Understanding Ramadan
Lesduur is: 30 minIntroductie
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Students explore what Ramadan means to Muslims and how it is observed, from Suhoor and Iftar to prayer, charity and Eid al-Fitr. Ramadan 2027 is expected to run from around 8 February to around 9 March, with exact dates set by the sighting of the new moon.
Some students may be fasting or have family members who are: invite rather than require them to share their experiences, present practices as Muslims themselves describe them, and be mindful of fasting students during any food-related discussion.
Learning Objective
At the end of the lesson, you will understand the significance of Ramadan, its practices, and its impact on Muslim communities.
Share the objective now and revisit it during the final open question.
What do you already know about Ramadan?
This word web draws out what students already know about Ramadan, including anything they have seen in their own community.
Stretch: Ask students to sort the words from the web into practices, beliefs and celebrations, justifying each choice.
Device-Free: Students jot three things they know about Ramadan on paper and share one with a partner.
What is Ramadan?
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting, prayer, reflection, and community.
The Islamic calendar follows the moon, so Ramadan begins about 11 days earlier each year in the Gregorian calendar and moves through the seasons.
Stretch: Ask students to work out roughly when Ramadan will fall in ten years' time and explain how that changes the length of the fasting day in the UK.
Device-Free: Ask students to explain to a partner why Ramadan is not on the same date every year.
Ramadan commemorates the first revelation of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad. It's a month of spiritual growth, increased worship, and community spirit.
Why is Ramadan Important?
Muslims believe the Quran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad through the angel Jibril (Gabriel) during Ramadan, which gives the month its special importance.
Stretch: Ask students to compare Ramadan with a significant time of year in another faith or tradition and explain one similarity.
Device-Free: Read the text aloud and ask students to sum up in three words why Ramadan matters.
What is Ramadan?
Ninth month of the Islamic calendar
A type of Islamic prayer
A festival of lights
A holiday for gift giving
This question checks the misconception that Ramadan is a single festival or prayer rather than a whole month of the Islamic calendar.
Stretch: Ask students to explain why each wrong option does not describe Ramadan, using what they learned on the previous slides.
Device-Free: Read the options aloud and have students hold up one to four fingers for A to D.
Why is Ramadan observed?
To celebrate the New Year
To mark the end of summer
To commemorate the Quran's first revelation
To remember historical battles
This question checks that students link Ramadan to the revelation of the Quran rather than to a seasonal or new year celebration.
Stretch: Ask students to explain why Ramadan cannot mark the end of summer, using what they know about the lunar calendar.
Device-Free: Students write their answer letter on mini whiteboards and reveal together.
What do Muslims abstain from during Ramadan?
Television and movies
Music and dancing
Food, drink, and physical needs
Reading and writing
This question tackles the misconception that fasting means giving up entertainment, when it means abstaining from food and drink between dawn and sunset.
Stretch: Ask students why many Muslims also try to avoid unkind words and bad habits during Ramadan, and what this shows about the purpose of fasting.
Device-Free: Take a show of hands for each option before revealing the answer.
Which of these are Five Pillars?
Attending weekly prayers
Giving gifts to friends
Travelling to Mecca
Fasting during Ramadan
Two answers are correct here, fasting during Ramadan (Sawm) and travelling to Mecca (Hajj), and the question checks the misconception that weekly prayer is a pillar, when the pillar is Salah, prayer five times a day.
Stretch: Ask students to name all Five Pillars and explain which they think asks the most commitment of a Muslim.
Device-Free: Students stand up for each option they think is correct, then explain why two answers are right.
The video shows how Ramadan is lived day to day; preview it before the lesson to check it is still available and suitable.
Stretch: Ask students to identify one practice from the video and link it to a slide later in the lesson.
Device-Free: If the video cannot be shown, ask students to describe what a day of fasting might involve from dawn to sunset.
Muslims fast from dawn until sunset during Ramadan, abstaining from food, drink, and other physical needs to purify the soul.
Fasting during Ramadan
Fasting, or Sawm, runs from dawn to sunset and is about self-discipline, gratitude and closeness to God, not only going without food and drink.
Stretch: Ask students why fasting might build empathy for people who do not have enough to eat.
Device-Free: Pairs list the reasons for fasting given on the slide and add one more from earlier in the lesson.
Fasting in Ramadan is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, the basis of a Muslim's faith and practice.
The Five Pillars of Islam
The image shows all five pillars: Shahada (declaration of faith), Salah (prayer), Zakah (almsgiving), Sawm (fasting) and Hajj (pilgrimage).
Stretch: Ask students to explain how the pillars together shape a Muslim's daily and yearly life.
Device-Free: Students draw five quick columns and label each pillar from memory.
Suhoor is the pre-dawn meal consumed before the fast begins. It is often hearty to sustain energy throughout the day.
Pre-Dawn Meal: Suhoor
Suhoor is eaten before dawn so that energy lasts through the fasting day, and families often wake early to share it.
Stretch: Ask students which foods would make a good Suhoor and justify their choices.
Device-Free: Ask students to describe to a partner how a family's morning routine might change during Ramadan.
Iftar is the meal breaking the fast at sunset. It often starts with dates and water, followed by a larger meal.
Breaking the Fast: Iftar
Breaking the fast with dates and water follows the example of the Prophet Muhammad, and Iftar is often shared with family, friends or the wider community.
Stretch: Ask students why sharing Iftar matters for community spirit, using a real example such as an open Iftar event in a UK town or city.
Device-Free: Ask students to compare Suhoor and Iftar in two sentences on paper.
Increased prayer and reflection are key components of Ramadan, with special night prayers called Tarawih.
Prayer and Reflection
Tarawih are additional night prayers, often held in mosques during Ramadan, alongside the five daily prayers.
Stretch: Ask students why reflection might matter as much as prayer during Ramadan.
Device-Free: Ask students to explain to a partner how a Muslim's day of prayer might look different during Ramadan.
Charity is emphasised during Ramadan. Zakat is obligatory, while Sadaqah is voluntary, both fulfilling social responsibility.
Charity: Zakat and Sadaqah
Zakat is a fixed share of savings given once a year, which many Muslims choose to pay during Ramadan, while Zakat al-Fitr is given before the Eid prayer so that everyone can celebrate.
Stretch: Ask students to explain the difference between an obligatory and a voluntary act of giving, using a real example.
Device-Free: Students sort spoken examples of giving into obligatory and voluntary.
Do you think giving to charity is important? Why?
This word web draws out students' views on charity and builds vocabulary such as generosity, responsibility and community.
Stretch: Ask students to justify their answer with a real charity or cause they know about.
Device-Free: Students share one reason with a partner, then pairs feed back to the class.
Laylat al-Qadr, the Night of Power, is believed to be when the Quran was first revealed. It is a night of intense prayer.
The Night of Power: Laylat al-Qadr
Laylat al-Qadr falls in the last ten nights of Ramadan, and many Muslims spend these nights in extra prayer and reading the Quran.
Stretch: Ask students why Muslims describe this single night as better than a thousand months.
Device-Free: Ask students to explain to a partner why this night is so important to Muslims.
Fill in the blanks
Ramadan is important to Muslims as it marks the month the Quran was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. Its fast is one of the five pillars of Islam, and is a period of heightened spiritual focus, self-discipline, and community. During this time, Muslims fast from dawn to sunset, pray more, read the Quran, and practise increased acts of charity and empathy.
This activity reinforces key terminology and reading comprehension by drawing the main ideas of the lesson into one paragraph.
Stretch: Ask students to write one more sentence about Ramadan that uses two new terms from the lesson.
Device-Free: Read the paragraph aloud and have students supply the missing words on paper.
Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan with communal prayers, feasting, and giving of gifts, celebrating the end of fasting.
Eid al-Fitr Celebration
Eid al-Fitr, the festival of breaking the fast, begins with the sighting of the new moon, expected around 9 to 10 March in 2027, and is marked with special prayers, new clothes, food and visits to family.
Stretch: Ask students to compare Eid al-Fitr with a celebration they know and identify one similarity and one difference.
Device-Free: Ask students to describe how a family might prepare for Eid.
The second video adds real-world context; preview it to check it is still available and suitable.
Stretch: Ask students to identify one new fact from the video and connect it to an earlier slide.
Device-Free: If the video cannot be shown, ask students to recap the journey of Ramadan from Suhoor to Eid.
Muslims in the UK observe Ramadan, balancing fasting with work or school and often participating in community events.
Ramadan in the UK
Ramadan 2027 falls in February and March, so students and staff who are fasting will be balancing school with relatively short winter fasting days.
Stretch: Ask students how a school could support pupils who are fasting, giving practical examples.
Device-Free: Pairs list two ways a school or workplace could support someone who is fasting.
Fasting is harder when Ramadan falls in summer. Children before
puberty and people who are ill, elderly, pregnant or travelling are exempt.
Challenges of Fasting
Children who have not reached puberty, and people who are ill, elderly, pregnant or travelling, are not required to fast, and missed days can often be made up later or replaced by feeding someone in need.
Stretch: Ask students to explain why Islam builds these exemptions into the rules on fasting.
Device-Free: Pairs discuss how fasting in a UK winter differs from fasting in a UK summer.
What do you think about Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr?
This closing question checks what students took away about Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr and invites a considered personal response.
Stretch: Ask students to use at least two key terms from the lesson in their answer and explain what each means.
Device-Free: Students write their answer on an exit slip before leaving.