How to Muslim
Fasting Ramadan is the fourth pillar of Islam. From the break of dawn until sunset you give up food, drink and intimacy, and you work on your character alongside it. Everything else about your day stays normal. See how it fits with the other pillars — salah stays five times a day through Ramadan too, see the full prayer guide if you need a refresher, and it is worth knowing your Zakat is calculated separately from this fast.
O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous.
Eat before Fajr comes in. The sunnah is to leave it late rather than early, and even a sip of water counts as having taken it.
Break your fast as soon as Maghrib comes in, before you pray. Fresh dates if you have them, dried dates if not, and a few sips of water if there are no dates at all.
The meal after Maghrib, usually shared with family or at the mosque. Feeding someone else who is fasting carries its own reward.
Decide in your heart, at some point during the night, that you are fasting tomorrow. For Ramadan this has to be settled before dawn breaks. There is nothing to say out loud.
Eat and drink before Fajr comes in. Leaving it as late as you comfortably can is the sunnah, and there is blessing in the meal itself, so it is worth having even when you do not feel hungry.
From the moment Fajr begins until the Maghrib call, no food, drink, smoking or intimacy with your spouse. Everything else carries on as normal, including brushing your teeth and washing.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said that if someone insults you or picks a fight while you are fasting, you say "I am a person who is fasting" and leave it there. Lying, backbiting and arguing eat away at what you are meant to be building.
Break it as soon as Maghrib comes in, before you pray, rather than waiting for the call to finish. Dates first if you have them, otherwise water. Then say:
The dua of a fasting person right up to the moment they break their fast is one that God does not turn away, so ask for what you need before you eat.
Sexual intercourse is the serious one. On top of making the day up, it carries an expiation: fasting two consecutive months, or feeding sixty people in need if you genuinely cannot. Nothing else on this list carries that.
Something only breaks your fast if all three of these are true: you knew the ruling and that it was fasting hours, you remembered you were fasting, and you did it on purpose.
That is why the accidental mouthful is forgiven, and it is worth knowing before your first Ramadan. Most of what beginners panic about falls at one of those three.
Carry on fasting and finish the day as normal. There is nothing owed.
If you broke it deliberately without a valid reason, that is a serious matter: repent, and make the day up.
Fasting is required of every Muslim who has reached puberty, is of sound mind, and is able. These are the excuses that lift it:
Heavy physical work is not on its own an exemption. Take suhoor, start the fast, and break it if real harm sets in.
If your reason was temporary, you owe one day for each day missed. Travel, illness you recovered from, periods and pregnancy all fall here.
This is only for people who cannot fast now and will not be able to in future, such as the frail elderly or someone with a permanent condition. Instead of making days up, you feed someone in need.
If you took shahada partway through the month, you fast from the day you became Muslim onwards. You do not owe the days before that.
Children are not obliged to fast until puberty, though many families let them try shorter days to get used to it.
Outside Ramadan there are days the Prophet (peace be upon him) fasted regularly:
Enthusiasm is good, but some days are closed:
The month is not only about going without. Read what Quran you can, pray at night in the last ten nights especially, give in charity, and feed someone else who is fasting.
If you are new to all of this, pick one of those and do it consistently rather than trying to do everything for three days and burning out.
New to all of this? Start from the beginning.
Where to take this further.
A curated hub of Sunni videos, books, and dawah resources.
islamic-library.org · FreeResearch-driven answers to the doubts and questions Muslims actually have.
yaqeeninstitute.org · Free