Paris (France) (AFP) – Wednesday or Thursday? Ramadan will not begin on the same day for the 5 to 6 million Muslims in France, religious institutions having given different dates, reflecting a divided Islam in the country.

Published on: 02/18/2026 - 1:41 p.m.

“The blessed month of Ramadan will begin in France on Wednesday February 18,” said the Grand Mosque of Paris on Tuesday evening, kicking off the crucial month of fasting, prayers and sharing for Muslims.

Problem: the Thursday date had previously been announced by other Muslim representatives, notably the French Council of Muslim Worship (CFCM), the former body representing Islam to public authorities. “Thursday February 19, 2026 is the first day of Ramadan,” the CFCM repeated Tuesday evening in a press release.

Where does such a difference come from?

The "blessed month", the fourth pillar of Islam, traditionally begins with the appearance of the first crescent moon, the Muslim calendar being lunar. However, not everyone has the same production method.

The Great Mosque of Paris brings together, during the “Night of Doubt”, a theological commission which is determined after “consultation of astronomical data and observations of the moon”. The CFCM claims to work “in accordance with scientific data”.

Visual observation can give rise to divergent results depending on where you are on the globe and, this year, the start of Ramadan is not the same everywhere.

It starts on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates... But it will be Thursday in Iran, Algeria, Egypt, India and even Belgium.

"Catastrophic"

As of Tuesday evening, the faithful were desolate on social networks: "I'm lost, what date should we follow?", asked a faithful on X while another sighed: "the state of the community in France is catastrophic".

Several mosques, notably those in Metz and Strasbourg, announced that they were holding back Thursday. That of Lyon decided to set the date for Wednesday "so as not to go into fitna again" (division, schism).

“Once again, the Muslim community has just shown that unity does not yet exist between us and, today, France is divided in two” lamented its rector Kamel Kabtane in front of the faithful.

Because the pataquès also reveals the divisions of an Islam of France in need of unity. Islam is the second largest religion in France and the French Muslim community is one of the largest in Europe.

“One of the challenges of creating the CFCM was to avoid this kind of situation: all the components of Islam met at the Grand Mosque of Paris for the Night of Doubt and agreed on a single date,” explains Didier Leschi, former head of the Central Office of Religion and author of “Misères de l’islam de France,” to AFP.

When, in 2013, there was confusion within the CFCM over the date of the start of Ramadan, the body finally backpedaled on its initial decision.

Created in 2003 to be the interlocutor of public authorities, the CFCM was deeply divided and fell out of favor in 2021 before being replaced by the Forif (Forum of Islam of France).

But Forif, which wanted to break with consular Islam (via federations affiliated to countries like Morocco, Algeria, Turkey), is criticized for its lack of representativeness.

The landscape of Islam in France remains fragmented today, with in particular the Grand Mosque of Paris (which maintains a strong link with Algeria), the Union of Mosques of France and the gathering of Muslims of France (both close to Morocco).

A good connoisseur of Islam also sees in this episode of the date of Ramadan the illustration of a “rivalry” for leadership over the Muslim community in France between Grand Mosque of Paris and CFCM.

© 2026 AFP

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