Nineteen days of renewal.

The Baháʼí Fast runs from March 2 to March 20, 2027, and ends at sunset on March 20 with the arrival of Naw-Rúz, the Baháʼí New Year, on March 21. The Fast occupies the whole nineteen-day month of ʻAláʼ (Loftiness) and falls on the same Gregorian dates most years, because it is fixed to the days immediately preceding Naw-Rúz.

See also: When is Naw-Rúz?

Baháʼís abstain from all food and drink from sunrise to sunset in their own locality. There is no single global timetable — sunrise and sunset are taken from wherever you are, which is the same local-sunset principle that governs the start of every Baháʼí day.

See also: How a Baháʼí day is measured

Fasting is binding on Baháʼís from the age of 15 to 70. Exempt are: those who are ill; anyone aged 70 or over; women who are pregnant, nursing, or menstruating; travellers on a journey (under the conditions defined in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas); and those engaged in heavy physical labour. The exemptions are permissions, not prohibitions, and no one is asked to account for using them.

Baháʼu'lláh described the Fast as a period of spiritual renewal rather than mere abstinence — 'the cause of the awakening of the soul, and the wellspring of tranquility'. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá wrote that it is 'a symbol of the fast from selfish and carnal desires'. The nineteen days are given to prayer, reflection, reading of the sacred writings, and detachment from habit.

The four or five days of Ayyám-i-Há (the Intercalary Days) come immediately before the month of fasting — February 25 to March 1 in 2026 and February 26 to March 1 in 2027. They are days of hospitality, charity, gift-giving, and celebration, deliberately placed as a joyful preparation for the discipline that follows.

See also: Ayyám-i-Há and the Holy Days

They share the sunrise-to-sunset pattern of abstinence but differ in length and timing. The Baháʼí Fast is always nineteen days in the solar month of ʻAláʼ, so it sits in the same part of early March each year. Ramadan follows the lunar Islamic calendar and moves roughly eleven days earlier each Gregorian year.

Yes. Baháʼu'lláh revealed prayers specifically for the period of fasting, and Baháʼís also recite one of the three Obligatory Prayers daily throughout the year. Many read from the Kitáb-i-Aqdas and the Hidden Words during these nineteen days.

See also: Free e-Books of the writings