Encyclopedia of Islam

Ramadan

 

(also Ramazan; 

Puasa in 

Indonesia and Malaysia)

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic 

cal

-

endar

—a time of obligatory 

Fasting

 for all able 

Muslims, and an important time for commemo-

rating Islamic sacred history. The month-long 

fast is the fourth pillar of Islam and requires 

abstaining from all food, drink, and sexual activ-

ity during daylight hours. At the end of each 

day, the fast is broken with a light meal called 

iftar (breakfast). It is a month that fosters com-

munal solidarity and individual piety. m

osqUe

attendance increases at this time, and many 

Muslims fulfill their charitable obligations. In 

addition to ritual fasting, daily 

prayer

, and acts 

of charity, observant Sunni Muslims also perform 

supererogatory prayers known as tarawih at night 

throughout the month. The Shia do not accept 

this form of prayer.

The onset of the month-long fast is deter-

mined visually when the new moon is sighted 

at the end of the eighth month, Shaaban. Simi-

larly, the month ends with the sighting of the 

new moon of the 10th month, Shawwal, and 

the three-day feast of i

d

 

al

-F

itr

 (the breakfast 

feast). First occurring during the summer on 

the pre-Islamic Arabian solar calendar, Ramadan 

became a lunar month with the advent of Islam, 

advancing 11 or 12 days each year relative to the 

solar calendar.