In the Islamic calendar, Ramadan is the most sacred month The Islamic calendar’s annual dawn-to-sunset fasting month begins on Wednesday, March 22, and ends on Friday, Apr 21, 2023, if you type that into a search engine.
During Ramadan, about 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide refrain from eating or drinking between sunrise and sunset. Because Ramadan is a lunar festival, there are no fixed dates.
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It actually begins when the crescent Moon appears after the New Moon this month and ends when the crescent Moon appears after the New Moon in April.
For some Muslims, Ramadan begins at the first moonsighting from Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Muhammad, on the evening after the New Moon.
It takes at least 15 hours after the New Moon at 17:23 UTC on Tuesday, March 21 for a crescent Moon to become visible.
The 1% crescent Moon will be very difficult to see from Mecca on Wednesday, March 22. It will be very close to the Sun, so it will only be visible briefly just after sunset in the southwestern sky.
As soon as the Sun sets on Thursday, March 23, a 5% crescent Moon will be visible from Mecca. If the sky is clear, amateur astronomers try to see these crescent Moons every month.
Make sure you get a good look at the southwest horizon as soon as the Sun sets on Thursday, March 23 – preferably from a high floor. Binoculars are great, but don’t use them until the Sun is completely gone.
The three-day Eid al-Fitr festival will mark the end of Ramadan on or around April 21. The exact timing depends again on the sighting that evening of a 2%-lit crescent Moon.
Just hours after the New Moon temporarily blocked the Sun to cause a total solar eclipse, that so-called “Shawwal Moon” will emerge from the Sun’s glare.
There will be a total solar eclipse on Thursday, April 20, 2023, crossing the southern hemisphere from Western Australia to West Papua.
The next total solar eclipse in North America will be on April 8, 2024 in Mexico, the US, and Canada, lasting a whopping 4 minutes 27 seconds.
A lunar year separates April 2023’s total solar eclipse from April 2024’s.
Dates of Ramadan in Saudi
For anyone living in Saudi Arabia, Ramadan 2023 will be one of the most important dates in their lives. In the year 2023, Ramadan is most likely to fall on Thursday, March 23. If this is the case, the 30-day fast will end on Friday, April 21, the same day as Eid al-Fitr. It is important to note, however, that religious scholars and a moon sighting committee in Saudi Arabia determine the precise date on which Ramadan begins.
Specific dates can vary, but typically only by a day or two, depending on the moon’s appearance and cycle. When the crescent moon, or hilal, coincides with the astronomical new moon, Ramadan begins.
The March 23 estimate for Ramadan 2023 comes from predictions made by the International Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences. If it turns out to be wrong, it is unlikely to be more than a day or two out – so you’ll have enough time to plan your diaries. As soon as the dates are confirmed, Time Out will keep you posted.
