Welcome to Submission (Islam)

1. Introduction to Fasting / Ramadan
2. Full details of Fasting from Quran: Chapter 2:183-187
3. Ramadan: Overview
4. Religious Duties: A Gift From God: Fasting (Ramadan)
5. Spiritual Benefits of Fasting: Ramadan, A Gift of Rememberance
6. Blessings of Ramadan
7. Ramadan : Reflections on Fasting
8. Misunderstandings and Violations in Ramadan
9. The Night of Destiny , another article on the Night of Destiny
10. Medical Benefits of Ramadan
11. Ramadan and Thanksgiving
12. Blessed is the Month of Ramadan
13. Ramadan: The Month the Quran was Revealed
14. Ramadan: A Blessed Month for Fasting to Enrich our Souls
15. Calculator for Fasts begin (dawn) and end (sunset) along with and prayer schedules

Ramadan This Year: August 11 - September 8 (most places)

O you who believe, fasting is decreed for you, as it was decreed for those before you, that you may attain salvation. (2:183)

God willing Ramadan begins on August 11, 2010 and ends on September 8, 2010 for most places.

To be sure, you may wish to check the new moon timings and compare them to the sunset times at your location. For example, if the new moon is before sunset of August 9 at your location, you would fast on the 10th (as is the case for some places in the far Western & Northwestern regions of North America).

Similarly, please check the sunset time at your location and compare it with the new moon time. For example, the last day of fasting is, God willing, September 9 for Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, etc. as the new moon will likely be after sunset in these locations.

The Night of Destiny (Night of Power) will be on September 5th 2010, God willing (assuming you start fasting on August 11).

If you have any questions for the start and end days of Ramadan, please refer to September 2009 issue of the Submitters Perspective.

The new moon times to be used for determining the beginning and ending of Ramadan are given below for UTC (Coordinated Universal time) – also called GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).

3:08 a.m. on August 10, 2010 (UTC/GMT)

10:30 a.m. on September 8, 2010 (UTC/GMT)

To calculate the Ramadan start date - compare the time of the New Moon with the Sunset in your location. If the new moon is born before sunset, you should fast the next day God willing. *
Similarly to determine the last day of fasting - compare the time of the next New Moon with the sunset in your location. If the new moon is born before sunset, the month of Ramadan is complete on that day.

More details on Ramadan including information about why the calculation is done as above (i.e., the beginning of the day is at sunset) is available in an article on Ramadan. Other Ramadan articles are linked at the top of this page.

Phases of the moon data (including the new moon) for 2010 (and beyond) are available at the US Naval Observatory (USNO). All times are in UTC (also known as GMT). To convert to your time zone you can use the Time Zone Converter.

* For the year 2010 and your specific location you can visit the USNO Sun/Moon daily data page. Calculate the information for the date you are interested. Compare the time of sunset with the time for the new moon (in local time).