When Is Ramadan 2027? Dates, Timings, and the Key Nights

Ramadan 2027 is expected to begin on the evening of Sunday, February 7, 2027, with the first full day of fasting on Monday, February 8. The month runs 29 or 30 days depending on the moon, which puts Eid al-Fitr in early March, expected on or around Tuesday, March 9, 2027. Those are expectations rather than fixtures, because the month is confirmed by sighting the new crescent, usually only a day or two ahead.

The Key Dates for Ramadan 2027

If Ramadan begins as expected on February 8, the month falls out as below. One counting rule applies throughout: in the Islamic calendar the night comes before the day it belongs to, so the night of the 27th is the evening beginning at maghrib on the 26th day, not the evening at the end of the 27th. This is the single thing people most often get wrong when planning the last ten nights.

• Sunday evening, February 7, 2027 — the first night of Ramadan, from maghrib.
• Monday, February 8, 2027 — the first day of fasting.
• Saturday evening, February 27, 2027 — the last ten nights begin, from maghrib on the night of the 21st.
• February 27, March 1, 3, 5 and 7, 2027, from maghrib each evening — the odd nights of the last ten, when Laylat al-Qadr is most commonly sought. Each runs until fajr the following morning.
• Tuesday morning, March 9, 2027 — the Zakat al-Fitr deadline, before the Eid prayer.
• Tuesday, March 9, 2027 — Eid al-Fitr expected, or Wednesday, March 10 if Ramadan completes thirty days.

Two caveats worth holding onto. If the crescent is sighted a day earlier or later than expected, every date in that list moves with it — so use it as a planning frame, not a fixed schedule, and follow your local mosque's announcement once the month is confirmed. And no calendar can tell you which night is Laylat al-Qadr. The odd nights listed above are where it is sought, not where it is settled.

The Key Nights and What They Mean

Four points in the month carry particular weight:

• The last ten nights, beginning on the night of the 21st. These are the most spiritually concentrated nights of the year, and the Prophet ﷺ changed his own practice when they arrived.
• Laylat al-Qadr, the Night of Decree, which falls within them. The Quran describes it as better than a thousand months. (Surah Al-Qadr, 97:1–3) The instruction is to seek it in the odd nights — the 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th and 29th. Scholars differ on whether it is fixed to the 27th, on the strength of a narration from Ubayy ibn Ka'b, or whether it moves between the odd nights from year to year. Both positions are held by recognized scholars, which is why the practice of many is to seek it across all ten.
• Zakat al-Fitr, due from every Muslim who has food beyond their immediate needs, for themselves and everyone they support. The schools agree the latest point for it is the Eid prayer (Sahih al-Bukhari, 1503). They differ on how early it may be paid, and on what happens if it is paid late: one view, resting on the narration of Ibn Abbas, is that after the Eid prayer it counts as ordinary charity (Sunan Abu Dawud, 1609), while others hold that the obligation remains a debt that still has to be discharged.
• Eid al-Fitr, on the first day of Shawwal, confirmed the same way Ramadan's start is — by sighting.

What to Sort Out Before Ramadan Begins

The weeks of Sha'ban before Ramadan are traditionally used to prepare, and a few things are genuinely easier to handle early than late. In 2027 that preparation window runs through January and the first week of February.

• Make up missed fasts from last year. Fasts missed for a valid reason are made up as qada, and scholars generally hold they should be completed before the next Ramadan begins. They differ on what is owed if they are not: the Hanafi position is that the make-up alone is required, while the Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali positions add a fidya of feeding a poor person for each day delayed without excuse. Either way, Sha'ban is the last practical window.
• Work out whether Fidya or Kaffarah applies to you. Fidya is for someone who cannot fast and cannot make it up — through chronic illness or advanced age, for example — and rests on the verse permitting a ransom of feeding a poor person. (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:184) Kaffarah is the expiation for deliberately breaking a fast without a valid excuse; the schools differ on what triggers it, with the Shafi'i school confining it to intercourse and the Hanafi and Maliki schools extending it to deliberate eating and drinking. Both are easier to resolve before the month than during it.
• Calculate your Zakat date. Zakat al-Mal is due once a full lunar year has passed on wealth above the nisab. Many people anchor that date to Ramadan; if that is you, it is worth knowing the figure before the month begins.
• Decide your giving plan for the last ten nights. Working out a total in advance and splitting it across the ten nights is much easier done in Sha'ban than on the night of February 27.

The Timings That Structure Each Day

Once the month begins, each day of Ramadan is organized around a small number of fixed points, all of which shift slightly day to day as the sun moves:

• Suhoor — the pre-dawn meal, eaten before the start of Fajr. Taking it is the reported practice: "Take suhoor, for in suhoor there is blessing." (Sahih al-Bukhari, 1923)
• Fajr — the fast begins at the start of the dawn prayer, not at sunrise.
• Maghrib and iftar — the fast is broken at sunset, at the start of the Maghrib prayer. Hastening to break it is the reported practice. (Sahih al-Bukhari, 1957)
• Isha and Taraweeh — the additional night prayers offered congregationally through Ramadan. The number of rak'ahs differs between communities and schools: twenty is the practice across much of the Muslim world and eight is followed elsewhere, and both are supported by scholars.

Because Fajr and Maghrib depend on your location, the length of the fasting day varies significantly between cities and between years. A February Ramadan means shorter fasting days across most of the United States than the summer Ramadans of the last decade.

How We Work Through Ramadan

Our Ramadan programs run across the whole month — food parcels and hot meals distributed from the first days, and Zakat al-Fitr collected and moved through the final ten so it reaches families in time to be useful before Eid morning rather than after it. Timing is the constraint that shapes everything: Zakat al-Fitr has to be with families before the Eid prayer to do what it is for, so the operational deadline sits well before Eid morning.

Common Questions

Why is the date never fixed far in advance? Because a new Islamic month does not begin on a calculated date — it begins when the new crescent moon is sighted. The Prophet ﷺ instructed: "Fast when you see it and stop fasting when you see it, and if it is obscured from you, then complete thirty days." (Sahih al-Bukhari, 1909) That is why Ramadan is announced a day or two ahead rather than years ahead.

Why does Ramadan move earlier every year? The Islamic calendar is lunar, and a lunar year runs about eleven days shorter than a solar year. Ramadan therefore moves earlier through the Gregorian calendar each year — through winter, then autumn, then summer — completing a full cycle roughly every thirty-three years.

Why do different mosques start on different days? Because scholars differ on how the sighting is established, and that difference is what produces different start dates in the same city. Three positions are widely held:

• A sighting anywhere establishes the month. On this view, once the crescent is confirmed sighted somewhere in the Muslim world, the month has begun for everyone.
• Each region follows its own sighting. On this view, visibility genuinely differs by location, so a community follows the sighting in its own region rather than a distant one.
• Astronomical calculation is sufficient. On this view, established calculation of when the crescent is born and becomes visible can confirm the month, which is what allows fixed calendars to be published years in advance.

All three are held by recognized scholars and by established councils, and in the United States you will find mosques following each of them. We do not take a position between them. The practical answer is to follow the announcement of your local mosque, or of the body your community defers to.

So how should I plan? Plan around the expected date, but expect a day of movement in either direction. The approach most families in the United States take is to follow their local mosque's announcement and to treat published calendars as a working estimate for suhoor, work schedules and travel — not as a final answer. Anything with a hard deadline attached, Zakat al-Fitr above all, is worth handling a few days early rather than on the day.

How long is Ramadan? Twenty-nine or thirty days. The month ends when the new crescent of Shawwal is sighted; if it is not sighted on the twenty-ninth night, Ramadan completes thirty days.

When is Eid al-Fitr 2027? Eid falls on the first day of Shawwal, expected on or around Tuesday, March 9, 2027, or Wednesday, March 10 if Ramadan runs a full thirty days. It is confirmed by sighting in the same way as the start of Ramadan.

When should I pay Zakat al-Fitr? Before the Eid prayer, on all the main views — in 2027, before the morning of Tuesday, March 9. How early you may pay differs by school: the Hanafi school permits it well in advance, the Shafi'i school from the start of Ramadan, and the Maliki and Hanbali schools a day or two before Eid. In practice, paying during the last ten days gives a charity time to get it to recipients before Eid morning.

Where Scholars Differ

This article sets out more than one position in several places — on how the new month is established, on Laylat al-Qadr, on the timing of Zakat al-Fitr, on make-up fasts and on kaffarah. That is deliberate. These are long-standing differences between recognized scholars and schools, and we do not take a side between them. For a ruling that applies to your own situation, ask your local imam or a scholar you trust.

Sources

• Quran, Surah Al-Baqarah (2:183–185) — the obligation of fasting in Ramadan.
• Quran, Surah Al-Baqarah (2:184) — the ransom (fidya) for those unable to fast.
• Quran, Surah Al-Qadr (97:1–3) — the Night of Decree is better than a thousand months.
• Sahih al-Bukhari, 1909 — "Fast when you see it and stop fasting when you see it, and if it is obscured from you, then complete thirty days."
• Sahih al-Bukhari, 1923 — "Take suhoor, for in suhoor there is blessing."
• Sahih al-Bukhari, 1957 — hastening to break the fast.
• Sahih al-Bukhari, 1503 — Zakat al-Fitr to be paid before the people go out to the Eid prayer.
• Sunan Abu Dawud, 1609 — Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) on Zakat al-Fitr paid after the Eid prayer.
• The four schools — Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali positions on moon sighting, the timing of Zakat al-Fitr, make-up fasts and kaffarah, as set out in their standard fiqh manuals.
• Ramadan 2027 dates — 1 Ramadan 1448 AH converted against the Umm al-Qura calendar and cross-checked against published 2027 Ramadan calendars. The Gregorian date of each key night is derived from that start date, applying the rule that the Islamic night precedes its day. Subject to sighting.

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