The Ramadan Pole Paradox: Difference between revisions

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High latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere

According to Islamic laws set out in the Qur'an and hadith, the keeping and breaking of a fast and the times of prayer, among other things, are related to times of dawn and sunset. Above a certain latitude (the Arctic or Antarctic Circles), the sun is no longer seen to rise or set for days, weeks, or months at a time (six months at the actual North and South poles). At other high latitudes days can become very short in winter and very long in summertime. Critics argue that such impracticalities and impossibly lengthy periods result from the very limited knowledge available to the author of the Quran in terms of geography and the shape of the Earth, while Islamic scholars have sought to devise pragmatic workarounds.

Concessions and fatwas

Islamic scholars have variously issued fatwas instructing Muslims at higher latitudes to follow the schedule of their original country, or the schedule of the closest region with a distinguishable day and night, or the schedule pertaining in Mecca. However, many Islamic scholars have declared that Muslims must fast for periods of up to and even beyond 20 hours.^[1]

Extreme fasting windows

The start of the summertime Ramadan of 2014 was close to the longest day of the year in the Northern hemisphere. Fasting begins at Fajr (break of dawn, before sunrise) and ends at maghrib (sunset).

A Muslim fasting in Iceland, according to some scholars, would have to fast for nearly the entire day when Ramadan coincides with the Summer solstice.

Differences across regions

Fasting windows differ considerably depending on which country a person is in. For example, in 2023, as an Al-Jazeera article explained, 'Muslims living in the world’s southernmost countries, such as Chile or New Zealand, will fast for an average of 12 hours while those living in northernmost countries, such as Iceland or Greenland, will have 17-plus hours fasts'.^[3] That article assumes those above 18 hours will follow a fatwa to fast according to timings in Mecca, or the nearest Muslim country. Ramadan in 2023 began just after the spring equinox. At the two equinoxes the least extreme range of fasting periods occur. When Ramadan coincides with the summer or winter solstice, the most extreme range is found, as illustrated in the table of examples from June 2014 provided above.

Ramadan is a fast of both food and water, as well as sexual intercourse during fasting hours:

This arguably makes it one of the most physically and mentally challenging aspects of the religion to follow. Since the roundness of the Earth makes dawn and sunset occur at different times across the planet, the difficulty of following such rules in any given year is dependent on where one is born or lives at that time.

These factors similarly affect prayer times that are to be carried out at dawn and sunset, and can heavily disrupt sleep for those living at high latitudes in the northern hemisphere for part of the year.

Hadith allowing an estimate for prayer times

Islamic scholars often appeal to a lengthy hadith in which Muhammad instructs Muslims to make an estimate of prayer times in the last days when the Dajjal comes and when one day will be like a year, the next day like a month, and the next like a week. It is argued on this basis that Muhammad provided a principle by which people at high latitudes should fast and pray.

Critics typically question whether this hadith provides for situations arising on a round earth, mainly because the hadith contains only an instruction for the end of time and when the whole world will have some very long days. While there are polar regions where the sun cannot be seen rising or setting at all for months at a time, places such as the north of Scotland still have very short nights in summer yet maintain a 24 hour day-night cycle all year round. This is not like the month or year long days affecting the world in the hadith, critics argue. They note that no hadith provides specific instructions for praying nor fasting near the polar regions on our round planet.

Critics also note that this hadith does not explain how an estimate is to be made. On the round Earth, there is no sense in which people in the polar regions can "estimate" what their prayer (and fasting) intervals would normally be when the sun no longer rises or no longer sets each day. Instead, typically they have to chose the times pertaining at the nearest lower latitude country that still has a 24 hour day-night cycle or similar solutions.

Related difficulties

The space age

Classical and conciliatory modern perspectives have struggled to comfortably deal with the case of Astronauts in Earth orbit, and eventually persons settling on extra-terrestrial bodies (moons, other planets, spacecraft, etc.). There is also the question of facing the Kaaba in Mecca, a city on earth, whilst not on earth. As there have been Muslim astronauts (e.g. Anousheh Ansari^[4]) some scholars have created guidelines for these cases (one scholar wrote a handbook called Guidelines for Performing Islamic Rites (Ibadah) at the International Space Station).

Moon sighting at different locations

Main article: Hijri Calendar

As explored in the main article, according to traditions the start and end of the fasting period is determined is by the sighting of 'the new moon'.^[5] The new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude.^[6] At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye (except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse) - which gives it the outline 'crescent'.^[7] The date on which the new moon is sighted can depend on a location's longitude, and to some extend latitude (since the Earth's axis is tilted).

Due to the lack of clarity in Islamic scriptures, there is no objective or fully agreed way to decide when this has occurred, with nine different methods being listed in the main article. This has lead to disagreements between authorities over the actual days of fasting. For example, in Saudi Arabia in 2011, authorities announced the first "moonsighting" had been made by the requisite credible and pious person (as tradition would suggest is acceptable), whilst Maged Abou Zahra, president of the Jeddah Astronomical Society, told the Egyptian paper al-Shorouk: "The sighting of a new moon would have simply been impossible."^[8] The Saudi Authorities allegedly paid ~ $426 million to the poor as Kaffara (money paid for missing a fast) due to the mistake.^[9] There are regular disagreements between Islamic authorities and different countries on these dates, sometimes referred to as the 'Crescent Wars',^[10]

See Also

• Fasting - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Fasting

• Cosmology - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Cosmology

Translations

• A version of this page is also available in the following languages: Bengali. For additional languages, see the sidebar on the left.

External Links

• Arctic Muslims' unique dilemma in Ramadan: The Sun never sets here
• How to pray and fast in countries where the day or night is continuous - Fatwa response from the Islam Q&A team
• islamwhattheydonttellyou164 - Practical Issues Affecting Fasting - YouTube video
• islamwhattheydonttellyou164 - Unclear Rules around Fasting - YouTube video

References