Ramadan 2026: Experts Reveal Forecasts for the Start of Fasting

Engineer Muhammad Shawkat Odeh, director of the International Astronomy Center (IAC), has confirmed the impossibility of sighting the crescent moon on Tuesday, February 17, from the entire Arab and Islamic world. This major scientific data implies that the month of Sha’ban will have thirty days for countries relying on visual observation, thus setting the first day of Ramadan on Thursday, February 19. Experts specify that any announcement of local sighting on Tuesday evening would be erroneous, given the position of the celestial body on the horizon.

Astronomical calculations reveal that the moon will disappear before sunset in the eastern part of the Islamic world, and almost simultaneously in the central regions. In Riyadh, the celestial body will set forty-two seconds before the sun, while in the United Arab Emirates, the gap will be one minute in favor of the sun. Even in the western regions like Algeria, where the moon will remain six minutes after sunset, the interval is insufficient to allow the formation of a visible crescent, even with high-power imaging technologies.

A celestial phenomenon further reinforces this finding: an annular solar eclipse will occur on Tuesday afternoon, visible from southern Africa and Antarctica. This eclipse coincides with the conjunction phase, a physical proof that the moon will not be able to appear in the form of a crescent before several hours after sunset in the Middle East. The Astronomy Center emphasizes that it is useless to search for the crescent in regions where the moon is no longer present in the sky at the critical moment, a reality known in advance thanks to the precision of the mathematical models.

For some countries like Morocco, Iran, or Pakistan, the search for the crescent will take place only on Wednesday, February 18, corresponding to the twenty-ninth day of Sha’ban in these areas. Under these conditions, Ramadan will begin either on Thursday, February 19, or Friday, February 20, depending on local observations and weather conditions. For the vast majority of the Islamic world, Wednesday, February 18, will be considered the day of completion of the month of Sha’ban, marking the official entry into the month of fasting the following dawn.