month in which, Muslims hold, the Qur'an was first revealed, and fasting in it, called sawm, is one of the five pillars of Islam. From first light until sunset those who fast take no food, no drink and no tobacco, and abstain from marital relations. The day begins with a meal before dawn and ends with the iftar, by custom opened with dates and water.
The fast is joined to extra prayer at night, reading of the Qur'an and charity. Islamic law excuses the sick, travellers, the elderly and women who are pregnant or nursing; children are not yet bound, and women do not fast while menstruating. Missed days are made up later, or the poor are fed instead. The month closes with the feast of Eid al-Fitr.
On the tree of the hidden arts: Fasting and discipline.
What sets Ramadan apart
Ramadan turns the day over. Eating moves to the hours of darkness, the evening meal becomes a gathering of family and neighbours, and the mosques fill for long night prayers. The fast is total while it lasts, with not even water taken, and ends completely at sunset, which makes it unlike a diet in both directions. One night near the end, the Night of Power, is held to be better than a thousand months, and many spend the last ten nights in retreat.
- Place in calendar: ninth month of the Islamic lunar year
- The fast: sawm, one of the five pillars; from first light to sunset
- Scripture: Qur'an 2:183 to 187
- Daily meals: suhur before dawn, iftar at sunset
- Night of Power: Laylat al-Qadr, sought in the last ten nights
- Ends with: Eid al-Fitr, and a gift of food to the poor before the feast
Often mistaken for something else: Lent restricts what is eaten over forty days; Ramadan forbids all food and drink by day for a lunar month and lifts the restriction entirely each night.
The story behind Ramadan
The Qur'an sets out the fast in its second chapter, and Muslim tradition dates the obligation to the second year after the emigration to Medina, 624 of the common era. Because the Islamic calendar is lunar, Ramadan moves about eleven days earlier each solar year and passes through all the seasons in roughly thirty-three years, so the length of the fasting day changes over a lifetime.
Why Ramadan matters
Ramadan is the most widely kept fast in the world, and its careful exemptions show how a religion builds mercy into a discipline.
How to read Ramadan
Muslims keep it as an act of worship; others meet the word in calendars, greetings and the working life of Muslim friends.
Ramadan in practice: an example
A Muslim colleague who declines lunch in Ramadan and breaks the fast with dates at sunset is keeping one of the pillars of the faith.
Where readings of Ramadan go wrong
Ramadan is a religious duty kept under its own law and exemptions, not a diet; anyone with a health condition is told by that law to seek advice.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Mystical Systems
- Aliases
- ramadan meaning, ramadan fasting, sawm, what is ramadan, ramadan rules
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
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Common questions
What is Ramadan?
It is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, kept by Muslims with a daily fast from dawn to sunset, extra prayer and charity. It ends with the festival of Eid al-Fitr.
Who is excused from fasting in Ramadan?
The sick, travellers, the elderly and women who are pregnant or nursing. Children are not yet bound, and women do not fast while menstruating. Missed days are made up later, or a poor person is fed for each day.
Why does the date of Ramadan change every year?
The Islamic calendar follows the Moon and is about eleven days shorter than the solar year, so Ramadan falls earlier each year and moves through all the seasons.
