Suhoor Time and Ramadan Timelines: What Muslims in the U.S. Should Know This Season
With the month of Ramadan under way, suhoor time — the last meal before a day of fasting — falls immediately before the dawn prayer, Fajr, and marks the cutoff for eating and drinking each day. The timing matters now because this year’s observance follows a lunar schedule that sets precise windows for daily fasting and establishes the sequence of upcoming religious milestones.
Development details
Ramadan is set by the Islamic lunar calendar, the Hijri calendar, which bases months on the phases of the moon. That mechanism shifts the holy month roughly 11 days earlier on the Gregorian calendar each year and means the first day of Ramadan in Mecca this year was Feb. 18. Fasting during Ramadan will last either 29 or 30 days depending on when the new moon is sighted; Muslimaid. org lists March 30 as the end date for the holy month this year.
Daily fasts begin just before the Fajr prayer and end at the Maghrib prayer at sunset. That daily schedule requires observant Muslims to complete their suhoor time — the pre-dawn meal — before Fajr signals the start of the abstention period. During the fast, participants refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual relations from that pre-dawn moment until sunset.
Population context underscores the scope of observance: the World Population Review records more than 300, 000 Muslims in Texas, where many communities have begun observing Ramadan. Religious leaders emphasize the spiritual purpose of the fast. Imam Ebad Rahman, Religious Life Associate for Muslim Life at Columbia University, summarized the intent as cultivating a heightened consciousness of God — taqwa.
Suhoor Time — Context and Impact
Because the daily fast starts just before Fajr, suhoor time effectively ends at that moment; practical schedules for worshippers, workplaces and community organizations are shaped by that cutoff. The last ten nights of Ramadan carry special significance, and worshippers often adjust routines in that window to seek Laylat al-Qadr, the “Night of Power, ” which is believed most likely to fall on one of the odd-numbered nights among those ten.
What makes this notable is the way lunar determination creates year-to-year changes in both the calendar date and the social rhythm of observance: a community’s mealtime and prayer coordination must shift earlier on the Gregorian calendar each year, and the potential for a 29- or 30-day fast requires plans that can flex by a day.
Forward outlook
Confirmed milestones for this cycle include the possibility that Ramadan will conclude on March 30 and the expectation that Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of fasting, will take place on or before April 9. Communities and families arranging communal meals, charity distributions and special prayers will orient around those dates and the nightly Fajr–Maghrib schedule.
In the coming days, Muslim communities will focus on the last ten nights for intensified worship and reflection. Observant individuals will monitor local prayer times so that suhoor time is observed before Fajr and no eating or drinking occurs until Maghrib, in keeping with established fasting practice. The combination of lunar timing, the 29-or-30-day variability, and the concentrated significance of the month’s final nights will guide religious programming and household routines through the end of Ramadan and into Eid.
Key concrete markers to note: the Mecca start on Feb. 18, fasting windows that begin just before Fajr and end at Maghrib each day, a possible Ramadan end date of March 30, and an Eid observance expected on or before April 9. These dates and daily boundaries frame both communal planning and individual devotion during the month.
