Quick answer: The main home for Arabic Ramadan series (musalsalat) in the US is MBC Shahid, which holds the biggest on-demand library of these shows. If you’d rather have them bundled with live Arabic channels — or you watch on Roku, which Shahid’s own app doesn’t support — Sling carries the Shahid library too. And the best part: even though the shows premiere during Ramadan, they stream year-round on demand afterward, so you don’t have to wait for next season to catch up.
What are musalsalat?
Musalsalat (singular musalsal) are serialized Arabic dramas, and the ones built for Ramadan are the crown jewels of Arab television. Broadcasters and streamers deliberately save their biggest, most expensive productions for the holy month — the stars, the budgets, the marketing all peak in Ramadan.
The rhythm is part of the tradition: a typical series runs around 30 episodes, with one new episode released each night after iftar, the meal that breaks the daily fast. Families gather after dinner and watch together, and the next morning everyone is talking about what happened. There is simply no bigger season in Arab TV — Ramadan is to Arabic drama what awards season is to film, all compressed into a single month.
For diaspora families in the US, the Ramadan slate is also one of the strongest threads back to home: the same shows your relatives are watching in Cairo, Riyadh, or Beirut, available to stream the same season.
When is Ramadan?
Ramadan moves earlier each year on the Gregorian calendar. Ramadan 2026 ran roughly February 17 – March 18, 2026 — so as of mid-2026 it has already passed. The next season is around February 2027.
But you don’t have to wait for the live premiere window. Once a series has aired, it stays on demand year-round on streamers like Shahid. You can binge the entire 2026 slate right now, and catch new titles as they roll out before the next Ramadan.
Where to stream in the US
Here are the legal, US-available ways to watch the Ramadan series, with the home of the library — MBC Shahid — at the center:
| Option | Price (mid-2026) | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| MBC Shahid (direct) | ~$11.49/mo | The biggest Arabic on-demand library and the official MBC home for these series; live MBC channels (MBC 1/3/Drama/Masr, Al Arabiya, Al Hadath). No Roku app. |
| Sling — MBC Shahid tier | ~$13.99/mo | Shahid VOD plus 6 live channels (Al Arabiya, Al Hadath, MBC, MBC 3, MBC Drama, MBC Masr) — and it works on Roku |
| Sling — Al Ostoura | ~$29.99/mo | Shahid VOD plus 100+ live Arabic channels |
A few things worth knowing:
- Shahid is the official MBC home for these series — the largest library, with a free ad-supported tier if you want to sample before paying. Annual billing saves roughly 25%, and the exact monthly price varies by platform and app store, so confirm at checkout.
- Shahid’s own app has no Roku version and allows 2 streams across 5 profiles. If you’re a Roku household, the Sling MBC Shahid tier is the cleanest way to get the same library on your TV — see our Sling review and Shahid review for the full breakdown.
- Note that Shahid carries no sports in the US — it’s a drama, entertainment, and news service. (For football, see our Arabic sports guide.)
Streaming prices and plan availability change often and vary by market — treat the numbers above as a mid-2026 snapshot and confirm on the official site before you subscribe.
The 2026 season
To give you a sense of the scale: MBC Shahid’s Ramadan 2026 slate ran more than 800 hours across 45+ titles. Across the whole Arab world, roughly 244 series were produced for Ramadan 2026 — an entire industry’s annual output crammed into one month.
Standout titles from the 2026 season included:
- Mawlana — starring Taim Hassan
- Kuhailan — a historical Bedouin drama
- Sawa Sawa — starring Ahmed Malek
- Wa Nensa Elli Kan — starring Yasmin Abdelaziz
- El Maddah — its sixth season
Crucially for diaspora households: selected titles ship with subtitles in 25+ languages and English or French dubs. That matters a lot for kids who grew up here and read English more comfortably than Arabic — they can follow the same show the rest of the family is watching, in whichever language works for them.
Other US options
The dedicated Ramadan hub is Shahid (with Sling as the bundled route), but a couple of mainstream services carry Arabic originals worth adding as complements:
- Netflix (US) has Arabic originals like AlRawabi School for Girls and The Exchange. They’re well-made and easy to find — but Netflix is not a Ramadan-series hub. Its Arabic catalog is a handful of titles, not the hundreds of musalsalat that pour out each Ramadan.
Think of Netflix as a nice supplement; for the actual Ramadan slate, you want Shahid or Sling.
FAQ
What’s the single best service for Ramadan musalsalat in the US? MBC Shahid — it’s the official MBC home and holds the largest on-demand library of these series. If you want them bundled with live channels or you use Roku, get the same library through Sling.
Can I watch the 2026 series now, or did I miss them? You can watch them now. Ramadan 2026 has passed, but the series stream on demand year-round after they air, so the full slate is available outside the holy month.
Can my kids watch with English subtitles or dubbing? Yes — selected titles offer subtitles in 25+ languages and English or French dubs, which is helpful for diaspora kids who read English more easily than Arabic.
Does Shahid work on Roku? No, Shahid’s own app has no Roku version. To watch the Shahid library on a Roku, use the Sling MBC Shahid tier, which works on Roku.
Bottom line
For Arabic Ramadan series in the US, start with MBC Shahid — the biggest library and the official MBC home, around $11.49/month. If you want the same shows bundled with live channels or you’re on Roku, get them through Sling instead. And remember: the series live on demand all year, so you can dive into the 2026 slate today and be ready when the next season lands around February 2027. For more on building an Arabic-TV setup that lasts beyond Ramadan, see our guide to the best way to watch Arabic TV in the USA — and when the football comes around, our 2026 World Cup guide. Prices and plans shift, so confirm current details on the official sites before subscribing.