Ramadan Mubarak

[chorba]

..........................

[PAKS4]

Ramadan Mubarak, 18 hours fasting, going to bed after 4am, should be fun.

[mya1986]

Happy ramadan. I am just about to eat for the day. Gonna be long this year.

[Nagel]

Ramadan Mubarak, 18 hours fasting, going to bed after 4am, should be fun.

 

It's got to be tricky in summer in northern countries, just because the days are so long. At what point do other rules about fasting become applicable? For instance, I was told that north of the Arctic Circle where the sun never goes down in summer, Muslims observe Mecca time for their fasting.

 

What about places in between, like where there's only 1 hours darkness? Is there any concession there?

 

Mind you, it must be hell for people in North Africa and the Middle East when Ramadan falls in the height of summer. I spent a few summers in Libya and the temperature there is regularly 45°C - 55°C at this time of year and people aren't even allowed to drink water in Ramadan.

[Plain Talker]

Ramadan Kareem, everyone.

 

Nagel, in answer to your query:- in lands like the Arctic where, practicably, there'd never be any "night", to enable the fasting persons to eat, it would be permissible in their case, to work on Mecca time, so even though, say in the Arctic, there'd only be "night" for half an hour, or whatever bizarre time it would work out at, they would break their fast at the same time as the people in Mecca, at evening prayer, so, maybe 7/8pm, and would start fasting again before the dawn prayers at, say 5 am. (however it worked the Meccan time corresponds with local time)

 

It is the same way of calculating the time of the fast and the prayers if you were in a spaceship, like the International Space Station. your prayers and fast would correspond with Meccan time.

 

Incidentally, Re your query about the heat and length of time in the middle east:- you are permitted to break your fast, and eat/ drink if you are feeling faint or ill.

 

It's not a case of "You aren't eating, or drinking anything, no matter what the circumstances!" there are dispensations for certain situations. Eg if you are a pregnant or nursing mother, for the sake of the welfare of yourself and your child, you are excused the fast..

 

There are categories of persons who are not permitted to fast, such as Diabetics... (Naturally it would be harmful to oneself to fast as one could become very ill indeed, with a hypo, which means that it's forbidden). Also the terminally ill/ permanently ill are excused the fast.

 

If you miss the fast, then you are expected to pay charity. You are expected to feed the needy, a main meal (not a snack) for every day you miss. You don't have to give the food or monetary equivalent directly to the beggar/ poor person. You can give the money to a charity to enable food to be distributed to needy persons. I do this, as the charity can distribute the help more effectively than I could, as one person, on her own, handing out help.

[HeadingNorth]

It's got to be tricky in summer in northern countries, just because the days are so long. At what point do other rules about fasting become applicable? For instance, I was told that north of the Arctic Circle where the sun never goes down in summer, Muslims observe Mecca time for their fasting.

 

What about places in between, like where there's only 1 hours darkness? Is there any concession there?

 

Where it's completely unreasonable to follow the rules of Ramadan, some sort of compromise or adaptation is always brought in. As, for instance, when a Muslim astronaut went into space and the concept of facing Mecca to pray simply made no sense, so he was given dispensation not to.

[callippo]

actual observance levels, are quite low, even in Muslim majority countries close to the equator where there isn't a religous police force, paid for by the taxpayers, to enforce the sharia law. In the UK few Muslims will observe Ramadan for ther entire lunar month.

[Nagel]

Nagel, in answer to your query:- in lands like the Arctic where, practicably, there'd never be any "night", to enable the fasting persons to eat, it would be permissible in their case, to work on Mecca time, so even though, say in the Arctic, there'd only be "night" for half an hour, or whatever bizarre time it would work out at, they would break their fast at the same time as the people in Mecca, at evening prayer, so, maybe 7/8pm, and would start fasting again before the dawn prayers at, say 5 am. (however it worked the Meccan time corresponds with local time)

 

Yes, that's what I said I knew already. Reread my post.

 

What I was wondering about is where the cut off point applies as the further north you go the less light there is in summer until it reaches zero north of the Arctic Circle. Just how much true night time is necessary before 'Mecca Rules' apply?

 

As there are innumerable Islamic scholars pontificating on the minutiae of religious law I'm sure that this problem has been addressed.

 

(Pontificating may not be the appropriate word, well not if it's roots lie with the pontif of Rome)

[Nagel]

actual observance levels, are quite low, even in Muslim majority countries close to the equator where there isn't a religous police force, paid for by the taxpayers, to enforce the sharia law. In the UK few Muslims will observe Ramadan for ther entire lunar month.

 

I thought the situation in Tunisia was pretty cool. I spent one Ramadan there working on a site and the observance of Ramadan was very free. There wasn't any social pressure to conform and only the properly religious observed the fast, which is how it should be in my eyes. This was about 75% of the people there.

 

In other Muslim countries I've been to there was huge social pressure to conform and to not fast was socially unthinkable.

[upinwath]

All posters should try it for a day.

You'll get the idea what it's like to be hungry and may be more inclined to help those who really need help.