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29 March 2024

Fasting period to get longer each year

The average temperature will be about 43 degrees Celcius during the few days of Ramadan this year. (FILE)

Published
By Muna Ahmed

Beginning this year, Muslims in the UAE will fast for a longer period each year for the next  five years, with an over 14 hour fasting period till 2019.

And by 2019, Ramadan will begin in May, a top official from Dubai Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Department told Emirates 24|7.

According to Shaikh Ashraf Noor Al Haq, Head of Calandar Section at the department, this year Muslims in the UAE will fast for about 14.28 hours in the beginning of Ramadan, and towards the end of the holy month the fasting time will gradually reduce to 13.53 hours.

This according to him is also about 16 minutes more than last year.

According to him, the climate forecast shows that in the beginning of this Ramadan, the average temperature will be around 43 degrees Celcius, and it will fall to around 39 degrees Celcius by the end of Ramadan.

Humidity will be high throughout the holy month.

“From this year onwards, we have entered a cycle of 10 years of fasting in summer. In the coming 10 years, we will fast for a longer period each year.

This cycle will end in May 2019 when the weather will begin to get cooler and the day hours shorter,” he said.

Shaikh Ashraf added that the expected beginning and length of fasting for Ramadan in the coming 10 years is as following:

2010, August 11th : 14.28 hours
2011, August 1st : 14.40 hours
2012, July 20th : 14.50 hours
2013, July 9th : 14.59 hours
2014, June 28th: 15.03 hours
2015, June 18th : 15.05 hours
2016, June 6th : 14.59 hours
2017, May 26th : 14.54 hours
2018, May 15th : 14.44 hours
2019, May 6th : 14.33 hours