What is Ramadan? The ninth month of the Islamic year and the month in which fasting is obligatory — the month the Quran was revealed, a school of self-restraint and God-consciousness, and the greatest season of mercy in the Muslim year.
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar and the month in which fasting (sawm) is made obligatory upon every adult Muslim. Allah ﷻ says: “The month of Ramadan is that in which the Quran was revealed — guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. So whoever sights the month, let him fast it” (2:185). Ramadan is not merely a month of abstaining from food and drink; it is the greatest season of the Muslim year — a month-long school of self-restraint, God-consciousness, worship, and mercy, in which the whole community turns together toward Allah ﷻ. It is the month the Quran began to be revealed, the month containing the Night of Decree that is better than a thousand months, and the month whose fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam. To understand what Ramadan is — why it is fasted, and what it is for — is to understand one of the central experiences of the whole religion.
What Ramadan Is and Why Muslims Fast
The fast of Ramadan is the abstention from food, drink, and intimate relations from the break of dawn (fajr) until sunset (maghrib), for the whole of the month, undertaken as an act of worship and obedience to Allah ﷻ. But the purpose of the fast is not hunger; the Quran states it plainly: “O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may attain God-consciousness (taqwa)” (2:183). The aim is taqwa — the God-consciousness that the fast trains by teaching a person to restrain even lawful desires for the sake of Allah ﷻ, and thereby to master the harder restraint of the unlawful. The one who can leave food and water — which are permitted — from dawn to sunset out of obedience to Allah ﷻ has strengthened the very faculty of self-control that guards against sin all year. The Prophet ﷺ also warned that the fast is not merely physical: “whoever does not give up false speech and acting upon it, Allah ﷻ has no need of his leaving his food and drink” (Bukhari 1903) — so the fast of the tongue and the limbs from sin is as much a part of Ramadan as the fast of the stomach. Ramadan is thus a total training of the self: the body fasts, the tongue is guarded, the nights are given to prayer, and the whole person is oriented, for a month, toward Allah ﷻ.
The Blessings and Worship of Ramadan
Ramadan is wrapped in mercy and multiplied reward unlike any other time of year. The Prophet ﷺ described its opening: “when Ramadan begins, the gates of Paradise are opened, the gates of the Fire are closed, and the devils are chained” (Bukhari 1899). Its fasting is promised immense reward, for Allah ﷻ says in a hadith qudsi, “every deed of the son of Adam is for him except fasting; it is for Me, and I shall reward it” (Bukhari 1904). Its nights are given to the special prayer of taraweeh, in which the Quran is recited at length, and to seeking the Night of Decree (Laylat al-Qadr) in the last ten nights — a single night “better than a thousand months” (97:3), the seeking of which the Prophet ﷺ intensified, staying awake, waking his family, and secluding himself in i‘tikaf. It is a month of Quran, of charity (the Prophet ﷺ was most generous in Ramadan, “more generous than the blowing wind,” Bukhari 6), of forgiveness (“whoever fasts Ramadan out of faith and seeking reward, his previous sins are forgiven,” Bukhari 38), and of communal worship as the whole ummah fasts and prays together. Ramadan ends with the celebration of Eid al-Fitr, a day of gratitude and joy for the completion of the fast. To fast Ramadan well is therefore to pass through the greatest annual opportunity the religion offers: a month in which sins are forgiven, the self is retrained, the Quran is renewed, and the believer emerges, if they have used it well, purified and drawn nearer to Allah ﷻ than at any other time of the year.
Fast for taqwa, not merely from food. Keep the true purpose of the fast in view: “that you may attain God-consciousness” (2:183). The fast trains taqwa by teaching restraint of even lawful desires for Allah’s ﷻ sake, strengthening the self-control that guards against the unlawful all year. And fast with the whole self, not just the stomach: guard the tongue and limbs from sin, for the Prophet ﷺ said Allah ﷻ has no need of a fast from food that is not also a fast from false speech and wrongdoing (Bukhari 1903).
Fill the month with its worship. Ramadan is a season of multiplied reward and mercy — its gates of Paradise opened and devils chained (Bukhari 1899), its fasting rewarded by Allah ﷻ Himself (Bukhari 1904). Fill it accordingly: pray the nights in taraweeh, renew your bond with the Quran, give generously as the Prophet ﷺ did (Bukhari 6), and seek forgiveness, for whoever fasts it in faith has his past sins forgiven (Bukhari 38). Do not let the greatest season of the year pass as mere hunger; use it as the total worship it was meant to be.
Chase the Night of Decree in the last ten nights. Do not let Ramadan’s greatest treasure slip by: the Night of Decree (Laylat al-Qadr), “better than a thousand months” (97:3), hidden in the last ten nights. Intensify your worship then as the Prophet ﷺ did — staying awake, waking your family, seeking it in prayer and du‘a, and secluding yourself in i‘tikaf where you can. A single night caught well outweighs a lifetime’s worth of worship, and it is the summit of the whole month’s striving.
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic year and the month in which fasting is obligatory — the month the Quran was revealed (2:185), and the greatest season of mercy, worship, and self-training in the whole year. Its fast is not about hunger but taqwa (2:183), a total discipline of body, tongue, and limbs; and it is wrapped in blessing — the gates of Paradise opened (Bukhari 1899), the fast rewarded by Allah ﷻ Himself (Bukhari 1904), past sins forgiven (Bukhari 38), and the Night of Decree better than a thousand months hidden in its last ten nights (97:3). Fast for taqwa and not merely from food, fill the month with its worship, and chase the Night of Decree — and pass through the greatest annual opportunity the religion offers, emerging purified and drawn nearer to Allah ﷻ than at any other time of the year.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Ramadan?
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar and the month in which fasting (sawm) is obligatory upon every adult Muslim — one of the five pillars of Islam. Allah ﷻ says, “the month of Ramadan is that in which the Quran was revealed… so whoever sights the month, let him fast it” (2:185). It is the greatest season of the Muslim year: a month-long school of self-restraint, God-consciousness, worship, and mercy, containing the Night of Decree that is better than a thousand months, in which the whole community turns together toward Allah ﷻ.
Why do Muslims fast in Ramadan?
To attain God-consciousness (taqwa): “O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you… that you may attain taqwa” (2:183). The purpose is not hunger but the training of self-restraint — learning to leave even lawful food and drink from dawn to sunset for the sake of Allah ﷻ, and thereby strengthening the self-control that guards against the unlawful all year. It is also obedience to a command and a pillar of Islam, undertaken in faith and seeking reward, through which past sins are forgiven (Bukhari 38).
What does the Ramadan fast involve?
Abstaining from food, drink, and intimate relations from the break of dawn (fajr) until sunset (maghrib), for the whole month, as an act of worship. But it is more than physical: the Prophet ﷺ warned that “whoever does not give up false speech and acting upon it, Allah ﷻ has no need of his leaving his food and drink” (Bukhari 1903). So the fast of the tongue and limbs from sin is as much a part of Ramadan as the fast of the stomach — a total training of the self toward Allah ﷻ.
What is special about the last ten nights of Ramadan?
They contain the Night of Decree (Laylat al-Qadr), which the Quran calls “better than a thousand months” (97:3) — a single night whose worship outweighs a lifetime’s. Its exact night is hidden among the last ten (often sought on the odd nights), so the Prophet ﷺ intensified his worship throughout them: staying awake, waking his family, and secluding himself in i‘tikaf. Seeking Laylat al-Qadr in prayer and du‘a during these nights is the summit of the whole month’s striving.
What are the rewards and blessings of Ramadan?
Immense. The Prophet ﷺ said that when Ramadan begins, “the gates of Paradise are opened, the gates of the Fire are closed, and the devils are chained” (Bukhari 1899); that fasting is rewarded by Allah ﷻ Himself (Bukhari 1904); and that “whoever fasts Ramadan out of faith and seeking reward, his previous sins are forgiven” (Bukhari 38). It is a month of Quran, of multiplied charity, of forgiveness, and of the Night of Decree — the greatest annual opportunity the religion offers to be purified and drawn nearer to Allah ﷻ.