Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (sawm), prayer (salah), reflection, and community. A commemoration of Muhammad's first revelation, the annual observance of Ramadan is regarded as one of the Five Pillars of Islam and lasts twenty-nine to thirty days, from one sighting of the crescent moon to the next.

Muhammad's first revelation was an event described in Islamic tradition as taking place in 610 CE, during which the Islamic Prophet Muhammad was visited by the angel Jibril (Gabriel), who revealed to him the beginnings of what would later become the Qur'an. The event took place in a cave called Hira, located on the mountain Jabal An-Nour near Mecca.