Ramadan 2027 (1448 AH): expected dates and how the Islamic calendar works

Every year someone asks the same question in the family group chat: “So when does Ramadan start?” The honest answer is “probably on this day, possibly the next”, and once you understand why, the uncertainty starts to feel less like confusion and more like part of the rhythm God gave the month.

Below are the expected dates for Ramadan 1448, which falls in early 2027, clearly marked as estimates. After that: why a month has 29 or 30 days, why Ramadan moves through the seasons, why countries sometimes begin a day apart, when to look for Laylat al-Qadr, and a simple plan for the month before.

Expected dates for Ramadan 1448 (estimates)

These dates come from the Umm al-Qura calendar, Saudi Arabia’s calculated civil calendar, checked against the astronomical new moons of February and March 2027. Your local mosque or national authority makes the final call, and a one-day shift is normal. We will update this page with the confirmed dates once the moon-sighting announcements are made.

• Start of Ramadan: the Umm al-Qura calendar puts 1 Ramadan 1448 on Monday 8 February 2027. The astronomical new moon falls on 6 February at about 15:56 UTC. On the evening of 7 February the crescent will be young and visible only from some regions; by the next evening it should be easy to see almost everywhere. Communities that wait for their own sighting may therefore begin on Tuesday 9 February.
• First tarāwīḥ and first suḥūr: the Islamic day begins at sunset, so with an 8 February start the first tarāwīḥ is on Sunday evening, 7 February, and the first suḥūr before dawn on Monday.
• Eid al-Fitr: the Umm al-Qura calendar gives 29 days of fasting and Eid on Tuesday 9 March 2027. The next new moon falls on 8 March at about 09:29 UTC, so that evening the crescent will be only hours old and very hard to see. Where a local sighting is required, Ramadan will likely run to thirty days, with Eid on Wednesday 10 March.

Even Saudi Arabia does not simply follow its printed calendar for Ramadan and Eid. It announces them after reviewing sighting reports, so the official start there can move by a day too.

How the Hijri calendar works

The Islamic calendar is purely lunar. It has twelve months, as the Qur’an states: “Indeed, the number of months with God is twelve months in the register of God from the day He created the heavens and the earth” (Qur’an 9:36). Each month begins with the new crescent, the thin sliver of moon that appears low in the west just after sunset, a day or two after the astronomical new moon.

A lunar month lasts about 29.5 days, so a month always has either 29 or 30 days. The Prophet ﷺ showed this with his hands: he described the month as “like this and this”, meaning sometimes 29 days and sometimes 30 (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1913, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1080). Twelve such months make a year of about 354 or 355 days, roughly eleven days shorter than the solar year.

That difference is why Ramadan arrives about eleven days earlier each year. It began in mid-February in 2026, is expected on 8 February in 2027, and is expected in late January in 2028. Over about 33 years it passes through every season, so each generation fasts both long summer days and short winter ones.

Two more details help. The Islamic day begins at sunset, so the “night” of a date comes before its daytime. And years are counted from the Hijra, the Prophet’s ﷺ migration from Makkah to Madinah. The year 1448 AH began in mid-June 2026.

“Fast when you see it”: the sighting rule

The Qur’an ties the fast to the month itself:

The Prophet ﷺ made the method plain: “Fast when you see it, and stop fasting when you see it. If it is hidden from you, complete thirty days of Shaʿbān” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1909; see also Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1081). So people look for the crescent after sunset on the 29th of Shaʿbān. If it is seen and the sighting accepted, the next day is 1 Ramadan; if not, Shaʿbān runs to thirty days. The same check on the 29th of Ramadan decides Eid.

There is a mercy in how simple this is. Nobody needs an observatory: anyone can follow the instruction by looking at the sky, and it even says what to do when clouds hide the moon.

Sighting or calculation: why countries differ

If the rule is so simple, why do Muslims sometimes begin on different days? The question is not whether to follow the moon, but whose sighting counts and what role astronomy should play, and it is as old as the Companions. Kurayb saw the new moon of Ramadan in Syria on Friday night and later told Ibn ʿAbbās in Madinah, who had seen it on Saturday night. Ibn ʿAbbās kept to Madinah’s own count. When Kurayb asked whether Muʿāwiyah’s sighting was not enough, he answered that this is how the Prophet ﷺ had commanded them (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1087).

Scholars have read that report and the wider evidence in different ways. The main positions are:

• Local sighting: regions with different horizons each follow their own sighting. This is the well-known view of many Shāfiʿī scholars, often supported by Kurayb’s report.
• A sighting that reaches you: many classical Ḥanafī, Mālikī and Ḥanbalī scholars held that a confirmed sighting in one place applies to those who receive the news. This is why some communities today follow Saudi Arabia’s or another country’s announcement.
• Astronomical calculation: some bodies, such as Turkey’s Diyanet and the Fiqh Council of North America, publish dates in advance using astronomical criteria. Many other scholars accept calculation only to rule out a claimed sighting that is astronomically impossible, while still requiring an actual sighting to begin the month.

Each position is held by sincere, learned people. Many scholars advise following the community you live in, so that families and mosques fast and celebrate together. If you are unsure, ask a scholar you trust.

A day’s difference is not a crack in the ummah. It is the same moon, seen from different horizons.

Laylat al-Qadr: the last ten odd nights

The most precious night of the year sits inside Ramadan, and its exact date is hidden on purpose.

The Prophet ﷺ said: “Search for the Night of Qadr in the odd nights of the last ten days of Ramadan” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 2017). ʿĀʾishah described how, when the last ten began, he would stay up at night, wake his family, and work harder in worship than at any other time (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 2024; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1174, 1175). He also said that whoever stands in prayer on Laylat al-Qadr out of faith and hope for reward will have their past sins forgiven (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1901).

Remember that each night begins at sunset. If Ramadan 1448 starts on Monday 8 February, the odd nights begin at sunset on:

• 21st night — Saturday 27 February
• 23rd night — Monday 1 March
• 25th night — Wednesday 3 March
• 27th night — Friday 5 March
• 29th night — Sunday 7 March

If your community begins on 9 February, move each one a day later. Since local starts differ, many people simply give extra effort to all ten nights. One small act you can keep every night, such as two extra rakʿahs or a few minutes of duʿāʾ before suḥūr, serves you better than a heroic effort on a single night you might miss.

Isha in Ramadan under the Umm al-Qura timetable

One detail surprises people who follow Saudi prayer times. For most of the year the Umm al-Qura timetable lists Isha a fixed 90 minutes after Maghrib; during Ramadan it lists it 120 minutes after Maghrib. In practice that gives more time between ifṭār and Isha and tarāwīḥ.

This is a timetable convention, not a new rule about when Isha begins: scholars define that by the fading of twilight. Methods such as the Egyptian General Authority or the Muslim World League work Isha out from the sun’s angle below the horizon, so they don’t change in Ramadan. Our guide to how prayer times are calculated explains these angles and why apps sometimes disagree.

If you use Awwab with the Umm al-Qura method, the app moves Isha to 120 minutes after Maghrib on the days its Umm al-Qura calendar marks as Ramadan, and back to 90 afterwards. The other ten methods are left unchanged.

Using Shaʿbān to prepare

Ramadan goes better when it doesn’t arrive as a shock, and Shaʿbān, the month before, is the natural warm-up. ʿĀʾishah said she never saw the Prophet ﷺ fast a whole month except Ramadan, and never saw him fast more in any month than in Shaʿbān (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1969). Shaʿbān 1448 is expected to begin around 9 January 2027, giving you about four weeks. One simple way to use them:

1. Make up missed fasts first. If you owe days from last Ramadan, Shaʿbān is your last chance before the next one. ʿĀʾishah herself used to make up her missed days in Shaʿbān (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1950, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1146).
2. Add a few voluntary fasts. A Monday or Thursday lets your body practise. Don’t, however, fast the day or two just before Ramadan as a “precaution”: the Prophet ﷺ told people not to, unless it was a fast they already kept regularly (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1914, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1082).
3. Move your sleep earlier. Suḥūr and night prayer are easier if you already wake before Fajr. Shift bedtime by fifteen minutes a week.
4. Plan your Qur’an reading. The standard muṣḥaf has about 604 pages, so one juzʾ (about twenty pages) a day finishes it in thirty days. If that is too much, pick a smaller goal and keep it.
5. Fix your prayer habits now. Our guide on keeping your five daily prayers has practical steps you can start tonight.

It also helps to feed the heart before the month begins. Learning the meaning of a few of the 99 Names of God, or spending five minutes a day on the Knowledge game or the Guidance Cards, can make the verses you hear in tarāwīḥ feel familiar instead of distant.

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