Quick answer: Ramadan 2027 is expected to begin on Monday 8 February 2027, with the first fast that morning and the first tarawih prayer the evening before. This date comes from the Umm al-Qura calendar used in Saudi Arabia, and it is an expected date, not a certain one. Islamic months begin with the sighting of the new crescent moon, so the real start depends on what is seen, or calculated, on the evening of 29 Sha’ban, and different countries can end up fasting a day apart.
Why “expected” and not “confirmed”
Every Ramadan date you see for 2027 right now, including this one, is a forecast. The Umm al-Qura calendar is Saudi Arabia’s official civil calendar, computed astronomically in advance for Mecca. On that calendar, Ramadan 1448 begins on Monday, February 8, 2027 and lasts 29 days on Saudi Arabia’s official civil calendar, with Eid al-Fitr following on 9 March. The religious start, though, is still tied to an actual sighting: the same source notes that the religious start is confirmed by official moon sighting on the evening of 29 Sha’ban, which is Saturday, February 6, 2027, which would put the “night of doubt”, the evening everyone watches for the crescent, on Saturday 6 or Sunday 7 February 2027.
This is exactly why every serious Islamic calendar tool hedges the same way. As one tracker puts it, the exact start is confirmed by the sighting of the crescent moon and may shift by a day. The Hijri calendar is lunar, and a lunar month can run 29 or 30 days depending on whether the thin crescent is actually seen (or, for calendar-based countries, falls after the calculated new moon) on the 29th night.
Where the Monday 8 February date comes from
The Umm al-Qura system does not simply guess. It applies a fixed astronomical rule in advance so Saudi Arabia can print a civil calendar years ahead. The date comes from the Umm al-Qura calendar, Saudi Arabia’s official civil calendar, computed astronomically for Mecca using the two-condition rule (conjunction before sunset, moonset after sunset on the 29th of Sha’ban). When those two conditions are met on paper, the calendar prints the next day as day one of the new month. In practice, Saudi Arabia still asks moon-sighting witnesses to testify on the night itself, and the final public announcement can match the calculated date or occasionally move by a day.
A second independent source used by calendar sites, islamicdates.org, lands on the same figure: dates come from the Umm al-Qura calendar for 2027, which is calculated in advance for Mecca and used for civil purposes in Saudi Arabia. A second calendar source, islamicdates.org, also gives February 8, 2027 for 1 Ramadan. That agreement is why 8 February is the figure repeated across trackers, though all of them describe it as expected rather than fixed.
The key dates to put in your diary
These are the Umm al-Qura figures for Ramadan 1448 AH. Treat the whole table as expected, and recheck it in late January 2027.
| Event | Expected date (2027) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Night of doubt / first tarawih | Sunday 7 February, evening | 29th night of Sha’ban; mosques watch for the crescent |
| First day of fasting | Monday 8 February | Umm al-Qura calendar; some regions may begin Tuesday 9 February |
| Last ten nights begin | Saturday 27 February, sunset | Increased night prayer and worship |
| 27th night (widely observed Laylat al-Qadr) | Friday 5 March, evening | Sought on the odd nights of the last ten |
| Last day of Ramadan | Monday 8 March | If the month runs 29 days |
| Eid al-Fitr | Tuesday 9 March | Wednesday 10 March if Ramadan runs 30 days |
For the exact figures nearer the time, and for a date converter that keeps working after this article is out of date, use the site’s own Ramadan dates page and Hijri converter.
Why the Prophet tied the fast to sighting, not arithmetic
The link between Ramadan and an actual sighting of the new crescent, rather than a fixed date, goes back to the Prophet’s ﷺ own instruction. He connected both the start and end of the fast to seeing the moon, with a fallback if the sky was not clear.
صُومُوا لِرُؤْيَتِهِ، وَأَفْطِرُوا لِرُؤْيَتِهِ، فَإِنْ غُبِّيَ عَلَيْكُمْ فَأَكْمِلُوا عِدَّةَ شَعْبَانَ ثَلاَثِينَ
Narrated Abu Huraira:The Prophet (ﷺ) or Abul-Qasim said, "Start fasting on seeing the crescent (of Ramadan), and give up fasting on seeing the crescent (of Shawwal), and if the sky is overcast (and you cannot see it), complete thirty days of Sha'ban
The Quran itself anchors the obligation to presence in the month rather than to a printed date. The verse on fasting makes the test personal: whoever witnesses the month must fast it.
شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أُنزِلَ فِيهِ ٱلْقُرْءَانُ هُدًۭى لِّلنَّاسِ وَبَيِّنَٰتٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْهُدَىٰ وَٱلْفُرْقَانِ ۚ فَمَن شَهِدَ مِنكُمُ ٱلشَّهْرَ فَلْيَصُمْهُ ۖ وَمَن كَانَ مَرِيضًا أَوْ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍۢ فَعِدَّةٌۭ مِّنْ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرَ ۗ يُرِيدُ ٱللَّهُ بِكُمُ ٱلْيُسْرَ وَلَا يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ ٱلْعُسْرَ وَلِتُكْمِلُوا۟ ٱلْعِدَّةَ وَلِتُكَبِّرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا هَدَىٰكُمْ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ
The month of Ramadhan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur'an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. So whoever sights [the new moon of] the month, let him fast it; and whoever is ill or on a journey – then an equal number of other days. Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship and [wants] for you to complete the period and to glorify Allah for that [to] which He has guided you; and perhaps you will be grateful.
Classical commentators read “witnesses the month” as being present in it, while the hadith’s instruction to count thirty days when the crescent is hidden is the fallback every school keeps in some form.
What the four schools say about whose sighting counts
All four Sunni schools agree that the new month must begin with the crescent being seen, not simply calculated, though they differ on how far a single sighting travels and whether calculation can play any role.
| School | Core position | How far a sighting extends |
|---|---|---|
| Hanafi | A verified sighting anywhere is normally accepted for other regions | The global sighting is the position of the Hanafi Madhab. For the beginning and end of Ramadan the Hanafi Madhab considers global sighting not local sighting, local sighting being a weak opinion in the school |
| Maliki | Requires a reliable report, and nearby regions follow a single sighting | Maliki scholars in their stronger opinion hold that close countries should have the same sighting and that each of the far countries, such as the East and West, should have its own sighting |
| Shafi’i | Local sighting is the relied-upon view, with a geographic limit | Local sighting was also a view held by leading jurists of these schools; it is the strongest opinion in the Shafi’i school, with classical limits cited around 48 to 116 kilometres |
| Hanbali | Close to the Hanafi position on accepting a distant sighting | The Hanbali scholar Ibn Qudamah held that if the new moon was sighted by the people of a country, then it is binding to other countries |
A further, more recent question is whether modern astronomical calculation alone, without any eyewitness, can ever fix the date. Leading jurists, including authoritative scholars of the Shafi’i school, such as Shaykh al-Islam Zakariyya al-Ansari and Imam al-Ramli accepted calculation as valid, and this is the opinion some modern North American and European councils rely on. Other scholars hold that sighting with the eye, or a credible report of it, remains necessary, and that calculation can only rule out an impossible claim rather than replace the sighting itself.
Why your own country might differ
Two different debates sit behind the one-day gap you sometimes see between countries.
The first is ikhtilaf al-matali, the idea that the earth has multiple moon-horizons, so a sighting in one region does not bind a far-away one. One detailed account of the debate explains that early Hanafi, Maliki, Hanbali and some Shafi’i jurists agreed a confirmed hilal sighting binds all who receive the news, but later jurists of these schools rejected that and adopted the principle that people are not obligated to follow another locality’s sighting. Today, most Muslim-majority countries in practice follow their own local or national sighting committees.
The second is sighting versus calculation. Bodies such as the Fiqh Council of North America recognise astronomical calculation as an acceptable method for determining the beginning of lunar months, using criteria that somewhere on the globe, at sunset, the elongation should be at least 8 degrees and the moon at least 5 degrees above the horizon. Other mosques and committees, including Hilal Sighting Committee-style groups, hold that determining months based solely on calculations goes against evidence from the Quran and hadith, which emphasise witnessing or sighting the new moon. Both positions are held by serious scholars; this is a live difference of method, not a dispute over who is right or wrong in faith.
For readers in the UK, US, Canada and Australia, the practical effect is that your own mosque, umbrella body or national hilal committee will issue its own announcement close to the date, and it may land on 8 or 9 February 2027. Fiqh Council-linked mosques in North America typically publish calculated dates well ahead of time, while committees that wait for a sighting report confirm only on the night itself.
What to do with an “expected” date now
With just over three months to go, the practical steps are the same whichever method your community follows.
- Put 8 February 2027 in your diary as the working date for leave requests, school arrangements and travel, but hold it loosely.
- Watch for your local mosque’s or national council’s announcement in late January or early February, usually issued a day or two before the fast begins.
- Plan fasting timetables once your local mosque confirms the date; the site’s Ramadan timetables page updates with sunrise and sunset times once dates are fixed.
- Use the time before Ramadan to plan a reading schedule with the Quran in 30 days plan, and to work out zakat with the zakat calculator if your zakat year falls in or near Ramadan.
If your own community’s start date differs from a neighbouring country’s by a day, that gap reflects a genuine, centuries-old difference inside Sunni jurisprudence about sighting and horizons, not an error on anyone’s part. For the exact date each year once it is closer, the Ramadan dates page is kept current, and the Islamic dates page lists the rest of the calendar for the year.
Sources
- Umm al-Qura Calendar: Ramadan 2027 in Saudi Arabia, Ramadan 1448 AH
- Embrace Relief: When Is Ramadan 2027? Dates & Moon Sighting Guide
- Fiqh Council of North America: Announcement for Ramadan-Shawwal 1446 / 2025
- SeekersGuidance: Is It Permissible To Follow the Start of Ramadan According to Saudi Arabia?
- Towards Understanding the Moonsighting Debate in the U.K.
- Jordan Iftaa’ Department: Ruling on Ramadan Moon Sighting Differences
- Is global moon sighting the position of the Hanafi Madhab?
This article explains what the four Sunni schools say and links its sources. It is not a fatwa. Dates are expected dates and depend on moon sighting where you live. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.