16th January 2026
27th Rajab
Muslim
This festival celebrates the journey of the Prophet Muhammad, in the tenth year of his prophethood, from Makkah to Jerusalem, and through the heavens to the presence of God, all in one night. On this night Muslims believe the Prophet received the command that they should pray five times each day. The rock in Jerusalem from which the Prophet ascended is now contained in the Dome of the Rock. Muslims mark this night by reading the Qur’an and saying additional prayers. The following day is accordingly a day for recuperation rather than one for physical activity.
Suras 2:144 and 17:1 refer. The full story is in the Hadith, together with the times of prayer.
20th March 2026
Muslim
Celebrations of this festival may extend over the first three days of the month of Shawwal, the month following Ramadan, although only the first day’s celebration is religiously sanctioned. It is a time for making gifts to the poor (Zakat-ul-Fitr, the charity of the fast, must be paid before the Eid prayer). Now is a time for new clothes, good food, and presents for children. Families get together and contact friends, especially those who live far away. The community will assemble for Eid prayer and a sermon at the mosque or at a large place which will accommodate the whole community of the town or village. The traditional greeting is ‘Eid Mubarak’ – ‘a happy and blessed Eid’. (There is no reference in the Qur’an but there is in the Hadith, the traditions of the Prophet).
Interesting things to know about Eid:
1. It is customary to eat breakfast before the special prayer of Eid, as Prophet Muhammad used to eat something sweet before offering his prayers.
2. In Muslim countries Eid is an official public holiday that lasts for three days
3. As the crescent moon of Eid appears on different dates in different countries, many Muslim communities celebrate Eid on the day it appears over the sky above Mecca.
4. The Eid prayer is different from the regular prayer known as Adhaan. The special prayer can be done anytime between the Ishraq (dawn) and Zawal (midday) prayers.
5. In Turkey, Eid is called Ramazan Bayram which means Ramadan Feast. The Eid delicacies are also known as Şeker Bayram, which is inspired from the popular Turkish sweet baklava.
6. Muslims usually give a special gift of money to charity also known as Zakat-ul-Fitr which is collected and given to Muslims who are poor or in need.
7. In Indonesia, Eid is also called Idul Fitri or Lebaran. On the day of celebrations many Indonesian Muslims visit the graves of their family members and clean the gravesite and offer prayers to Allah for forgiveness.
This festival is known as the ‘lesser Eid’, though it is the more popular of the two major Eids that Muslims observe. The contrast with the preceding fast days of Ramadan ensures that it is welcomed with great festivity and exciting foods.
16th March 2026
Muslim (Shi’a)
This commemorates the night in 610 CE when the prophet Muhammad received his first visit from the angel Jibril (Gabriel) and his revelation of the Qur’an. Muslims believe that the date of this night is kept secret by God, but that they ‘may seek the Night of Dignity in the odd nights of the last ten days of Ramadan’ (Bukhaari, quoting Aisha, who heard it from the Prophet). Many Muslims spend the last ten days and nights of Ramadan secluded in the mosque, praying and studying the Qur’an, to ensure they receive the special benefits promised for their prayers and devotions on Lailat-ul-Qadr. Muslims “looking for” Lailat ul Qadr tend to gather at sunset and then spend the rest of the night till dawn in the mosque or some other place of worship.
For the purpose of communal activities, or for those who can only spend one night in devotions at the mosque, Sunnis favour the 27th day (beginning the evening of the 26th) whilst the Shi’a favour the 23rd day of Ramadan. Of this night, the Qur’an states, “Lailat-ul -Qadr is better than a thousand months.” Surah 97:1-5 (see esp. 97: 3).
The first revelation: Surah 2:185.
18th February – 18th March 2026
Muslim
Ramadan is the name of the 9th month of the Islamic Calendar.
The Muslim year is a lunar year which is about 11 days shorter than the solar year on which the Gregorian (British) calendar is based, so in the Gregorian calendar Ramadan occurs ten or eleven days earlier each year.
During the month of Ramadan Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. Fasting (sawm) is the fourth of the five pillars of Islam, requiring self-discipline and giving everyone some experience of deprivation. Those who are not able to fast are expected to give charity to compensate for the ‘lost’ days. While children may be encouraged to fast, the full fast is not compulsory until puberty is reached, often by the age of 12, but many young people still attempt to keep some, or even all of it.
It is most important that Muslims show intent before they fast. It is a requirement that they recite a short prayer of intent either before they sleep or just before Suhoor, the pre-fast meal. No food or drink may be consumed during the hours of daylight during Ramadan, and those fasting must also abstain from smoking and from sexual relations. According to the Quran, one may eat and drink at any time during the night ‘until you can plainly distinguish a white thread from a black thread by the daylight: then keep the fast until night‘.
Muslims who are travelling or sick and women who are pregnant or nursing a child are allowed to postpone their fast. These are all required to make up the days of missed fasting during the year ahead. After the custom of the Prophet, the fast is traditionally broken each evening by taking dates and water (iftar).
For Muslims Ramadan one of the holiest months of the year, and one they dedicate to spiritual renewal, prayer and intensive devotional reading of the Qur’an. It is the month in which, according to Islamic belief, the Prophet received the first revelation of verses of the Qur’an, though the actual night is unknown. This night is called Lailat ul Qadr. To stand in prayer throughout the night is said to be ‘better than a thousand months of worship’. Ramadan is often called ‘the month of the Qur’an‘, and many Muslims attempt to recite as much of the Qur’an as they can during the month. Most Sunni mosques arrange a recital of one thirtieth of the Qur’an each night during the Taraweeh prayers, which are longer than the usual evening prayers and are special ones for Ramadan.
Surah 2:183-188.
26th June 2026
Muslims
For Sunni Muslims this is one of the two days of a minor fast that the Prophet kept in his lifetime. The second day of the fast may be observed either on the day preceding or the day following the 10th of Muharram. For Shi’a Muslims this is a day when they recall a great tragedy that took place on Muharram 10, AH 61 (680 CE). The Imam Husayn (son of Ali and Fatimah and therefore grandson of the Prophet) travelling with his family and many followers, was attacked by the troops of the Caliph Yazid.
After eight days without water Husayn was killed and his family and followers massacred at Karbala (now in Iraq). Shi’a Muslims remember the events in the days leading up to Ashura when they fast and recall these terrible events. The importance of this holy day can be judged from a popular Shi’a saying which some attribute to a Muslim poet and some to the sixth Imam, Jafar al-Saadiq: “Live as if every day is Ashura, every land Karbala!”
17th June 2026
Muslim
Al Hijra marks the celebration of the Islamic New Year’s Day. It is a low-key event in the Muslim world, celebrated less than the two major celebrations, Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha. The day commemorates the Hijra or migration of the Prophet Muhammad from Makkah to Medina in 622 CE, which led to the establishment of the Muslim community there. It is not universally celebrated amongst Sunni Muslims but is notable since Muslim years are dated from this time and are marked AH (Anno Hegirae – the year of the Hijrah) or After the Hijrah. In 2021 CE the Muslim year 1443 AH begins.
In the year 622 CE the Prophet Muhammad and a number of his followers moved from Makkah/Mecca to the city of Medina and set up the first Islamic state there. Their arrival marked the beginning of Islam as a community in which spiritual and earthly life were completely integrated. They were a group inspired by and totally obedient to God, bound together by religious faith. By breaking the link with his own tribe the Prophet demonstrated that tribal and family loyalties were insignificant compared to the bonds of Islam.
For some Muslim communities this is a day of celebration at the mosque, where stories are told of the Prophet and his Companions. There are no special religious rituals required at this time but a special prayer service is normally held in the mosque and afterwards people wish one another a happy New Year. On this day Muslims think about the meaning of the Hijra and regard this as a good time for new year resolutions, relating to their following of the example of the Prophet.
For the Shi’a community the more important significance of the New year is that this is the first day of a period of fasting, mourning and remembrance, leading up to the commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Husayn and his companions on the Day of Ashura.
Muslims who migrated to Medina in support of the Prophet were called muhajirun (emigrants). Many of them became known as the ‘Companions of the Prophet’. Muhammad praised them highly for having forsaken their native city to follow him and promised that God would favour them. They remained a separate and greatly esteemed group in the Muslim community, honoured both in Makkah and in Medina, and assumed leadership of the Muslim state, through the caliphate, after Muhammad’s death.
As a result of the Hijrah, Muhammad paired many of the muhajirun with members of another distinct body of Muslims who had come into being, the ansar (helpers); they were people of Medinah who welcomed and aided Muhammad and the muhajirun. The ansar were members of the two major feuding tribes of Medinah whom Muhammad had been invited to Medinah to reconcile while he was still a rising figure in Makkah. In time they came to be some of his most devoted supporters.
The significance of Al Hijra for Sunni Muslims relates to their committing themselves to a spiritual form of migration – journeying out of a way of life mired in the worldly affairs of this existence – and disciplining themselves to ensure their fitness for their journey to the next life (akhira). To achieve this result they seek to emulate the mindset the Companions of the Prophet possessed when they performed their original migration (the hijra from Makkah to Medina), a journey undertaken in obedience to Allah’s wishes.
4th June 2026
Muslim (Shi’a)
This is a festival observed by Shi’a Muslims, for whom it is an extremely important day. It commemorates an event shortly before the death of the Prophet. While returning from Makkah to Medina after his final pilgrimage, accompanied by many thousands of his followers, the Prophet stopped at an oasis (the pool of Khumm) to deliver a sermon. While preaching, he is believed (by Shi’a Muslims) to have raised the hand of Ali, his cousin and son-in-law, and proclaimed, ‘For whoever I am his leader, Ali is his leader. O God, love those who love him, and be hostile to those who are hostile to him’.
Immediately after this statement the Prophet revealed an ayah (a verse) of the Qur’an: ‘Today I have perfected your religion and completed my favour upon you, and I was satisfied that Islam be your religion’ (Qur’an 5, 3.) For Shi’a Muslims the ‘perfecting’ of the religion of Islam was the announcement concerning Ali, which they understand to be his clear appointment to be successor to the prophet as the spiritual and temporal leader of Islam. This sermon was preached by a pool (ghadir) in an area known as Khumm.
Since Eid ul Ghadir commemorates the Prophet Muhammad’s last sermon, preached as it was in the desert whilst returning from Hajj (pilgrimage), it is viewed as being authoritative by members of the Shi’a community. The implication of the statement in the Prophet’s sermon (that Ali, his cousin and son-in-law, would be the first Caliph of Islam) is that the leadership of Islam would remain within the Prophet’s bloodline, the foundation for a line of Caliphs who would succeed the Prophet. It has become the source of many current divisions between Sunni and Shi’a communities throughout the Muslim world.
27th May 2026
Muslim
This major festival (al-Eid al-Kabir) marks the end of the Hajj (Pilgrimage to Makkah) on the tenth day of the twelfth month of Dhul-Hijja. The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam. Pilgrims performing Hajj sacrifice animals at the village of Mina on their way back to Makkah from Mount Arafat (where they have spent the first day of the festival). This commemorates Ibrahim’s (Abraham’s) willingness to sacrifice his son, Ismail. All over the world Muslims also sacrifice an animal, if they can afford it. They share out the meat among family, friends and the poor, who normally each get a third share.
Eid normally starts with Muslims going to the Mosque for prayers, dressed in their best clothes, and thanking Allah for all the blessings they have received. It is also a time when they visit family and friends as well as offering each other presents. At Eid it is obligatory to give a set amount of money to charity, often to be used to help poor people buy new clothes and food so that they too can celebrate.
All physically fit Muslims who can afford it are expected to make the visit to Makkah, in Saudi Arabia, at least once in their lives. Every year around 2 million Muslims from all over the world converge on Makkah. They stand before the Kaaba, a shrine built by Ibrahim, praising Allah together, and walk seven times anticlockwise around the Kaaba. The pilgrims or Hajjis, as they are called, wear simple white, two piece clothes called Ihram which promote the bonds of Islamic brotherhood and sisterhood by showing that everyone is equal in the eyes of Allah.
Obedience to the will of Allah, emulation of the Prophet’s example and instruction, sharing equally with brother and sister Muslims, caring for the poor and needy, sharing with delight in this annual family celebration, these are what makes Eid ul Adha such a special time, the most significant celebration in the Islamic calendar.
Surah 37:99-111, 22:26-33 and 3:96-97.