New Saudi Ramadan 2026 mosque guidelines have been announced
The new announcements apply to both worshippers and mosque workers
Ramadan is right around the corner, and Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance has now issued a comprehensive set of directives to prepare mosques all over the country for the holy month of Ramadan. These are the Saudi Ramadan 2026 mosque guidelines you need to know about.
The new guidelines reinforce regulations governing mosque staff and outline measures aimed at improving services for worshippers, according to Gulf News, The new directives apply to imams, muezzins, and mosque workers in the Kingdom.
For the worshippers
The ministry has also instructed mosques to strictly follow the prayer schedules based on the Umm Al Qura calendar. The Saudi Ramadan 2026 mosque guidelines called for the Isha prayer call to be delivered on time and specified that the interval between the call to prayer and the start of congregational prayer should be set at 15 minutes, especially for Isha and Fajr, to ease attendance for worshippers.
During the final 10 nights of Ramadan, it said, the Tahajjud prayer should conclude before dawn so as not to cause hardship for worshippers. Tahajjud is a voluntary late-night prayer that holds deep significance for Muslims, particularly during the last ten nights.
For the imams and muezzins
For mosque workers, the new guidelines stress the need for full attendance, allowing absences only in cases of extreme necessity and subject to official approval, with a substitute assigned in accordance with existing regulations.
The guidelines further emphasised that supplications during the Qunut should follow prophetic tradition, marked by humility and restraint, avoiding excessive length or ornate rhyming, the news outlet reported.
When is Ramadan?
The countdown has quietly begun for the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which begins in mid-February. Preliminary astronomical calculations point to Thursday, February 19, 2026, as the likely first day of fasting in Saudi Arabia. The confirmed date is yet to be determined by the sighting of the crescent, which signifies the beginning of a month in the lunar calendar.
