Ramadan Hours

During Ramadan life changes completely, night becomes day and day becomes night, or so it feels.  In reality many Muslims in the GCC will switch round their daily timetable and follow times similar to the ones shown below:



Ramadan Hours, an Example

03:00am

Sahour/ sahoor/ suhoor [ass-sa-hoorr] last meal before day's fast

03:30       

Pray

04:00       

Sleep

06:30 

Wake up for work

08:00 

Go to work

14:30 

Come home

15:00

Pray

15:30

Sleep

17:55       

Wake up

18:00 

Break fast – eat iftar [if-tarr] meal and pray, or pray and then break fast.  Shiites break fast 10 minutes later than Sunnis

19:00

Visit Mosque, or pray at home

20:00

Eat meal, visit friends, go shopping

24:00 - 02:00

Return home, Pray, Sleep

Prayer Times
With Muslims praying five times a day and the timings being different depending on your location in the world, many people refer to printed documents for the exact timings for prayer:  to find out the time in your location, click here

Interesting to note if you're living in Christchurch in New Zealand and Ramadan is in December (your summer), you'd be expected to fast from 02:00 - 23:00. Alternatively, if you live in the town of  Yellowknife, Canada and Ramadan falls in June, (again the height of your summer) you'd be expected to fast from 02:00 - 01:00 each day.









Working Hours
Working hour change for Ramadan to ensure no one works at the time of breaking fast.  Each company will decide upon the working hours which suit them and their business best and consequently every business is likely to have different working hours from other businessess (except in shopping centres where working hours for the year 2009 are approximately, 10:00 - 14:00 and then 19:00 - 02:00).


Here's a copy of a internal circular announcing Ramadan working hours:

"The Islamic holy month of Ramadan is expected to start the day after tomorrow.  In due course, the government announcement will confirm the date.

During Ramadan all Muslim staff will work a total of six hours per day as under:
Saturday to Wednesday 7:30 am to 13:30pm
Thursday 7:30am to 12:30 pm

Non-Muslim staff working hours during Ramadan will be:
Saturday to Wednesday 7:30 – 14:30pm
Thursday 7:30 – 13:00pm

The above working hours will not apply to those departments/staff who are under shift or special working hours. Those staff will be informed about their working hours directly by their respective managers. All non-Muslim staff should avoid taking refreshments/smoking in public, or at work premises.

The management takes the opportunity to extend their greeting to all the staff and their families on the occasion of Ramadan."