Egypt and Morocco suspend DST for Ramadan
Published 6-Jun-2014
The governments of Egypt and Morocco recently announced their 2014 Daylight Saving Time. DST is suspended during the Muslim holiday Ramadan.
Cairo minarets at dusk.
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Ramadan and DST
Egypt and Morocco are the only countries that suspend DST during the month of Ramadan, when Muslims are required to fast during daylight hours. The temporary return to standard time is designed to shorten the fasting period in the evenings by bringing on the sunset an hour earlier.
Egypt DST switches
Egypt will suspend DST from June 27 to August 1, 2014. Clocks there will be turned back one hour to Standard Time at midnight between Thursday, June 26, 2014 and Friday, June 27, 2014.
They will be set forward again one hour from midnight between Thursday, 31 July, 2014 to 1am Friday, August 1, 2014, as DST resumes.
2014's second DST period in Egypt is expected to end at midnight between Thursday, 25 September 2014 and Friday, 26 September 2014.
Egypt's DST schedule in detail
Morocco DST switches
The DST period in Morocco will be suspended from 3:00 a.m. (03:00) on Saturday, 28 June 2014, as clocks are turned back by one hour. DST will resume again when clocks are advanced by one hour at 2:00 a.m. (02:00) on Saturday, 2 August 2014.
Morocco will switch back to standard time for the last time this year at 3:00 a.m. (03:00) on Sunday, 26 October 2014.