Long Summer Fasts in the UK and Northern Europe: Keeping Your Quran Routine
Because the Islamic calendar is lunar, Ramadan moves about 11 days earlier each year. When it falls in the summer months, Muslims in the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia and much of Northern Europe face very long fasts and very short nights. Here's how to protect your Quran time anyway.
The challenge
In high summer, Maghrib can be late in the evening and Fajr very early, leaving only a few hours for iftar, Isha, taraweeh, suhoor and sleep. Many people start Ramadan planning to finish the whole Quran and give up by the second week.
Plan by pages, not by juz
The standard mushaf has 604 pages. Instead of "one juz a day", pick a daily page target you can actually keep:
| Pages per day | Result by the end of Ramadan |
|---|---|
| 20 | Full khatm in 30 days |
| 10 | Half the Quran |
| 4–5 | Around a fifth — still a great achievement |
See our full guide to completing a khatm.
Split it across the day
- After Fajr: a few pages while the house is quiet, before a short sleep.
- Lunch break: 10 minutes with a pocket mushaf or app.
- Before iftar: the last hour of the fast is a beautiful time for recitation and dua.
Look after your body
Recitation matters, but so does sleep. The Prophet ﷺ taught that the religion is easy and warned against overburdening ourselves (Sahih al-Bukhari 39). A smaller, steady amount is better than an ambitious plan you abandon.
Keep lessons going — just shorter
Many of our students keep their one-to-one classes during Ramadan but shorten them or move them to after taraweeh or the weekend. Your teacher can switch the focus to Tajweed practice on the passages you're reading that day.
More on the month itself: Fasting in Ramadan — Quran and hadith. Classes in UK and European time: UK · Europe. Book a free trial lesson.
Keep reading
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