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The Ramadan Pole Paradox: Difference between revisions
→Criticisms: I have added another section on Ramadan issues that come from using outdated calendars and moonsighting methods, suggesting limited human instructions over an all-knowing God.
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(→Criticisms: I have added another section on Ramadan issues that come from using outdated calendars and moonsighting methods, suggesting limited human instructions over an all-knowing God.) |
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'''Differences across regions''' | '''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 Ramadan 2023: Fasting hours and iftar times around the world] - al Jazeera 20 March 2023</ref> | 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 Ramadan 2023: Fasting hours and iftar times around the world] - al Jazeera 20 March 2023</ref> 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: | Ramadan is a fast of both food and water, as well as sexual intercourse: | ||
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Considering Muhammad and his 7th century companions, living in the Arabian desert, [[Islamic Views on the Shape of the Earth|likely did not know]] about the earth having poles and being spherical, the shortcomings of Islamic law in these regards are generally found to be unsurprising. | Considering Muhammad and his 7th century companions, living in the Arabian desert, [[Islamic Views on the Shape of the Earth|likely did not know]] about the earth having poles and being spherical, the shortcomings of Islamic law in these regards are generally found to be unsurprising. | ||
== Other issues == | |||
''Main article: [[Hijri Calendar]]'' | |||
There are other issues surrounding the now outdated Islamic lunar-based calendar<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/science/lunar-calendar Lunar Calendar.] Britannica Entry. Accessed 2024.</ref> for Ramadan, which could suggest limited fallible human authorship rather than all-knowing God. Solely lunar calendars have no relation to seasons (and therefore things like weather and length of day etc.) which are related to the sun, so the vast majority of the world uses solar calendars<ref>[https://www.pas.rochester.edu/~blackman/ast104/calendars.html ''Calendars.''] Department of Physics and Astronomy. School of Arts and Sciences. University of Rochester.</ref> (as well as some manually adjusting lunar calendars to bring in line with solar calendars) - which actually leads to two Ramadan's per Gregorian calendar year<ref>''[https://graziamagazine.com/me/articles/ramadan-twice-in-2030/ IN 2030 THERE WILL BE TWO RAMADANS IN ONE YEAR, HERE’S HOW.]'' Dara Rashwan. Grazia Magazine. </ref> approximately every 33 years, with the next being in 2030, and after than 2063.<ref>''[https://whatson.ae/2024/03/ramadan-twice-same-year/#:~:text=As%20the%20Hijri%20calendar%20only,decided%20by%20an%20official%20committee. Will Ramadan ever happen twice in the same year? Here's what we know...]'' What's On. 2024. </ref> | |||
As explored in the main article, according to traditions the key way the start and end of the fasting period is determined is by the sighting of 'the new moon'.<ref>AStudyofQuran.com Home » The Islamic tradition of moonsighting and its implications » ''[https://astudyofquran.org/wp/the-islamic-tradition-of-moonsighting-and-its-implications/new-moon-islamic-definition/ 6. New moon (Islamic definition)]''</ref> The new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude.<ref>Meeus, Jean (1991). [https://archive.org/details/astronomicalalgorithmsjeanmeeus1991/page/n323/mode/2up ''Astronomical Algorithms.''] p. 319. <nowiki>ISBN 978-0-943396-35-4</nowiki>. | |||
</ref> 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'.<ref>''[https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/how-sight-new-crescent-moon How to sight the new crescent Moon.]'' Royal Museums Greenwich.</ref> | |||
There is no objective or fully agreed way to decide when this has occurred, with nine different methods being listed in the [[Hijri Calendar|main article]]. This has lead to disagreements between authorities over the actual days of fasting, with for example in Saudi Arabia in 2011, authorities announcing 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."<ref>''[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/sep/05/astronomers-query-ramadan-end Saturnine faces as astronomers query moon sighting over Saudi Arabia.]'' Siraj Datoo. 2011. The Guardian.</ref> The Saudi Authorities allegedly paid allegedly paid ~ $426 million to the poor, as [https://www.zakat.org/what-is-kaffara-and-why-is-kaffara-important Kaffara] (money paid for missing a fast) for the mistake.<ref>[https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2015/07/163712/eid-al-fitr-did-saudi-arabia-mistake-saturn-for-the-shawwal-moon ''Eid al Fitr: Did Saudi Arabia Mistake Saturn for the Shawwal Moon?''] Morocco World News. 2015. Aziz Allilou</ref> | |||
There are regular disagreements between Islamic authorities and different countries on these dates, sometimes referred to as the 'Crescent Wars',<ref>[https://newlinesmag.com/argument/ramadan-and-eids-crescent-wars/ ''Ramadan and Eid’s Crescent Wars'']. Ibrahim Elhoudaiby. 2024. New Lines Magazine.</ref> which critics argue instructions should not be so unclear if they are really coming from God. | |||
==See Also== | ==See Also== | ||
{{Hub4|Fasting|Fasting}} | {{Hub4|Fasting|Fasting}} | ||