It is Ramadan time, again! Alhamdulillah, praise be to Allah that brings us closer to the blessed month of Ramadan. In the year 2025, Ramadan is in the hijri year of 1446 AH. Many muslims will start looking for the first light of the crescent moon of Ramadan 1446 AH on the evening of Friday, 28 February 2025 CE, except probably our brothers and sisters in New Zealand that will look for it on Saturday.
Crescent moon visibility map for Ramadan 1446 AH on Saturday evening, 1 March 2025 CE. The crescent moon will be easily visible across the globe.
Crescent moon visibility map for Ramadan 1446 AH on Friday evening, 28 February 2025 CE. The crescent moon will be easily visible only from the American continents.
Based on the crescent visisibility map for Ramadan 1446 AH, the hilal of 1 Ramadan will be visible on Friday evening from the South and North America regions. Muslims in that region will be able to see the slender crescent moon of 1 Ramadan 1446 AH easily with naked eyes. Therefore, based on rukyet-e-hilal (rukyatul hilal) or moon sighting practice, 1 Ramadan 1446 AH corresponds to 1 March 2025 CE. The tarawih prayer will start on the eve of Saturday (Friday night).
Local Moonsighting for Ramadan 1446 AH
If we look closely based on national divisions, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, and the Philipines will have low chance to see the first crescent moon or hilal of Ramadan 1446 AH on Friday evening. Going west, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, South Africa, Europe will have more chance to seeing the hilal using optical aids. But with only naked eye sightings, the chance is still low. The chance of spotting the crescent moon from Saudi Arabia, Middle Easts, and Turkey using optical aids is higher. Morocco may spot the moon using naked eyes if the sky is perfectly clear. Crossing the Atlantic Ocean, those in South and North America will have the opportunity to see the first crescent moon of Ramadan with naked eyes.
So, based on local moon sightings, Brunei Darussalam, Australia and New Zealand may start 1 Ramadan 1446 AH on Sunday, 2 March 2025. Pakistan and India may also start the Ramadan on the same day as these countries. Indonesia and Malaysia may go to hisab or calculation based calendar and start 1 Ramadan 1446 AH on Saturday. Saudi Arabia is expected to report positive moon sighting reports on Friday evening, thus 1 Ramadan 1446 AH begins on Saturday, 1 March 2025 as stated in their Ummul Qura Calendar. South Africa and Morocco may start a day later based on moon sighting while North American and Canadian muslims will definitely start fasting Ramadan 1446 AH on Saturday, 1 March 2025.
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