A Question on Ramadan.

I am somewhat familiar with Ramadan as I have worked with Muslims in the past. It was my understanding that Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. My question is... what do Muslims in countries like Norway do when Ramadan coincides with the White Nights? The sun never really goes down. Or comes up for that matter. This is a serious question, no jabs being played here.

I would assume common sense would apply, maybe the hours of fasting to match the hours that Mecca receives would be my uneducated guess.

of course it could be that there's no Muslims there because they all starved...

15- روزه گرفتن در مناطقی که روز آنها طولانی است
اینجانب دانشجوی مقیم فنلاند هستم. در فصل تابستان روزها در اینجا حدود ۲۰ ساعت است. من در طول روز سخت مشغول کار هستم. با این حساب تحمل این زمان در ماه رمضان بسیار طاقت فرسا است. ایا من باید با این شرایط تمام این ۲۰ ساعت را روزه بگیرم. مسجد یا روحانیی هم اینجا پیدا نکردم تا در مورد ان سوال کنم. لطفا راهنمایی بفرمایید.
می توانید مطابق ساعات مناطق معتدله عمل کنید

makarem.ir...

Use google translation

Some body is asking about fating in Finland and the answer is that he should fast according middle regions.

And could ask if you want.

reply to post by mideast

Some body is asking about fating in Finland and the answer is that he should fast according middle regions.

So I kinda guessed right?

I would assume that the fast would end when the sun becomes the midnight sun. So they would have a period of four hours to eat.

Originally posted by benrl
reply to post by mideast

 

Some body is asking about fating in Finland and the answer is that he should fast according middle regions.

So I kinda guessed right?

The answer is not much clear . I can not say some thing from myself , because I don't know.

It seems to be that way - 20hours fasting and 4 hours of break and sahur.
However when watching their prayer times, I notice theres ample time for the break and a huge time between morning prayer and sunrise (2 hours!).
All in all - 2 hours of break per day fasting there ouch but then I think the weather is much more burden than the fasting.
Oslo prayer times

Intrepid,
Even though we discussed this in U2U (and glad to see that you did still make the thread), I'll post the link I gave you on here just for anyone who is curious.

In 1982, the Egyptian embassy in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, received a letter from the Iftar House of the Ministry of Justice in Cairo stating that Muslims should fast for a maximum of 16 hours and a half and along similar hours as those Islamic countries of close proximity. This statement called for a celebration by Muslims in Norway and northern countries since they were relieved from a”sticky” situation. However, not all Muslims in Norway believed in this Fatwa. The minority who did, stuck with the same hours for suhur and during summer and winter without adding or subtracting a minute. As a result, they no longer exhausted themselves with lengthy fasts or confused themselves with a 3 or 4 hour fast.

How do Muslims in Norway fast?

F&S for a great post! This is a question I had never considered before. Shukraan wa jazakAllah khair for bringing up a question that inspired doing some research and education!

Originally posted by intrepid
what do Muslims in countries like Norway do when Ramadan coincides with the White Nights?

I've got to hand it to you Intrepid, you really do come up with some interesting questions.

Star and Flag.

reply to post by intrepid


Haha a clever question.


I am sure they adhere to the simple principles. They probably dont eat. They must have to black out the windows with something to get any sleep. Still, if they truly follow Islam they will fast.

I just remembered the movie "Pitch Black" (the one with Vin Diesel playing Riddick) the muslims who had landed on the other planet prayed upwards towards the sky (muslims are instructed to pray facing Mecca). I thought that was pretty funny, but probably somewhat impractical (considering the movement of both the planets).

At the point when extended space-flight and other planetary habitation becomes possible, I'd think some sort of zero gravity compass bubble would be the best bet, so that it'd always be facing back to earth, no matter what the gravity or orientation of the planet.

*Babloyi files the patent

I have a couple muslim friends in Sweden who I'm really feeling for currently, because they have 20-hour long fasts. The thing that usually hits you is the thirst, though, and considering the weather in those Scandanavian countries, I don't think that is too much of an issue.

As far as the midnight sun issue goes, I guess CoolerAbdullah/mideast/benrl's suggestion works the best. Islam is generally fairly pragmatic and flexible on such points. Questions about stuff like fasting, what to eat, drink, prayer, etc. can usually be answered by "Do what is said. If that is physically/practically impossible, or you don't know, use your best judgement."