Ramadan and Eid in Somalia: fasting, iftar, moon sighting and the two Eids

Fasting and its rules

Fasting in the month of Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam. The Library of Congress country study describes the fast as "going without food, drink, tobacco, and sexual relations from dawn until sunset". People on a journey may be excused but "should compensate at a later time" (Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study, 1992). In Somali the fast is soon, and the meal that breaks it at sunset is afur (Somali food).

Ramadan moves about 11 days earlier each year because it follows the moon. By calculation, Ramadan 1448 begins about 8 February 2027. See the Islamic calendar in Somalia for the dates.

Before dawn: sareen and suhuur

A writer from Somaliland describes how, a few weeks before Ramadan, women prepare sareen: a mix of sorghum and wheat that is soaked, drained, dried in the sun and pounded. It is eaten as porridge with milk or oil at suhuur, the meal before dawn. In some neighbourhoods a sheikh or his students walk the streets before dawn to wake people for suhuur (Umayma Good, "Ramadan in Somaliland", Andariya, 25 April 2021).

Breaking the fast

The same account says restaurants and cafés close during the day and open at sunset. The fast is opened with dates and water. Men often pray the sunset prayer at the mosque before eating with their families (Andariya, 2021). Common iftar foods include:

• Sambuus: triangular pastries filled with spiced meat, tuna or lentils.
• Bajiye: fritters of crushed black-eyed beans, onion, garlic and pepper, served with shidni, a spicy green sauce.
• Canjeero (laxoox): the soft sourdough pancake, eaten in Ramadan with liver and onions or suqaar (diced meat).
• Qaxwo: milky coffee spiced with cinnamon and cardamom, drunk after iftar and before the night prayers (Andariya, 2021).

An Associated Press report from Mogadishu in 2023 describes a typical iftar in better-off homes as samosas and other snacks, juice, tea or coffee, then rice, spaghetti or flatbread with camel, goat, chicken or fish, and a dessert (AP via Arab News, 29 March 2023). See also Somali food.

The nights

After iftar many families attend a short talk by a sheikh, called maxadiro, and then the taraawiix night prayers. Afterwards people gather in cafés and tea spots to hear Nabi Amaan, songs in praise of the Prophet. In the last ten nights markets stay open late and parents buy new clothes for Eid (Andariya, 2021).

Prices and giving

Demand rises in Ramadan and food prices usually go up. In 2023, the AP reported that a kilogram of camel meat in Mogadishu rose from about US$4 before the month to about US$6. That Ramadan fell during the longest drought on record. A displaced mother of six in a camp outside Mogadishu told the AP that her family broke the fast with water, dates and a donated meal. The World Food Programme said the Ramadan spike was "a disadvantage to vulnerable households who depend on local markets" (AP via VOA, 1 April 2023).

Imams in Mogadishu urged those who could afford it to give to the poor. Sheikh Abdikarim Isse Ali told the AP: "Some people need food to afford to break their fast. Please help them" (same source). In Somaliland, youth groups collect money from businesses and the diaspora to buy food and clothes for poor families, and charities serve daily iftar in mosque yards (Andariya, 2021). See also zakat, sadaqa and waqf.

Who decides when Eid starts

Eid al-Fitr (Ciidul Fitri) begins when the new moon of Shawwal, called Soonfur in Somali, is seen. The government then announces the day. On 30 March 2025 the federal government announced Eid for 31 March after the moon was reported sighted in Hargeisa, Caabudwaaq, Beledxaawo and Walaweyn (FTL Somalia, 30 March 2025).

In some years different authorities have announced different days. In May 2021, al-Shabaab's courts office said eight people in Hiiraan, Gedo, Bay and Bakool had seen the moon and ordered Eid in areas the group held, while the federal government said the moon had not been seen and that 12 May was the last day of Ramadan (Garowe Online, 12 May 2021). In March 2026, Goobjoog News reported that Eid was "observed simultaneously across all regions of the country", unlike past years when some areas celebrated a day later (Goobjoog News, 20 March 2026).

The day of Ciidul Fitri

Goobjoog described Mogadishu's main streets, public squares and recreation sites full of people in new clothes, exchanging greetings and spending time with family, with children at games (Goobjoog News, 2026). Xalwo, the Somali sweet, is served to guests (Somali food). The Andariya writer describes three days of celebration in Somaliland (Andariya, 2021).

Ciidul Adxa and the Hajj livestock trade

Eid al-Adha (Ciidul Adxa) falls on 10 Dhu al-Hijja, at the end of the Hajj, when families who can afford it sacrifice an animal (Islamic calendar in Somalia). The federal government supported 9,043 Somali Hajj pilgrims in 2023 (US State Department, International Religious Freedom Report 2023, via ecoi.net). See Hajj from Somalia.

The Hajj is also the peak of the Somali livestock trade, because pilgrims in Mecca need animals for the sacrifice. In 2016 the Voice of America reported that the quarantine station at the port of Berbera, in Somaliland, "holds over a million animals at the height of the Hajj", and that one ship can carry between 20,000 and 120,000 animals (VOA Learning English, 8 September 2016). See trade, exports and imports and ports.

Read further

• Islam in Somalia
• Religion in Somalia in numbers