India GOEid al-Fitr in Delhi
Eid Mubarak: sweetness after a month of fasting
The month before Eid is the event: the lanes off Jama Masjid's Gate 1 run from the breaking of the fast at sunset until roughly three or four in the morning for all thirty nights, and then Eid day itself moves indoors by mid-morning.
Where to watch
Jama Masjid (Masjid-i Jahan-Numa), Old Delhi: the iftar courtyard through Ramadan and one of Delhi's main Eid congregations. Working mosque, no ticket for prayer. Jama Masjid station on the Delhi Metro Violet Line is a short walk from Gate No. 1; Chawri Bazar on the Yellow Line is the other approach.
Matia Mahal Road and Bazar Chitli Qabar: the Ramadan night food street. Matia Mahal Road runs out from Jama Masjid Gate No. 1; Chitli Qabar, also called Sadak Matia Mahal, is the lane opposite Gate No. 1, at a three-way fork with lanes to Turkman Gate and Bulbuli Khana. Public street, free to walk, lined with food stalls and shops selling spices, clothes and utensils.
Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah and Basti: the second Ramadan location, with a nightly iftar langar on a long dastarkhwan in the dargah courtyard. Working shrine, free entry, open daily.
Zakir Nagar and Batla House, Jamia Nagar, Okhla: the third Ramadan location, a neighbourhood night food street near Jamia Millia Islamia. Public streets, free; vendors set up after iftar.
🎟 Free viewing
- The Jama Masjid courtyard at sunset, where the dastarkhwans are laid and the fast is broken with dates and water
- Matia Mahal Road, straight out from Gate No. 1, the whole length of it
- Bazar Chitli Qabar, the lane opposite Gate No. 1 at the fork towards Turkman Gate
- The courtyard of the Hazrat Nizamuddin dargah at iftar, where the langar is served on a long dastarkhwan
🗓 Programme
Ramadan nights around Jama Masjid
Iftar in the Jama Masjid courtyard. Dastarkhwans, long dining spreads, are laid out in the courtyard; worshippers perform ablutions and the fast is broken with dates and water before the shared meal. Crackers go off to signal the moment, and street children share the same spread.
Jama Masjid (Masjid-i Jahan-Numa) courtyard, Old Delhi
Ramadan nights around Jama Masjid
The lanes. Matia Mahal Road runs straight out from Jama Masjid Gate No. 1 and becomes one of the busiest food streets in the city for the month. The street is lively and crowded until the early hours, typically to three or four in the morning. The iftar surge is immediately after Maghrib; the crowd thins and refills, and one guide advises that eleven at night onwards is the quieter window.
Matia Mahal Road and Bazar Chitli Qabar, opposite Jama Masjid Gate No. 1
Ramadan nights around Jama Masjid
What is sold. Seekh kebabs, mutton korma, tandoori and khameeri rotis, biryani, nihari, and the sweets: phirni, shahi tukda, jalebi. Well-known places on and beside Matia Mahal: Karim's, Al Jawahar, Aslam Chicken at 1129 Matia Mahal Road, Qureshi Kabab Corner, Kallu Nihari, Haji Shabrati, and the Pyar Mohabbat Maza sharbat stall.
Matia Mahal Road, Old Delhi
Ramadan nights around Jama Masjid
Sehri, the pre-dawn meal. The sehri specialities are khajla and pheni, eaten with milk, and sheermal. Nihari belongs to this end of the night, not to dinner: the name comes from the Persian for morning, it is simmered overnight in a shab degh and was eaten at sunrise, and some Old Delhi kitchens still keep that hour. Karim's runs a sehri menu including keema kaleji, biryani and slow-cooked mutton nihari with naan.
Matia Mahal Road and the lanes around Jama Masjid
Ramadan nights at Nizamuddin
Nizamuddin Basti. A long dastarkhwan is spread across the courtyard of the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya and hundreds gather every evening for the langar at iftar, followed by dinner in the basti.
Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah and Basti, south Delhi
Ramadan nights in Zakir Nagar
Zakir Nagar and Batla House in Jamia Nagar, Okhla, near Jamia Millia Islamia. The narrow streets fill with food vendors as soon as iftar winds down, selling fryums, samosas, sweets and juices, with clothing and accessory stalls alongside. Temporary nihari stalls appear here for the month, as they do at Jama Masjid and Nizamuddin.
Zakir Nagar and Batla House, Jamia Nagar, Okhla
The last ten nights
Laylat al-Qadr, Shab-e-Qadr in Urdu, is sought on the odd nights of the last ten of Ramadan: the 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th and 29th, with the 27th night most widely observed. I'tikaf, a retreat spent in the mosque, is kept through the last ten nights.
Jama Masjid and neighbourhood mosques across Delhi
Chaand Raat, the night before Eid
Chaand Raat, the night of the moon. Families gather in the open at the end of the last day of Ramadan to look for the new crescent, which begins the month of Shawwal and fixes Eid for the next morning. Markets stay open into the early hours; mehndi stalls and glass-bangle sellers work through the night; the last shopping for clothes, sweets and gifts is done then.
Matia Mahal and the Jama Masjid lanes; Zakir Nagar; markets across the city
Chaand Raat, the night before Eid
The date mechanics. The Central Moon Sighting Committee, chaired by Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali, announces the sighting for the country; in 2025 the crescent was sighted on the evening of Sunday 30 March and Eid fell on Monday 31 March. Jammu and Kashmir announces separately through the Grand Mufti, and Telangana through the Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee of Sadar Majlis-e-Ulama-e-Deccan.
Announced nationally on the evening before Eid
Eid al-Fitr
The congregational Eid prayer. Delhi's main congregations are at Jama Masjid, Fatehpuri Masjid and the Shahi Eidgah. Individual mosques set and publish their own jamaat times a few days ahead; one Delhi mosque published three jamaats at 7:15, 8:15 and 9:15 am for Eid on 21 March 2026. The Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid delivers the khutbah after the prayer.
Jama Masjid, Fatehpuri Masjid and the Shahi Eidgah, Delhi
Eid al-Fitr
After the prayer, the day turns inward. Eid al-Fitr is a gazetted public holiday in India: schools, government offices and many businesses are closed. The day is spent at home and between homes, visiting relatives and neighbours and sharing sewai and kheer. The streets that were full every night for a month are quiet, and many kitchens that ran through Ramadan do not open in the morning.
Across the city