Ramadan 2023: Date, significance, and history

This year, Ramadan is expected to be celebrated from April 21, (Friday) to April 22 (Saturday). Anyway, the date will vary as per the moon's sighting.

Hyderabad: Ramadan, also known as Ramazan, Ramzan, Ramadhan, or Ramathan, is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. As a commemoration of Muhammad’s first revelation, the annual observance of Ramadan is regarded as one of the Five Pillars of Islam and lasts twenty-nine to thirty days, from one sighting of the crescent moon to the next. This year, Ramadan is expected to be celebrated from April 21, (Friday) to April 22 (Saturday). Anyway, the date will vary as per the moon’s sighting.

On this day, people will wake up early in the morning, wear new clothes, offer prayers in the mosque, and give Zakat or alms to the poor. After prayers, family members will gather together, prepare special dishes, and have meals with loved ones. The special dishes of Ramadan are haleem, nihari, kebabs, and seviyan.

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Muslims hold that all scripture was revealed during Ramadan, with the scrolls of Abraham, Torah, Psalms, Gospel, and Quran having been handed down on the first, sixth, twelfth, thirteenth (in some sources, eighteenth) and twenty-fourth Ramadans, respectively. Muhammed is said to have received his first Quranic revelation on Laylat al-Qadr, one of five odd-numbered nights that fall during the last ten days of Ramadan.