Ramadan 2028: Date, History & Significance

The month is a time of intensified worship: the nightly tarawih prayers, more Qur'an recitation (many complete the whole book in the month), extra charity, and the seeking of Laylat al-Qadr in the last ten nights. Mosques and markets stay busy after iftar. The fast is not required of the sick, travellers, the pregnant, nursing or menstruating, the elderly and children; missed days are made up later or, where that is impossible, fed to the poor (fidya). Ramadan ends with Eid al-Fitr.

The Qur'an says the fast of Ramadan is prescribed 'as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become mindful of God'. The month is honoured because 'the Qur'an was sent down' in it — the first revelation to the Prophet in the cave of Hira came on a night in Ramadan, remembered as Laylat al-Qadr, 'the Night of Power', said to be better than a thousand months.

Source: The scriptures and calendar of the tradition; community religious practice in India

The Ramadan fast was made obligatory in the second year after the Hijra. Its start and end are set by the sighting of the crescent moon, which in India can lead different regions and mosques to begin on slightly different days. Ramadan is not itself a public holiday; Eid al-Fitr at its end is.

• Wikipedia

1. Ramadan begins when the crescent moon is sighted; that night the special taraweeh prayers start in mosques.
2. Each day begins with sehri before dawn and ends at sunset with iftar, traditionally opened with a date and water.
3. The month is spent in extra prayer, recitation of the whole Quran, and charity; the last ten nights are sought for Laylat al-Qadr.

• Across India. Iftar and suhoor, tarawih at the mosque, Ramadan bazaars and food streets (Old Delhi's Jama Masjid, Hyderabad's Charminar, Mumbai's Mohammed Ali Road, Lucknow, Srinagar); haleem, sheermal and dates.
• Kerala, Malabar. Nombu — the fast — with pathiri, tharikanji (a spiced gruel distributed from mosques at iftar), and community iftars.

• Sehri — A filling pre-dawn meal of parathas, eggs, milk or phirni.
• Iftar — Dates, fruit chaat, pakoras, sherbet and haleem at sunset.

Ramadan begins falls on Friday, 28 January 2028. First day of the month of fasting.

at sunrise

1 Ramadan — the ninth Islamic month, begun on the sighting of the new moon. The Islamic (Hijri) calendar is purely lunar with no intercalation, so its dates move about eleven days earlier through the Gregorian year on a 33-year cycle.

The date is set by the Hindu lunisolar calendar and shifts against the Gregorian year.