Ramadan in Pakistan

Ramadan in Pakistan

Pakistan has one of the largest Muslim populations of any country, with roughly ninety-six per cent of its people identifying as Muslim. Ramadan is therefore not a private observance here but the rhythm the whole country runs on for a month — school timetables, office hours, transport schedules and television programming all shift around it.

Islam reached the subcontinent early. Muhammad bin Qasim arrived in Sindh in 711 CE, which is why Sindh is often called Bab al-Islam, the gateway of Islam. The wider spread across Punjab and the north came later, from the eleventh century onwards, and owed as much to Sufi teachers such as Data Ganj Bakhsh in Lahore, Baba Farid in Pakpattan and Shah Abdul Latif in Sindh as it did to any conquest. Their shrines remain among the most visited places in the country during Ramadan.

Sehri and Iftar

Sehri is a substantial meal in most Pakistani households — parathas, omelette, yoghurt, leftover curry, dates, and almost always chai. Cities run a distinctive pre-dawn economy: dhabas stay open, and in Lahore and Karachi the sehri restaurant trade is a genuine feature of the month.

Iftar opens with dates and water, following the sunnah, usually alongside Rooh Afza in milk or water. The table then fills with pakoras, samosas, dahi baray, fruit chaat and chana chaat. In Punjab, jalebi from the local halwai is close to compulsory. The main meal — biryani, haleem, nihari or a simple daal and roti — usually comes after Maghrib.

Haleem deserves its own mention: slow-cooked wheat, barley, lentils and meat, stirred for hours, and sold from vast pots outside restaurants through the whole month.

Worship through the month

Taraweeh is prayed in congregation after Isha, most commonly twenty rak‘ahs, and mosques advertise which hafiz is leading. Many mosques complete the entire Qur’an over the month, and some run an accelerated schedule finishing on the 27th night.

The last ten nights bring i‘tikaf, and mosques take formal registrations for it. Shab-e-Qadr on the 27th night draws the largest congregations of the year, with mosques and shrines open until Fajr.

Charity peaks in Ramadan. Many Pakistanis pay their annual zakat during the month, ration drives run out of mosques and community centres, and organisations such as Edhi and Saylani operate large-scale free iftar and food distribution.

Daily life and the law

Office and school hours are shortened during Ramadan, and the Ehtram-e-Ramzan Ordinance restricts public eating in daytime. Markets stay open late, and the last ten nights bring the Eid shopping rush — Chand Raat, the night the Shawwal crescent is sighted, keeps bazaars, henna stalls and bangle sellers busy until dawn.

The start of Ramadan is announced by the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee, though some communities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa follow separate local sightings, and a one-day difference within the country is not unusual.

Eid al-Fitr

Fitrana — Zakat al-Fitr — is paid before the Eid prayer, at a rate announced each year by local scholarly bodies. Eid morning begins with the congregational prayer in mosques and open grounds, followed by visits to family, sheer khurma at every house, and Eidi given to children.