For the month of Ramadan mosques around the world, including many in Nottingham, will be welcoming thousands of people for prayers.
Practising Musilms recite five mandatory prayers each day of the year as a part of the main principles of Islam and during Ramadan there's an even greater focus on fulfilling these acts of worship.
The five prayers are fajr (held at dawn), zuhr (at noon), asr (in the afternoon), maghrib (at sunset) and isha (at night). Throughout Ramadan most of the day is spent fasting between a pre-dawn meal called suhoor and an evening meal called iftar.
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Throughout Ramadan most of the day is spent fasting between a pre-dawn meal called suhoor and an evening meal called iftar. The Islamic Centre Nottingham, on Curzon St, Nottingham, has shared a timetable for Ramadan 2023, as a guide to worship.
The holy month started on Thursday, March 23 for the UK, Saudi Arabia and Morrocco as well as many other Middle Eastern and Asian countries. Other mosques in the city have also set out their prayer and meal timetables.
For the third day of Ramadan 2023,March 25, the says Islamic Centre Nottingham says its pre-fasting meal (suhoor or sehri) will end at 3.55am as the morning prayer of fajr begins. Zuhr starts at 12.12pm, asr at 4.24pm, and then maghrib and the iftar meal are at 6.30pm. Finally, the isha prayer starts at 8.27pm
There is also a night prayer called Taraweeh when the holy Quran is recited every night for 29 or 30 days while 30 chapters of the Quran are read, mosque leaders said. The full timetable is included below:
The Muslim Welfare House on Derby Road in Lenton, has also released their timetable for Ramadan. Tomorrow, the third day of Ramadan, fajr begins at 4.15am, then sunrise begins at 5.50am. At 12.30pm is dhuhr, asr at 4pm and iftar at 6.25pm. Times continue to adjust through the month as sunrise and sunset hours alter. You can find Muslim Welfare House full Ramadan timetable here.
It's not yet known if Ramadan will last for 29 days or a full 30 days as that will depend on a moon sighting at the end of the month to determine the start of the next month, Shawwal, which begins with the Eid ul Fitr celebrations.
The date of Ramadan and all other months in the Islamic calendar are 10 or 11 days earlier each year. This is because the Islamic calendar is lunar and so does not align with the solar-based Gregorian calendar used in much of the western world.
Dates can vary by a day or two on either side, depending on which reports of moon sightings are followed.
Most Islamic nations have national moon-sighting committees that decide the key dates for the whole country to follow. Elsewhere, Muslim congregations and communities in other countries have their own rules - some announce dates based on astronomical data, some follow declarations from Saudi Arabia, and others base dates on local moon sightings at home or in a nearby Islamic nation such as Morocco.
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