Ramadan 1448 begins around 8 February 2027. The year after, it begins around 28 January, and the year after that around 16 January. Ramadan is not tied to a season. It travels through the year, and in Iceland, where the day lasts anywhere from four to twenty-one hours, that matters a great deal.
The moon, not the sun
The Islamic months follow the moon.
۞يَسۡـَٔلُونَكَ عَنِ ٱلۡأَهِلَّةِۖ قُلۡ هِيَ مَوَٰقِيتُ لِلنَّاسِ وَٱلۡحَجِّۗ وَلَيۡسَ ٱلۡبِرُّ بِأَن تَأۡتُواْ ٱلۡبُيُوتَ مِن ظُهُورِهَا وَلَٰكِنَّ ٱلۡبِرَّ مَنِ ٱتَّقَىٰۗ وَأۡتُواْ ٱلۡبُيُوتَ مِنۡ أَبۡوَٰبِهَاۚ وَٱتَّقُواْ ٱللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تُفۡلِحُونَ
They ask you, [O Muhammad], about the new moons. Say, "They are measurements of time for the people and for Hajj." And it is not righteousness to enter houses from the back, but righteousness is [in] one who fears Allah. And enter houses from their doors. And fear Allah that you may succeed
Each month begins when the new moon is seen, and the Prophet ﷺ tied the fast to it:
صُومُوا لِرُؤْيَتِهِ، وَأَفْطِرُوا لِرُؤْيَتِهِ، فَإِنْ غُبِّيَ عَلَيْكُمْ فَأَكْمِلُوا عِدَّةَ شَعْبَانَ ثَلاَثِينَ
“Fast when you see it, and stop fasting when you see it. If it is hidden from you by cloud, complete thirty days of Shaʿbān.”
Twelve lunar months make 354 or 355 days, about eleven days shorter than the solar year. So Ramadan begins about eleven days earlier each year, and after 33 years it has come full circle.
33 years in Reykjavík
The fast runs from Fajr to Maghrib, and in Iceland that changes more than almost anywhere.
The chart shows the longest fast of each Ramadan in Reykjavík over the next 33 years, calculated by the same method as the prayer times on this site.
- 2027: Ramadan in February and March. The fast lasts from about 10 to 13 hours.
- Around 2032: Ramadan in December, in the darkest weeks of winter. The longest fast is under seven and a half hours.
- Around 2048–2050: Ramadan in June, around the summer solstice. Fajr is at about two in the morning and the sun sets just after midnight: the fast is nearly 22 hours.
- 2060: Ramadan is back in February.
Someone who starts fasting at fifteen will have fasted in every Icelandic season before turning fifty: in the darkness, in the spring light and under the midnight sun.
When the day is too long
Long summer days are not a new problem. In 2015, when Ramadan fell in June, Muslims in Iceland fasted about 22 hours a day, and scholars have long discussed the far north.
The general principle among scholars is to fast by local times where the sun sets and rises, and that someone who cannot complete the fast without real harm may break it and make it up later, like someone who is ill. The Muslim World League Fiqh Academy (9th session, 1406 AH) divided the high latitudes into zones, and Iceland falls in a zone where Fajr and Isha are estimated from 45° latitude when they cannot be observed. The mosques in Iceland have followed either local times or the times of other European countries. Which way each person goes is a question for them, their mosque and their imam; this site takes no position on it.
The foundation is the same for everyone, and it stands in the fasting verse itself:
شَهۡرُ رَمَضَانَ ٱلَّذِيٓ أُنزِلَ فِيهِ ٱلۡقُرۡءَانُ هُدٗى لِّلنَّاسِ وَبَيِّنَٰتٖ مِّنَ ٱلۡهُدَىٰ وَٱلۡفُرۡقَانِۚ فَمَن شَهِدَ مِنكُمُ ٱلشَّهۡرَ فَلۡيَصُمۡهُۖ وَمَن كَانَ مَرِيضًا أَوۡ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٖ فَعِدَّةٞ مِّنۡ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرَۗ يُرِيدُ ٱللَّهُ بِكُمُ ٱلۡيُسۡرَ وَلَا يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ ٱلۡعُسۡرَ وَلِتُكۡمِلُواْ ٱلۡعِدَّةَ وَلِتُكَبِّرُواْ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا هَدَىٰكُمۡ وَلَعَلَّكُمۡ تَشۡكُرُونَ
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