![]() The lunar calendar falls short of the solar calendar by 11 days.Īs a result, Ramadan doesn’t start on the same date each year and instead, over time, passes through all the seasons Why Is Ramadan Celebrated? Ramadan is the ninth month of the 12-month Islamic calendar, a lunar calendar that’s based on the phases of the moon. Ramadan 2023 begins at sunset on Wednesday, March 22, and ends on Thursday, April 20. The pillars include shahada (a declaration of faith: “There is no deity but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God”) prayer (Muslims pray five times a day) zakat (charitable giving) fasting and pilgrimage (Muslims are supposed to make a trip, or “hajj,” to the city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, at least once in a lifetime if they are physically and financially able). In Arabic, Islam means “submission” or “surrender” (to God).Ī series of formal acts of worship, known as the Five Pillars of Islam, are fundamental to the lives of Muslims. Muslims believe there is one all-knowing God, and people can achieve salvation by following his commandments. Muhammad is, according to Muslims, the final prophet in a line of prophets (including Adam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus) who were chosen by God to act as messengers and teach mankind. The revelations were collected into a 114-chapter holy book known as the Quran (or Koran), which Muslims believe contains the exact words of God. 570-632) from the Arabian city of Mecca started receiving revelations from God, or Allah, via the angel Gabriel. was constructed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the 1930s. What's believed to be the oldest surviving mosque in the U.S. The mosque was torn down in the 1970s and later replaced. There are an estimated 7 million Muslims in America, along with Islamic places of worship, called mosques, in all 50 states.ĭid you know? America's first mosque was built by Lebanese immigrants in North Dakota in the 1920s. Islam originated in Arabia and has spread all over the world.Ĭountries with the largest Muslim populations include Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Egypt, Turkey and Iran. As well, since the traditional Hijri calendar is observational instead of mathematical (based on when phases of the moon can be seen) the start dates aren't always perfectly predictable.Islam is the world’s second largest religion after Christianity and has more than 1 billion followers. There are a few different versions, such as the Solar Hijri calendar used in Iran (which is a solar calendar) and the Tabular Hijri calendar (which is mathematically derived, much like how Jewish calendar was changed in the past).ĭue to how the Hijri calendar rotates, the Hijri years are given as well to help clarify the chronology of events relative to the Gregorian calendar. The Hijri year is usually ten days shorter than the Gregorian year. The Hijri calendar is named for the Hijra (or Hegira), the Prophet Muhammad's flight from Mecca to Medina to escape persecution. These holidays move in the Western ( Gregorian) calendar year since the Islamic (or Hijri) calendar is a lunar calendar, instead of a solar calendar. Here are the dates of the most important Islamic holidays through 2030.
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