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FastingWorship and the pillars
Fasting in Ramadan is a duty. Muslims abstain from food and drink from dawn to sunset.
In the month of Ramadan Muslims fast, abstaining from food and drink from the first light of dawn until sunset. When they break the fast, they share the iftar meal with their families.
Storytellers (10–12) read the Explorers text, then cross to the Scholars text.
Fasting through the month of Ramadan, one of the five pillars of Islam. The Qur'an prescribes it and says that whoever witnesses the month should fast it, with a number of other days for the sick and the traveller. The fast means abstaining from food, drink and marital relations from dawn to sunset, and reading the Qur'an and giving charity are encouraged in it. Reports and jurisprudence differ on the details of the sighting and the confirmation of the month, so each detail needs a source. The museum presents the fast as the worship of a whole month and does not rule on questions of sighting or fatwa; it refers to the entry on fasting in law.
Overview
Ramadan is the name of the known month — said to be named for the season it fell in when the month-names were transferred, coinciding with the scorching heat (ramad). The month is established by sighting its crescent, or by completing Sha'ban to thirty when sighting fails. 1
The last ten nights
They begin at the start of the twenty-first night and run to the end of Ramadan, complete or short — the name covers nights and days, as in "and ten nights." The jurists agree it is recommended to redouble effort in them — night prayer, alms, reciting and studying the Quran — following the Prophet ﷺ who "when the ten entered would keep the night alive, wake his family, strive and tighten his belt"; and to spend freely on dependents and do good to kin and neighbours; and i'tikaf is emphatically recommended in them, the practitioner entering the mosque before sunset of the twenty-first night. 2
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Connections
- Based on
- Muslim 760 — Whoever fasts Ramadan in faith and hope· Muslim 1079 — When Ramadan comes the gates of Paradise open· Muwatta 194· Muwatta 195· Muwatta 299· Muwatta 300· Muwatta 301· Muwatta 302· Muwatta 303· Muwatta 304· Muwatta 305· Muwatta 306· Muwatta 315· Muwatta 485· Muwatta 491· Muwatta 773· Muwatta 781· Muwatta 785· Muwatta 788· Muwatta 789· Muwatta 790· Muwatta 791· Muwatta 792· Muwatta 793· Muwatta 794· Muwatta 797· Muwatta 798· Muwatta 799· Muwatta 800· Muwatta 801· Muwatta 802· Muwatta 803· Muwatta 804· Muwatta 805· Muwatta 815· Muwatta 816· Muwatta 832· Muwatta 859· Muwatta 860· Muwatta 861· Muwatta 862· Muwatta 863· Muwatta 877· Muwatta 1049· Muwatta 1134· Muwatta 980· Muwatta 1346· Muwatta, Book of Fasting· The five pillars of Islam· Qur'an 2:183· Qur'an 2:185
People and things also explored
Muwatta, Book of Fasting· Muhammad· Salah (the prescribed prayer)· Muwatta, Book of Prayer· Aisha bint Abi Bakr· Abu Hurayra· Muhammad ibn Shihab al-Zuhri· Umar ibn al-Khattab
Sources
- al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.8986
- al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.11623
- Sahih al-Bukhari
- Tanzil Project, Qur'an text v1.1
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Fasting in Ramadan”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/practice/sawm-ramadan/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-25.