Fasting during Ramadan begins from sun-up until sunset. Throughout the day, Muslims must abstain from eating, drinking and physical intimacy. When does this holy month commence? Sh. Abdullah Oduro explains different methods that determine the first day of fasting and gives advice on how to approach the issue of varying start dates across the Muslim world.

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Episode Transcript

(Note: the transcript has been edited for clarity)

0:00 - 0:13 Introduction

Assalamu Alaikum wa rahmatullahi wabarakatuh. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you all. I'm Abdullah Oduro and welcome.

0:14 - 0:50 When is Ramadan?

This is an interesting issue that we're going to talk about. It's one of the w's of Ramadan but it's a w of Ramadan that you're going to encounter. But upon encountering this, don't let this shake your conviction or your love of the community or the Muslim ummah. When is Ramadan? You're probably sitting with a friend now. A person that's a seasoned Muslim or someone that knows exactly what i'm talking about with these three words. When is ramadan? This is a trial or a test for us. We can use the word challenge for us as Muslims.

0:51 - 1:46 When does Ramadan start?

Let's start off with what we all know. Firstly, Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Now Ramadan is 29 or 30 days, depending on the rotation of the moon and when it is spotted. Ramadan is from sun up to sun down, meaning that upon the entrance of the Fajr prayer is when one should start to fast. After the entrance of the time of the Fajr prayer, the time that you see on the prayer schedule (for example) if it says 6.50, then by 6.50 you should stop eating, stop drinking, and you cannot have intimacy with your mate all the way till the Marghrib prayer. When the Maghrib or sundown prayer comes in, that's when you can commence to eating drinking and being with your spouse intimately. You should stop eating and drinking from that time span from Fajr to Maghrib on a daily basis, for 30 days within this ninth month of the Islamic calendar.

1:47 - 2:37 Sighting the Ramadan moon

How does one determine the entrance of the month? Now as we know with the lunar calendar, the beginning of the month is spotted by the crescent moon. When we see in the sky that there's a crescent moon, that is when the month starts. Now typically it should be a trustworthy individual that sees the entrance of the month of Ramadan, being (sighting) the crescent moon. But nowadays, within your masjid, your imam, or there are organizations that are trustworthy, that are well known and reliable - they can tell you when the entrance of the moon comes in. That is done by an imam or the likes of them. So when you are told by a trustworthy individual that the entrance of ramadan has come in, that's when the next day, or the next day at Fajr prayer you start to fast.

2:38 - 3:47 Different Ramadan start dates

Now what you're going to find as a side point, as an important point, is that you will find Muslims they may not start on the same day. Do not let this discourage you from fasting the month of Ramadan. Sometimes we'll say that Muslims are not unified. You know I have a calendar and I need to know when to tell my job when I fast. You'll find certain opinions of scholars that say, "no we have to see it and we can't know until the night before." "Basically after the night prayer on Monday, we'll be able to tell you if you're able to fast on Tuesday." So that's where you may find that some people have that opinion. You may find others have the opinion that say "look, we need to determine this 12 months in advance to know when we can take our vacations etc." Therefore we look on the calendar and we go by calculations - by calculating through science and seeing when the birth and the death of the moon take place. So we approximate, and nowadays we can be exact to find out when the birth of the moon will happen. So we know that Ramadan will be on the 28th of June and we are in January, for instance.

3:48 - 4:26 Allah knows best

My advice to you is go with your local community or go with the individuals that you trust in your local community that have knowledge and taqwa and what you can perceive as mindfulness and fear of Allah. Follow them and insha'allah Allah is the all Knowledgeable, He's the all-Wise, He's the all-Merciful and He is Thankful for you that you are practicing this fasting in the month of Ramadan. Whether you fasted a day in advance or you had your eid on the day after that, Allah knows best. The most important thing is that you are trying.

4:27 - 5:57 Eid - the end of Ramadan

The conclusion of Ramadan is characterized by what is called the Eid, e-i-d. Eid linguistically means to repeat or to be consistent, to come one after the other. So this obviously will be every year. The Eid is the day after you conclude your Ramadan. So if it is the 30th day - so let's say you break your fast on the last day at Maghrib, at Maghrib prayer you break your fast. You will be told this is the last day of Ramadan. Tomorrow will be Eid. So that next morning, let's say you break your fast on Friday night; Saturday morning is Eid. That is when you would go and pray the Eid prayer, and go and eat the rest of the day. What's important is that you celebrate on this day. This is when you want to give presents to your friends, your family, your neighbours, where you can slaughter an animal and you can go and distribute it. There's also what is called the zakat al-fitr. We talked about that al-zakat. So in this month of Ramadan we ask Allah to make you of those that are sincere. We ask Him to make you of those that are diligent in finding out when the entrance of this month comes in, and when it ends. We ask Him to make you of those upon this celebration of the month of Ramadan - that you will be those that celebrate it in praying and in fasting and in thankfulness.

Assalamu Alaikum wa rahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Thank you.