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The Ramadan Pole Paradox: Difference between revisions
→Extreme fasting windows: I have added in more context of the polar/spherical earth effect causing difficulties/impossibilities in following Ramadam instructions. And added a section showing the unfairness across the globe that this causes, which wouldn't be apparent if there was a flat earth. And thirdly some notes on prayers having similar issues
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(→Extreme fasting windows: I have added in more context of the polar/spherical earth effect causing difficulties/impossibilities in following Ramadam instructions. And added a section showing the unfairness across the globe that this causes, which wouldn't be apparent if there was a flat earth. And thirdly some notes on prayers having similar issues) |
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A Muslim | A Muslim fasting in Iceland, according to some scholars, would have to fast for nearly the entire day. | ||
'''Differences across regions''' | |||
There are also vastly different fasting windows depending on which country you are in. For example, in 2023, as this Al-Jazeera [https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/20/ramadan-2023-fasting-hours-and-iftar-times-around-the-world article] explains '''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''<nowiki/>'.<ref>[https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/20/ramadan-2023-fasting-hours-and-iftar-times-around-the-world#:~:text=The%20pre%2Dsunrise%20to%20sunset,in%20the%20world%20you%20are.&text=The%20Muslim%20holy%20month%20of,you%20are%20in%20the%20world. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/20/ramadan-2023-fasting-hours-and-iftar-times-around-the-world#:~:text=The%20pre%2Dsunrise%20to%20sunset,in%20the%20world%20you%20are.&text=The%20Muslim%20holy%20month%20of,you%20are%20in%20the%20world.]</ref><ref>https://blog.wego.com/longest-and-shortest-ramadan-fasting-hours/</ref> (This article assumes those above 18 hours will follow a fatwa to fast according to timings in Mecca, or the nearest Muslim country). | |||
Ramadan is a fast of both food and water, as well as sexual intercourse: | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|2|187}}|Permitted to you, upon the night of the Fast, is to go in to your wives; -- they are a vestment for you, and you are a vestment for them. God knows that you have been betraying yourselves, and has turned to you and pardoned you. So now lie with them, and seek what God has prescribed for you. And eat and drink, until the white thread shows clearly to you from the black thread at the dawn; then complete the Fast unto the night, and do not lie with them while you cleave to the mosques. Those are God's bounds; keep well within them. So God makes clear His signs to men; haply they will be godfearing.}} | |||
This arguably makes it one of the most physically and mentally challenging aspects of the religion to follow. Due to the Polar effect of our spherical Earth, making sunrise and sunset appear at different times across the planet, the difficulty of following the religious rules are therefore dependent on where one is born/lives rather than a similar universal challenge applied equally to all Muslims. | |||
These issue's also affect prayer times that are supposed to be carried out at sunrise and sunset the same way, which can heavily disrupt sleep for those living high in the northern hemisphere. | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|17|78}}|Establish worship at the going down of the sun until the dark of night, and (the recital of) the Qur'an at dawn. Lo! (the recital of) the Qur'an at dawn is ever witnessed.}}{{Quote|{{Quran|11|114}}|Establish worship at the two ends of the day and in some watches of the night. Lo! good deeds annul ill-deeds. This is reminder for the mindful.}} | |||
==Criticisms== | ==Criticisms== | ||
[[Image:Arctic Ocean.png|thumb|upright=1.6|The North Pole.]]Some have asked, if one is to follow the timings of their home city, what is to be the practice of a permanent Muslim resident or even community in near-polar regions. Additionally, when it comes to regions where the day extends to be weeks or even months, the time-window of fasting for the "closest country" where the fasting window is under a day, the time frame usually still ends up being near 24-hours. | [[Image:Arctic Ocean.png|thumb|upright=1.6|The North Pole.]]Some have asked, if one is to follow the timings of their home city, what is to be the practice of a permanent Muslim resident or even community in near-polar regions. Additionally, when it comes to regions where the day extends to be weeks or even months, the time-window of fasting for the "closest country" where the fasting window is under a day, the time frame usually still ends up being near 24-hours. | ||
As mentioned in the opening paragraphs many sheiks have understood the extreme difficulty of undertaking this fast, and so various conflicting fatwa's have been issued on the subject,<ref>https://aboutislam.net/shariah/shariah-and-humanity/shariah-and-life/muslims-north-fast-23-hours-day/3/</ref> with some simply stating to follow to Qur'an, making it near impossible and unfair for those living there compared to other countries with much shorter fasting periods. While others recognising the problem, have created man-made laws that directly contradict the Qur'an's instruction on this matter - usually to fast along with the nearest Muslim country or Meccan times, regardless of the actual sunrise and sunset of the local area. | |||
This (polar) effect also means a serious 'unfairness' across the globe during Ramadan, with vastly different time windows to carry out fasting, making it's difficulty and relevant ease dependent on the 'luck' of where one happens to be living. | |||
Classical and conciliatory modern perspectives likewise appear unable to comfortably deal with the case of Astronauts, 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<ref>Behrouz Saba - [http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=894da88516d540eef2d9b4b388da8c8e First Female Muslim Astronaut Could Help Bridge U.S.-Iran Gap] - New America Media, September 20, 2006</ref>) some scholars have [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Muszaphar_Shukor#Spaceflight_and_religion created] guidelines for these cases (one scholar wrote a handbook called ''[[w:Sheikh_Muszaphar_Shukor#Spaceflight_and_religion|Guidelines for Performing Islamic Rites (Ibadah) at the International Space Station]]''). | Classical and conciliatory modern perspectives likewise appear unable to comfortably deal with the case of Astronauts, 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<ref>Behrouz Saba - [http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=894da88516d540eef2d9b4b388da8c8e First Female Muslim Astronaut Could Help Bridge U.S.-Iran Gap] - New America Media, September 20, 2006</ref>) some scholars have [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Muszaphar_Shukor#Spaceflight_and_religion created] guidelines for these cases (one scholar wrote a handbook called ''[[w:Sheikh_Muszaphar_Shukor#Spaceflight_and_religion|Guidelines for Performing Islamic Rites (Ibadah) at the International Space Station]]''). | ||