Man, let me tell you, this whole time zone thing between Morocco and the UK nearly cost me a critical business contact. You think it’s straightforward, right? UK is usually GMT or BST, and Morocco is pretty close, maybe just one hour difference. I thought I knew the drill. I thought it was always one hour, just like Spain or France during summer.
The Setup: Why I Even Bothered Looking This Up
I started this practice log because I had a crucial, non-negotiable remote meeting set up with a potential partner based in Rabat. This guy is notoriously busy, and securing this specific 10 AM slot (his time) took weeks of back and forth. I was already stressed out, and the last thing I needed was to mess up the time.
I initially just glanced at my standard world clock app. It usually shows MA being 1 hour behind Central European Time, which generally means it’s the same time as the UK during winter (GMT). But then Daylight Saving Time (DST) kicks in, and that’s where the chaos starts.
My first move was to try and lock down what time the UK was running. Easy enough.
- I checked the current date.
- I confirmed when the UK switches to BST (usually late March).
- I verified that BST is GMT+1.
So, standard logic dictated: If the UK is on BST (GMT+1), and Morocco is generally on GMT, then Morocco should be 1 hour behind the UK. Simple subtraction, right? I scheduled the meeting for 11 AM my time (UK), figuring that put the call at 10 AM for him in Rabat.
The Deep Dive: Finding the Moroccan DST Trap
But something felt off. I decided to do a real, manual check—not just trust the quick widget. I fired up a few time zone trackers side-by-side, inputting London and Casablanca. What I found out immediately threw my whole schedule into question.
Here’s the thing about Morocco, and this is the core of the problem: they use GMT all year round, BUT they suspend their DST schedule around the holy month of Ramadan. They switch back to GMT+0 just before Ramadan starts, and then switch back to GMT+1 a week or so after Ramadan finishes. This is not a fixed date! It moves every year!
My crucial meeting fell right in the middle of a suspected time warp.
I scrambled to find the official decree. I didn’t want a generic time zone website; I needed the specific, updated governmental status. This took effort. I had to cross-reference three different news sources just to confirm the date of the time change announcement for the current year.
The realization hit me hard:
- For most of the year (outside DST/Ramadan suspensions), Morocco runs on GMT+1 (which is technically WET, or Western European Time).
- When the UK is on BST (GMT+1), Morocco is also usually on GMT+1. Result: ZERO hours difference.
- BUT, during Ramadan, Morocco drops back to GMT. If the UK is still on BST (GMT+1), then Morocco is suddenly 1 HOUR BEHIND the UK.
I ran the dates again for my specific call. It turned out that Morocco had implemented its time drop for Ramadan early this year. My calendar app, which defaults to standard rules, hadn’t caught up yet, or maybe it was just being lazy and sticking to the usual GMT+1 setting.
My intended 11 AM UK time meeting (thinking it was 10 AM in Rabat) was actually going to be 11 AM in Rabat. I was about to be late for a meeting I scheduled myself for! The difference was 0 hours, not 1 hour, at that specific moment.
The Consequence: Why You Can’t Trust Default Settings
I immediately adjusted my meeting invite to 10 AM UK time. Saved it by an hour. The meeting went fine. But this little research job, this deep dive into Moroccan time politics, was only triggered because I had already messed up big time just a month prior, and I couldn’t afford a repeat performance.
Why am I sharing this whole confusing mess? Because it’s the exact reason I’m so pedantic about time zones now.
Last month, I was supposed to hop on a quick consultation with a guy in the UAE. Standard time check: UAE is GMT+4. UK was on BST (GMT+1). That’s a 3-hour difference, right? I set my alarm, ready to go.
What I didn’t account for was a severe, unexpected power cut in my area that day. My backup battery failed. I missed the meeting entirely. I woke up four hours later, heart hammering, realizing I had just blown a huge chance. I immediately texted the contact, apologizing profusely, explaining the outage.
He replied almost instantly: “No worries, I’m heading out for lunch now. We’ll reschedule.”
Wait. Lunch? If he was GMT+4, lunch shouldn’t be for another hour.
I dug into why I had missed the clock by an extra hour. Turns out, my phone had defaulted to showing me the pre-DST time for the UAE on a specific app, meaning my own calculation was wrong by 60 minutes. Because I was stressed and relying on an automatic, single glance setting, I calculated a 3-hour difference when it should have been 4 hours based on my location. I was an hour later than I thought I was, even without the power outage!
That embarrassing mistake—thinking I was late by four hours when I was actually late by five—made me swear off guessing time zones ever again. Now, for Morocco, UK, or anywhere else with shifty DST, I hammer away until I find the official decree for that calendar year. If I hadn’t done that research this time, assuming the standard 1-hour difference, I would have been an hour early for the meeting, sitting around waiting, which is almost as bad as being late to a big shot. It’s 0 or 1 hour difference, but you gotta check which one it is today.