Get To Know Iftar Cannon

For a long period of time, Egyptians knew it was time for Iftar only through the sound of the Cairo Castl's cannon, especially in the old districts of the capital city and the neighboring cities of Cairo, however that tradition disappeared for a while. There are now initiatives to demand firing the cannon again to bring back this nostalgia.

During Ramadan, Egyptian families gather around the dining table and wait for the iftar cannon to be fired on TV, the iftar cannon is traditionally fired before the Maghrib call to prayer which announces and marks the end of the fasting day.

According to Arab and Egyptian historians, the annual tradition started in Cairo before being applied in other Muslim nations and there are numerous stories and tales around how it first originated as well.

The first story goes back to Mamluk Sultanate in 1455 AH on the first day of Ramadan, the Ruler at the time, whose name was “Khosh Qadam,” had received a new massive cannon as a gift from a Western factory owner.

After it had been delivered to Egypt, the Mamluk's Ruler ordered his soldiers to try it and it coincided with the time of Maghreb prayer, so residents of Cairo thought it was to announce that it is time for Iftar.

On the next day, Egyptians acknowledged the Islamic contributions of the Ruler and thanked him for his gift to the residents of Cairo.

From this day on, the cannon of Saladin Castle would fire every day at sunset to announce the Iftar, and this continues to this very day.

Another renowned story dates back to the era of Khepe Ismail, some soldiers were cleaning the cannon when they fired it by mistake.

Later on, the story became popular at that time, and the officials adopted this new idea to notify people with iftar time and when the ruling family heard about this, they made it official.