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

Ramadan 2013

July 9—August 6 (most of USA, Canada, Mexico, South America)

July 9—August 7 (most of Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa)

O you who believe, fasting is decreed for you, as it was decreed for those before you, that you

God willing Ramadan begins on July 9, 2013 and ends on August 6, 2013 for most of USA (including Hawaii), Canada and Mexico.

Parts of Alaska and north west Canada may begin and end the month of Ramadan a day later July (July 10- August 7th).

Please check with the information available for your location using the Ramadan Calculation Assistant and the US Naval Observatory solar & lunar data.

To be sure, you may wish to check the new moon timings and compare them to the sunset times at your location. For example, when calculating the end of Ramadan, if the new moon is before sunset of August 6 at your location, then that day is your last fasting day.

Similarly, for the first day of fasting, please check the sunset time at your location and compare it with the new moon time. For example, if the new moon is before sunset on the 8th of July, then July 9th is the first day of fasting for you, God willing. However, if the new moon is before sunset on the 9th, then you will fast on the 10th of July God willing.

The Night of Destiny (Night of Power) will be on 03 August 2013, God willing (assuming you start fasting on July 9). If you begin fasting a day later, the Night of Destiny correspondingly moves a day later.

If you have any questions for the start and end days of Ramadan, please refer to September 2009 issue of the Submitters Perspective. A Ramadan start/end dates Calculator is available, courtesy MasjidTucson.org. This utility also gives you a daily fasting begin & end schedule.

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).

7:14 AM (UTC/GMT) on July 8, 2013

9:51 PM (UTC/GMT) on August 06, 2013

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 2012 (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 2013 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