Why do Muslims start Ramadan on different days and why are some Sunni countries are not following Saudi Arabia this year?

Muslims around the world begin Ramadan on different days due to the lunar nature of the Islamic calendar and the sighting of the new crescent moon, but some Sunni countries have shifted from norms by not following the Saudi announcement this year.

There is no single global religious authority that determines the start of the month, so each country follows its own system for confirming the sighting.

A split emerged after Saudi Arabia announced that the crescent moon was sighted on 17 February 2026, making Wednesday, 18 February, the first day of Ramadan. The decision was followed by several Gulf states, including the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Yemen, as well as Palestine.

However, several Sunni-majority countries began fasting a day later, on Thursday, 19 February, including Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Morocco, Malaysia and Indonesia, with many of these countries usually following the lead of Saudi authorities.

Why does this happen?

The difference is methodological rather than theological, as Ramadan begins with the sighting of the hilal, the appearance of a new crescent moon in the sky marking the end of the month of Shaaban.

But countries disagree on how that sighting should be verified, with some states insisting on a confirmed local sighting within their own territory. If the moon is not visible, or astronomical data suggests it is too young to be seen, they delay the start by a day.

Saudi Arabia follows a model, with its Supreme Judicial Council announcing the start based on testimony from moon sighting committees across the kingdom.

Some Gulf countries often follow their declaration, while other countries combine physical sighting with astronomical calculations.

In 2026, several authorities argued that the moon on 17 February was less than 24 hours old and astronomically unlikely to be visible, which is why they rejected the Saudi announcement.

Is politics involved?

Formally, decisions are framed as procedural and religious rather than political, with countries like Syria saying they conducted their own observations and found no crescent, without referencing Saudi Arabia directly.

However, divergence from Riyadh has become more common in recent years, with countries such as Egypt, Jordan and Oman previously declining to follow Saudi announcements.

Given that Saudi Arabia is home to Mecca and Medina, Islam's holiest cities, its declarations have historically carried symbolic religious weight across the Sunni world, which makes the growing pattern of independent decisions more notable.

Egypt has long maintained its own moon sighting committees through Dar al-Ifta and Al-Azhar, but since the 2010s it has more openly emphasised independent verification, with Al-Azhar scholars in 2015 describing earlier deference to Saudi announcements as a "mistake" and prioritising local evidence instead.

Syria has historically relied on its own observation committees, including those at Mount Qasioun, and has frequently diverged when no local crescent was confirmed, a practice rooted in classical Islamic jurisprudence that recognises regional variations in sightings.

Oman has also consistently prioritised its own Main Committee for Moon Sighting, publicly defending its independence as early as 2008 when it diverged from Saudi Arabia over Eid al-Adha, citing both Sharia principles and astronomical data.

While officials rarely frame this as political defiance, some point to growing emphasis on institutional independence and national religious authority.

Saudi Arabia has also faced recurring criticism from astronomers who argue that some past moon sighting announcements were scientifically implausible.

When has Saudi Arabia been challenged before?

There have been several high-profile disputes with Saudi announcements, including in 2006 when astronomers in the UAE said the moon had set before sunset, making sighting impossible.

UAE astronomers such as Mohammad Odeh stated at the time that the crescent could not have been visible under any circumstances, suggesting that observers may have mistaken Mercury or atmospheric optical illusions for the moon.

Similarly, in 2023, 2024 and 2025, astronomers again questioned Saudi announcements, arguing that the crescent was too young to be visible.

In 2023, Kuwaiti experts publicly described the Eid al-Fitr sighting as astronomically impossible, while in 2024 and 2025 bodies such as Qatar Calendar House and other regional specialists said the moon was too thin and too low on the horizon to be detected even with telescopes.

Notably, in 2011, many noted that Saturn may have been mistaken for the crescent during Saudi Arabia's announcement of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan.

These recurring disputes have not led to any official Saudi admission of error, with authorities maintaining that verified eyewitness testimony under Islamic law takes precedence over astronomical calculations.

Some, however, argue that repeated announcements deemed scientifically improbable have eroded confidence among some religious institutions abroad.

At the heart of the issue lies a long-standing scholarly debate over whether a single confirmed sighting should bind Muslims globally or whether each region should rely on its own verified observation due to differences in geography and visibility.

While calls for a unified global mechanism surface almost every year, national religious bodies continue to assert their autonomy, and as a result, differing start dates for Ramadan remain a recurring feature of the Islamic calendar.