The month of Ramadan has just started for millions of Muslims around the world. Around two billion people will fast between sunrise and sunset for 29 or 30 days. In today’s consumerist world, this is a feat, although one that is fading.
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and, despite common misconceptions, is technically not a “holy” month. It is a time that Muslims consider blessed—the month in which the Quran was revealed—but it is not one of the four “sacred” months that carry particular prescriptions, such as the prohibition of war.
The Islamic calendar is determined by lunar cycles rather than solar ones. Its twelve months total roughly 354 days, making the lunar year 11 days shorter than the solar year. Consequently, the lunar calendar rotates around the solar cycle; Ramadan may start in summer, then eventually in winter, autumn, or spring.
This is not an insignificant detail. Having a lunar calendar instead of a solar implies an acceptance of unpredictability and uncertainty within the social framework. It suggests an understanding of humanity in cyclical ways. It also creates a guiding space for female energy—despite modern perceptions—as these rhythms are more closely connected with moon cycles than male cycles.
It also means that Muslims must seek constant harmony with those cycles because, according to tradition, the moon must be sighted to determine the beginning of each new month. The most established tradition within the various schools of jurisprudence—of which there are four Sunni and at least three Shia—is that each new moon must be sighted with the naked eye or, at most, with optical aid. There are other opinions holding that astronomical calculations may be used; however, despite being the method most in use today, this position has less traditional legal backing.
This seemingly small issue—the commencement and the end of each lunar month—is actually of tremendous political importance in the Islamic world. According to most Islamic legal experts, determining these dates is the prerogative of the Emir or Sultan—the political executive power. Because of that, Muslim-majority countries frequently observe two, or sometimes three, different commencement dates.
There are three main poles of influence: Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and North Africa. Saudi Arabia uses astronomical calculations but claims to corroborate them with sightings. Türkiye uses only calculations and does not attempt to sight the moon. North Africa—especially Morocco, Mauritania, and Senegal—relies on eye sightings exclusively, even if they use astronomical calculations as a guide. There are other considerations, like the validity of a global versus a local sighting, but they are of secondary importance to the geopolitical divide.
Every year, this leads to what “Muslim X” calls the “moon wars”: heated debates about which method is “correct.” But beyond the curiosity for casual observers, the side countries and communities take says a lot about the current political climate of the global Muslim community.
Take the UAE, for example. Every year since its creation, it has followed Saudi Arabia’s calendar. This implies a recognition of Saudi Arabia as a religious authority—a title the Kingdom claims due to its control over the Haramain (Makkah and Medina). But this year, in the buildup to Ramadan, several voices within the UAE raised questions about following Saudi.
The argument was that despite the astronomical birth of the moon, it would be impossible to sight the new moon from Saudi territory on the date they claimed Ramadan would start. And those voices were correct. Sighting the new moon as soon as it is born is extremely difficult—sometimes impossible—as it depends on the precise lag between moonrise and sunset. According to specialized astronomical sites, it would not be possible this year. Regardless, Saudi Arabia claimed to have seen it.
But that was actually beside the point. This has happened many times before. The point was that the UAE, for the first time, was challenging Saudi’s religious authority. And this is, of course, related to the larger conflict over regional supremacy in which they are involved. If the UAE had broken from Saudi in starting Ramadan, this would have probably signaled a difficult bridge to rebuild.
Countries in the Organization of Turkic States and the Balkans almost invariably start with Türkiye. This is due to Ottoman influence and the current political outreach of modern Türkiye. In North Africa, Algeria often seeks a different date than Morocco if it can find an excuse, and Egypt will try to accommodate Saudi unless it is a little unjustifiable, like this year.
However, considering that about 30% of Muslims live as minorities—including India’s population of over 170 million Muslims—when these minorities decide to start and finish is highly relevant to whom they consider an authoritative voice.
During the 80s, 90s, and the early 2000s, Saudi Arabia was the dominant voice because of the millions of dollars in oil revenue invested in promoting a particular version of religion. This led to proponents of Saudi Salafism (a modern literalist interpretation) arguing that Saudi Arabia was the only authentic voice of Islam because it controlled the Haramain and was the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad.
There was a clear political agenda: to establish Saudi Arabia as the leading power in Islamic affairs. Given that about 25% of the world’s population is Muslim, this influence is not insignificant. But the strategy did not fare well for two reasons. First, because Salafism — or as it is also known, Wahhabism — contains some creeds and practices that can lead to extremes that most Muslims reject. And secondly, because they tried to make the entire Muslim population into a homogeneous mass, which is actually contrary to a main Islamic legal principle: respect for different cultural norms and customs.
Salafi ideology influenced most Muslim-majority countries to varying degrees, but two notable exceptions were Morocco and Türkiye. It was not that the ideology was absent, but it never became a primary driving force. This was due to two factors: the presence of strong competing traditions that rejected Wahhabism, and the foresight of political leaders who viewed Salafi preachers as a form of political interference. The commencement date of Ramadan became a strong symbol of this resistance.
In countries where Muslims were a minority, the situation was different. Because in most of them there was not —and there is not— a clear political Islamic authority, it was down to the local mosque or community to decide. Here the Saudi dollars showed their power, and during the 90s and early 2000s it was difficult to find local mosques or communities that would not follow Saudi commencement and end of Ramadan (and other important dates of the Islamic calendar). Only those financed by other countries, such as Morocco and Türkiye, would usually take a different stand. A few independent communities, like the one in Cape Town, South Africa, also maintained the practice of local sightings.
This last point is crucial: in reality, there is little difference if mosques follow Saudi, Türkiye, or Morocco simply because they are financed by them. The strongest opinion within Islamic jurisprudence is that moon sighting is primarily a local matter. While there are “areas of reference” (where those in the vicinity follow a confirmed sighting), the concept of a “global sighting” is not well supported historically.
This suggests that Islam has a built-in mechanism to oppose religious monopolization by any single government, supporting the local governance of affairs. However, the global standardization of culture—the expansion of the production/consumption cycle based on the needs of global finance—is also being adopted by many Muslims and Muslim majority countries. This creates a greater push for a set global calendar based on astronomical calculations to avoid disrupting the global economic cycle.
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Fascinating piece! I was unaware of the difficulties with the definition of the start of Ramadan, but it makes perfect sense, given the lunar calendar. I believe most communities discussed are Sunni, correct? Would the same apply to Shia communities? Given the reference above, do they simply opt for the sighting method, or does a similar dispute occur (or does Iran, due to its central place, decide it?)
A friend who was a member of a small observant Muslim community in upstate NY noted that they operated only on the ‘it must be seen by the naked eye’ standard. If the sky was overcast, Ramadan did not start.
Thoughts on USrael attacking Iran, during Ramadan, as a form of fundamental disrespect of a faith?
Seems like the crusading White Christian Nationalists fit their fist into Israel’s gloved fist?
This is also, of course, the beginning of the Christian liturgical season of Lent, also determined by the vernal equinox and paschal full moon, which in turn is derived from Hebrew lunar calendar for Passover. And I guess to some extent historically was determined by the Bishop of Rome giving credence to his primacy in the western church.
Beginning a lunar month with the sighting of the crescent moon goes all the way back to ancient Babylon. Although the court astronomers at the time had surprisingly accurate means to mathematically calculate the start of the next month, they preferred to verify those with an actual view of the moon. During the Babylonian Captivity, the Hebrews picked up the their captor’s calendar (and concept of a debt jubilee as Michael Hudson likes to point out). Today, the names of the months in Hebrew still closely match the Babylonian ones. The Christian paschal calendar developed out of its Hebrew counterpart in the early centuries AD. To this day the modern liturgical calendars of the three abrahamic religions all owe their existence to the polytheistic court astronomers of Babylon.
Thank you, Curro. I learned a lot. Do you suppose there’s anybody “in the room” among the war planners who knows half of what you’ve given us here?
The comparison to the other Abrahamic religions: Judaism follows a lunar calendar also. In Christianity, there is an East/West split on the date of Easter between the Roman Catholics and Protestants of the West and the Orthodox of the East. Part of that is due to the Orthodox still following the Julian calendar while the Western Church follows the Gregorian, but the most interesting difference is that the Orthodox require that Easter, must occur after Judaism’s Passover, calculated by a lunar calendar, because Jesus’s death takes place on Passover. While this is true in the Synoptics since the Lord’s Supper takes place the night before the crucifixion on the Judaism’s Day of Preparation(e.g. Luke 22:7), John places Jesus’s crucifixion the day before, on the Day of Preparation itself, because he styles Jesus as the Paschal Lamb that is slaughtered on the Day of Preparation. (John 19:14) The Western church has not cared when Judaism’s Passover fell, but determined Easter as the first Sunday after the first full moon after March 21 (spring equinox, more or less).
My particular favorite Ramadan local circumstances are for those who live in the high latitudes, where the length of day either defeats the purpose or makes it physically very difficult.
Several local school districts in NJ, including my district, have Eid al-Fitr (end of Ramadan) as a school holiday. For the record, m district also has off for Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and Diwali.
That’s nice they have those holidays off. I know a number of Muslims go off Mecca time for fasting for the latitude issue you described. Also anecdotally, there’s a number of Muslims in Western countries who don’t fast but will apply the concept to other things similar to how Lent works, or simply a liquid-only fast.
> I know a number of Muslims go off Mecca time for fasting for the latitude issue you described.
That is a common solution for this ‘dilemma’, yes. Alternatively, though, there is the view that Allah obviously never intended his Believers to live in such literally god-forsaken places!
It’s not that it’s a ‘God forsaken land’ but yet there is a (non-obligatory) band of geographic area known as ‘the middle kingdom’ which is seen as most conducive to living. This measured by latitude is a band around the earth extending to latitude 50 degrees. (Paris and below and correspondingly the same degree below the equator) !) where night and day are more balanced approximately between summer and winter months. So those in high latitudes that experience darkness or sun above horizon for 3 months are outside of that . It means as indication a middle way not just in life transaction but also geographically .. Which shows also a balance and subtlety which operates within classical Muslim understanding.
This makes me wonder how Muslims in places like the UK and Ireland manage. If it’s necessary to actually see the moon in order for the month to change, that could be problematic given the climate and prevailing weather conditions there.
Perhaps it’s just one of those things that everyone professes to believe while politely ignoring the difficulties, like transubstantiation for Catholics.
Thank you – very enlightening! Wishing our Muslim co-readers a Ramadan Mubarak.
I never understood (and still don’t completely) why, the Muslim world when established its calendar, having the then best astronomers in Eurasia (maybe even better than Chinese ones), did what I thought to be a botched work. For instance, the sighting of the moon can be blocked by a cloudy sky, and it is yet needed to see the moon (even if you positively know that it is there). I mean, they had the knowledge and the means to exactly predict, by mathematical formulae, the whole calendar, they chose not to do so. Curro has showed many of the reasons.
On the other hand, in many areas, the Muslim calendar never substituted other ones in use. Berebers in North Africa had they own names for the months of the Julian calendar (the original roman calendar we are using with minor corrections and we call Gregorian), which was used for agricultural purposes (the Muslim calendar is totally out of synch with seasons), it has been abandoned in modern times by civil Gregorian calendar, so the practice of dual calendar was very extended in Muslim world. In fact, Iran (and Afghanistan) uses its own solar calendar which is slighty more exact than our Gregorian, besides the Muslim one for religious purposes.
And of course, in polar areas (North Russia, Scandinavia, Canada, and so on), if Ramadan happens in Arctic summer there is no night at all (the sun literally doesn’t set, it is always in the sky), the contrary in Arctic winter (night all day), a Muslim simply choses a latitude with normal cycle day/night and within those hours does the fast.
A fascinating article this and very well put together. I had no idea that such a thing as the timing of the commencement of Ramadan could be so complicated or subject to different power centers. I imagine it might be a bit tough for a Muslim scientist stationed at Antarctica at this time of year. That’s when you have to pick your timing according to which center you follow.
A fascinating article. Thank you very much.
This makes the Roman Catholic rules concerning Lent more understandable.
In Lent and evidently Ramadan, the faithful give up something of value to the average person. It is a voluntary sacrifice. This is in great contrast to the ethos of the Neoliberal Dispensation where nothing is foresworn because profit and accumulation are the primary motivations of that creed.
We seem to be returning to the Bronze Age concept of Ba’als. (Perhaps, more correctly, we never truly left them behind.)
Stay safe.
ty. something obvious, yet i never thought of….seeing the world through a lunar v. solar calendar
something i’m going to let brew in the back of my head…
If anyone wants to read more about Islam, then this book: “A Thinking Person’s Guide to Islam” is useful too.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thinking-Persons-Guide-Islam-Essence/dp/1906949301/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2FI02VOI89Q8M&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.6EJVQUxoPoow4aIwzthO_Ndygu7mlkHLnpoH8_2Y2_bYGHA6ScJlJU8fBDGyTRsYPOjGiDYcaQ5aBHgRU-tPYa7o0VJU4EQNL5ld8zT2YpsEaRCLPtSUDgIPB2YfL_gx0wQnKymRCScN9pxl-CHsFhH_TINZlG3tHTKDYJfLLRM4U0Y1xFWP4j5rm-ly5_e9MfjYvyrNIPU9jDZVWv3wqIM6tdaEFfWmFcFn00ssHuY.IaUDy2XeR1DVc5-S3BH4ORL5upU8JOVBzgeiO1GzaF8&dib_tag=se&keywords=a+thinking+persons+guide+to+islam&qid=1771596893&sprefix=A+thinking+persons+%2Caps%2C105&sr=8-1
It was gifted to me last year by a friend / former colleague who happens to be a Jafari or Twelver Shia.
Explains Islam through selecting twelve verses of the Qur’an. Includes exposition of concepts such as Sharia and Jihad, as well as relationships with a secular state in religious terms rather than how western commentators tend to interpret them. I had no idea (for example) that there are multiple strands of Shi’ism.
It’s written by a Prince of the Jordanian Royal Family so is a highly sympathetic exposition, which is also what makes it valuable given the “noise” so often peddled in the West.