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57 free Ramadan trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 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 57 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 02Measured from one sighting of the crescent moon to the next, how long does Ramadan last?
29 or 30 days
A lunar month runs 29 or 30 days, so Ramadan's exact length is only known when the new crescent marking the next month is sighted.
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 as blessed and some observe i'tikaf, seclusion in a mosque.
Q 09Which single night do many Sunni scholars regard as the most likely date of Laylat al-Qadr?
27th
The 27th night is the most widely cited candidate, resting on a report in Sahih Muslim in which the companion Ubayy ibn Ka'b swore it was that night.
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 12In which year CE were Muslims first commanded to fast during Ramadan?
624
The fast was ordained in 624 CE, the second year after the Hijra, shortly before the Battle of Badr was fought in that Ramadan.
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 21According to the four Sunni schools, the standard number of rak'ah in Tarawih is what?
Twenty
All four Sunni schools treat twenty rak'ahs as the standard Tarawih, citing reports in al-Muwatta of twenty being prayed in early Medina, though eight is also widely prayed.
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, the tenth month of the Islamic calendar; 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 the fast 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 17How is the sa' of food due per person as Zakat al-Fitr traditionally measured?
Four double handfuls
A sa' is four mudd, and a mudd is the fill of both hands cupped together, so the measure is four double handfuls, about 2.5 to 3 kilograms of grain.
Q 18Which Sunni school of law permits paying Zakat al-Fitr in cash rather than food?
Hanafi
The Hanafi school allows Zakat al-Fitr to be paid as the cash value of the food, a position many official fatwa councils have since adopted worldwide.
Q 19The congregational Eid prayer consists of how many rakaʿāt?
Two
The Eid prayer is two rak'ahs with extra takbirs, prayed without an adhan or iqama, and unlike Friday prayer its sermon follows rather than precedes the prayer.
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 dating to Fatimid Cairo, where lanterns lit Ramadan nights; from Egypt the custom spread across the Arab world.
Q 25Lantern-bearing crowds are said to have welcomed which Fatimid caliph to his new capital?
Al-Mu'izz
That welcome in Cairo is the traditional origin story of the fanous, though lighting the streets was already an old Egyptian custom.
Q 26The word 'fanous' comes from a Greek word meaning what?
Light
'Fanous' derives from the Greek phanos, meaning light or lantern, and the word came to carry the sense of 'light of the world,' a symbol of hope in darkness.
Q 27In the Middle East, what does the mesaharati traditionally do during Ramadan?
Beats a drum to wake people for the pre-dawn meal
The mesaharati beats a drum to wake people for the pre-dawn meal, calling out names and prayers through the streets, a role fading as alarms and phone apps take over.
Q 28Who is traditionally named as the first person to roam the streets waking people for the pre-dawn meal?
Bilal ibn Rabah
Bilal ibn Rabah, the first muezzin chosen by Muhammad, is traditionally credited as the first to walk Medina's streets at night calling people to the pre-dawn meal.
Q 29In Southeast Asia, which slit drum is used to wake households for the pre-dawn meal?
Kentongan
The kentongan, a hollowed wooden or bamboo slit drum, is beaten in Javanese villages before dawn to rouse households for the pre-dawn meal; mosques use the larger bedug drum similarly.
Q 30In Jakarta, what is widely used to celebrate Ramadan even though it is officially illegal?
Firecrackers
Firecrackers, petasan, are set off across Jakarta during Ramadan nights despite a police ban, a Betawi custom tracing to the capital's Chinese community.