The ninth Islamic month of Ramadan is marked worldwide by fasting. Unsurprisingly, almost all the search trends in June centered on Ramadan.
In first spot was the search term Shab-e-Qadr rendered in English as the "Night of Decree". Shab-e-Qadr is observed on the 19th, 21st or 23rd of the month.
In Islamic belief, it is the night when the first verses of the holy Qur'an were revealed to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The 19th coincides with the deadly attack on Imam Ali (PBUH) while worshipping in the Great Mosque of Kufa, Iraq, and his martyrdom on the 21st.
Search for the term was on the rise from almost a week before the occasion, with searches related to Imam Ali (PBUH) in Persian and Doa-ye Shab-e-Qadr, which refers to "special supplications on the Night of Decree."
Inquiries were broad in the country, with Bushehr and Markazi provinces ranking first and second respectively.
In second position was Mah-e Asal, literally translated as "The Sweet Month" written in the Persian script, which is an Iranian talk show hosted by Ehsan Alikhani and broadcast before Iftar, when Muslims break their fast after sunset. Yazd Province led search results and was followed by Ilam Province.
One of the most visited sites in this regard was Aparat, a domestic version of YouTube.
With Mazandaran Province in the lead, in a striking divergence, a non-related search term was "Habib" in Persian, a famous Iranian singer and songwriter who passed away on June 10. The fourth and the fifth positions simultaneously go to Ramazan and Mah-e Ramazan in the Persian script.
In the month of Ramadan, Muslims abstain from consuming food, drinking liquids, smoking and engaging in sexual relations from dawn till sunset. Search for the terms was on rise from almost a week before Ramadan with the peak occurring on June 7, the first day of the Islamic month. Both terms were searched the most in Bushehr Province. In the sixth spot was Azan-e Sobh, which is the morning call for prayers.
The search peaked on the first day of Ramadan and then declined abruptly since the time of the morning call for prayers changes gradually by a meager six seconds in the month. The leading region for this search term was the Caspian Sea littoral province of Mazandaran.
As ever, education also topped the Iranian agenda. The next two most sought terms online was "Samaneh SAJAD" and "SAJAD" written in Persian.
Literally translated as "education research application", the important online application form is mostly used by potential university students and current students seeking financial aid. With Ilam in the lead, search for the term rose constantly throughout the month to ultimately hit 300%.
The ninth ranking goes to "volleyball" in Persian. With Iran landing in 2015 FIVB Volleyball World League's third place, the rise in hits peaked on the days Iran was playing. The spread of inquiries was broad with the northern regions leading the search for the term.
The 10th spot was occupied by Oqat-e Shar'ee that refers to the times for prayers. Just as the Azan-e Sobh search for the term peaked at the beginning of Ramadan, this too decreased abruptly and then remained constant throughout the rest of the month.
