Ramadan Trivia
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105 free Ramadan trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
54 free Ramadan trivia questions with answers. Ramadan is observed by well over a billion people, yet most trivia about it stops at "Muslims fast during the day." This quiz goes much further: why the month drifts through the seasons, which single night is held to be worth more than a thousand months, what a mesaharati does before dawn, and how a lantern-bearing welcome for a Fatimid caliph became Cairo's signature decoration. The questions run from easy openers on suhur, iftar and Eid al-Fitr to genuinely hard ones on Zakat al-Fitr, the Tarawih rak'ah debate, and how a Malaysian astronaut timed his fasts in orbit. There is a strong worldwide thread too, with customs from Turkey, Morocco, Iran, Indonesia, Nigeria, Senegal, Brunei and the United States, so it works for a classroom, an interfaith event, or an iftar-night game with friends. Every answer was checked against reference and primary sources before it went in, so you can trust the answer key.
30 of 105 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Ramadan is which month of the Islamic calendar?
Ninth
Ramadan is the ninth month of the twelve-month Islamic lunar calendar, following Sha'ban, and is held to be the month in which the Quran's revelation began.
Q 02Each Islamic month, including Ramadan, traditionally begins with the sighting of what?
A new crescent moon
A new crescent moon starts each month, so Ramadan lasts 29 or 30 days, and no one knows which until the next crescent is spotted.
Q 03What is the pre-dawn meal eaten before each day of fasting called?
Suhur
Suhur is the pre-dawn meal, called sehri in South Asia; eating must stop before the dawn call to prayer, the fajr adhan, which begins the fast.
Q 04What is the sunset meal that breaks the day's fast called?
Iftar
Iftar is the sunset meal that ends the day's fast at the maghrib call to prayer, often eaten communally, with mosques worldwide laying on free meals.
Q 05Which food is traditionally eaten first to break the fast, in emulation of Muhammad?
Dates
Dates are eaten first because hadith record Muhammad breaking his fast with fresh or dried dates before water; eating an odd number, often three, is customary but not obligatory.
Q 06Which Arabic term names the fast of Ramadan among the five pillars of Islam?
Sawm
Sawm, fasting from dawn to sunset, is the pillar observed throughout Ramadan, alongside the shahada (faith), salat (prayer), zakat (alms) and the hajj pilgrimage.
Q 07The Quran says Laylat al-Qadr, the Night of Power, is better than what?
A thousand months
Surah al-Qadr (97:3) declares the Night of Power better than a thousand months, about 83 years, so worship on it is held to outweigh a lifetime's devotion.
Q 08When is Laylat al-Qadr believed to fall?
Odd nights of the last ten days
Hadith urge believers to seek the Night of Power on the odd nights of the last ten days of Ramadan, so many treat all ten nights as blessed.
Q 09What is the Islamic practice of secluding oneself inside a mosque for days of worship called?
I'tikaf
I'tikaf means staying inside a mosque devoted to worship, and Muhammad is reported to have withdrawn into the mosque this way every Ramadan.
Q 10Muslims believe the Quran was first revealed to Muhammad through which angel?
Gabriel
The angel Gabriel, Jibril in Arabic, is held to have brought the first revelation to Muhammad in the cave of Hira near Mecca, an event Laylat al-Qadr commemorates.
Q 11The first five verses ever revealed are said to open which surah of the Quran?
Al-Alaq
Surah Al-Alaq, the 96th chapter, opens with 'Read in the name of your Lord,' the five verses held to be the first revealed; Al-Fatiha only heads the written order.
Q 12Which battle was fought in the first Ramadan of obligatory fasting?
Badr
Badr was fought on 17 Ramadan 2 AH, the year fasting became obligatory, and about 313 Muslims defeated a far larger Meccan force there.
Q 13Because the Islamic calendar has no intercalation, what does Ramadan do relative to the solar year?
Moves through the seasons
Ramadan moves through the seasons because the 354-day Islamic year is 10 to 11 days shorter than the solar year, so the month begins about eleven days earlier each Gregorian year.
Q 21A hadith says which gate of Paradise is reserved for those who fast?
Ar-Rayyan
Ar-Rayyan: the hadith says those who fasted will be called to enter by it on the Day of Resurrection, and once they are inside the gate is closed.
Q 22Which caliph reinstated praying Tarawih in congregation after Muhammad had discontinued it?
Umar
The second caliph, Umar, gathered worshippers behind a single imam for Tarawih; Muhammad had stopped leading it publicly, fearing the prayer would be made compulsory.
Q 23Shia Muslims mourn on 19 Ramadan, when Ali was struck while praying in the Great Mosque of which city?
Kufa
Ali was struck by Ibn Muljam's poisoned sword during dawn prayer in the Great Mosque of Kufa on 19 Ramadan 40 AH and died on the 21st.
Q 14Which festival marks the end of Ramadan?
Eid al-Fitr
Eid al-Fitr, the 'festival of breaking the fast,' opens the month after Ramadan with a congregational prayer and charity; Eid al-Adha follows about seventy days later at the Hajj.
Q 15The festival that ends the fast falls on the first day of which Islamic month?
Shawwal
The fast-ending festival falls on 1 Shawwal; a hadith promises that the customary extra days of fasting in Shawwal equal fasting the whole year.
Q 16Thanks to the sweets served, the festival ending Ramadan has which nickname?
Sugar Feast
In Turkey the holiday is officially Ramazan Bayramı but popularly Şeker Bayramı, the Sugar Feast, because sweets are served and children go door to door collecting candy.
Q 17Which rice cake, boiled in a woven palm-leaf pouch, is the classic Indonesian dish for the festival ending Ramadan?
Ketupat
Ketupat is boiled in a pouch woven from young palm leaves, and at Lebaran it is made in large batches to share with family, neighbours and guests.
Q 18Besides the sick, the Quran lets which group postpone Ramadan fasts and make up the days later?
Travellers
Travellers, like the sick, may fast an equal number of other days instead, and verse 2:185 says God intends ease, not hardship.
Q 19When is the Eid sermon given?
After the prayer
After the prayer: Eid's two rak'ahs, with extra takbirs and no call to prayer, come first, the reverse of Friday prayers, where the sermon leads.
Q 20The special Tarawih night prayers of Ramadan are performed after which daily prayer?
Isha
Tarawih follows the Isha night prayer during Ramadan; it is a recommended rather than obligatory prayer, performed in pairs of rak'ahs and usually rounded off with Witr.
Q 24The fanous, the decorative Ramadan lantern, originated in which country?
Egypt
The fanous is an Egyptian tradition believed to date to Fatimid Cairo, where lanterns lit Ramadan nights; from Egypt the custom spread across the Arab world.
Q 25During Ramadan, Mamluk forces won the Battle of Ain Jalut against which invading empire?
The Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire's army was routed there on 3 September 1260, the first major halt to Mongol advances into the Islamic world.
Q 26The word 'fanous' comes from a Greek word meaning what?
Light
'Fanous' comes from the Greek phanos, meaning light or lantern, and in Arabic the word names any lantern, not only the Ramadan kind.
Q 27In the Middle East, what does the mesaharati traditionally do during Ramadan?
Beats a drum to wake people
Beats a drum to wake people for the pre-dawn meal, a custom once found all over the Middle East but now rarely practised in countries such as Qatar.
Q 28After his first revelation during Ramadan, Muhammad hurried home in terror to which wife?
Khadija
Khadija wrapped him in a blanket and reassured him, and tradition counts her as the first person to accept Islam.
Q 29Which Indian city's haleem, a meat-and-wheat stew eaten after Ramadan fasts, won protected Geographical Indication status?
Hyderabad
Hyderabad's haleem won Geographical Indication status in 2010, and the slow-cooked dish is eaten above all during Ramadan to break the day's fast.
Q 30In Jakarta, what is widely used to celebrate Ramadan even though it is officially illegal?
Firecrackers
Firecrackers, called petasan, are widely set off in Jakarta during Ramadan even though they are officially illegal in the Chinese-influenced capital.