SCIENCE UNDER ISLAM
Science Digest [SCID] for Thinkers
SCID03
Ramadan and Prayer Times in the Lands under Midnight Sun
Prof S. M. Deen [University of Keele , UK
Friday, 20 May, 2011.
Dear Brothers and Sisters
Apologies for typos, if any, despite my attempts to remove them.
1. Introduction and Background
This year the Ramadan days in our part of England were over 16¼ hours long (from Fajr to sunset) in early August, which some people (specially the senior members) found very hard. They are devout people, who would never consider the easier and the less virtuous option of feeding two persons in lieu of each fast, but they do find the day too long for their capability. Since God does not burden a soul beyond its capability [Q2:286], I would like to think it is our religious duty to find a solution. The solution discussed below considers lower latitudes such as that of Mecca
[Calculation Note: Ramadan on 10 Aug 2010 in the UK
Our senior members are already dreading the approaching longer fast days as Ramadan moves towards the summer solstice (in June), when the day length in London will be up to 16 h 39 mins, with the fast-day length (from Fajr) is around 18 hours. The days will be even longer in Northern England and Scotland England
White nights for weeks around the summer solstice.
Tromso (69.67 N, 19.00 E), No sunset for two months – from May21 to July 21 (temp up to 28 deg)
The max day length given above is the time from sunrise to sunset on the summer solstice (around 21 June).
In St Petersburg (Russia Maghreb , Isha, Tarawi and Fajr, even if you ignore Tahajjud?
In Norway Hammerfest
I imagine if you visit these places, you become alive to the problems faced by Muslims there, not only on the fasting length in Ramadan, but also on the determination of prayer times. As it happened, I visited these places a while ago, and I certainly feel strongly that we need to explore a solution, even though I am not a theologian. I would like to think that the knowledge of science is helpful in this exploration.
I had a very useful conversation on these issues with the main Imam of the Grand Mosque at St Petersburg Cairo ), Mecca , Medina , Tehran
- Use the fasting times of the area where you originally came from (many Russian Muslims come from their southern countries).
- Use 12 hour-day fasting
- Use the
There is also a proposal for 45 N, instead of Mecca
In the first approach, different people will fast for different length of times (depending on their original countries), while living in the same city. So I think this approach is least desirable. The second approach is equivalent to using zero degree latitude, where day and night are of equal length, but the holy Prophet fasted for longer than 12 hours in summer. So this approach is also unsatisfactory. Let us then consider the third approach.
2. Use of the Mecca
In the third approach, we can select Mecca Medina (24:28 N, 39:36 E) as a kind of sunnah since the Prophet fasted in Medina Mecca as our canonical location, but if Medina is preferred by most people, then it could be Medina
· Canonical Location: It is the city we chose to follow, which we have assumed here to be Mecca
· Canonical Latitude and Longitude: these are the latitude and longitude of the chosen canonical location (in the northern hemisphere)
· Southern Canonical Latitude: It is the southern counterpart of the canonical latitude, which would be the latitude 21.43 S if Mecca
· Southern Canonical Longitude: It is the same longitude as that of the northern canonical location.
The ideas developed below, using Mecca as an example of a canonical location, will apply to any city chosen as the canonical location (such as Medina at 24:28 N, or a city at latitude 45N, or a city at any other latitude). The basic idea is simple. Suppose you live in a city X at high latitude and Mecca
However the local time may not necessarily be the standard time officially used in your city. Let us first define local time, which is also called the longitude (or longitudinal) time. The local time at your place (your longitude) will give you 12 noon at midday. The local time is the same at all points (i.e. all latitudes) on a longitude. For London Mecca Mecca Mecca Mecca (standard) time it, then it will be (5 am – 21 mins) = 4 hr 39 mins at the Mecca
Consider the following table below of some cities with latitude (in degrees), longitude (in degrees), sunrise (am), sunset (pm), day-length (in hours and minutes) and their time difference from Mecca Mecca and positive (+) if west of Mecca
City Sunrise Sunset Day-length Time-difference from MLT
Tromso (69.67N, 19.00E) 00 00 24:00 + 1:23
Therefore, again assume Suhr and Iftar times in the Mecca Local Time (MLT) as 4:00 am and 7 pm – these would also be in those times in Tromso (at its local time) where the sun never sets in the summer, with a time difference of 1h 23 mins after Mecca Anchorage Mecca
[Aside on International Date Line (IDL)
Since Anchorage is more than 180 degrees West of Mecca in longitude, we can treat it to be in the east of Mecca with a negative time difference 11 hours 21 minutes from Mecca Anchorage
3. Proposal for 45 N
As mentioned earlier, there is an alternative proposal for 45 N as the canonical latitude instead of the Mecca Turin in Italy and Ottawa in Canada
Since both the cities are more or less at 45N, we can choose either of them as the canonical location. Let us assume Turin
I would personally favour Turin as the canonical location for 45 N as Turin is further away from the International Date Line than Ottawa Mecca
4. Crescent Sighting at High Latitudes
Next issue is the crescent sighting at high latitudes, including latitudes where the sun/moon do not sometimes rise or set. We cannot use the Mecca
[ scid02 in [www.scienceunderislam.blogspot.com ] ]
where a Longitude-based Crescent Sighting (LCS) scheme has been presented. This scheme can be followed by both the sighters and the calculators, and will work on higher latitudes including the lands under midnight sun, where sun/moon do not rise/set for days. The sighters (implying physical sighters) are those who insist on the physical sighting of the new crescent, while the calculators (who can be called the logical sighters) are those who use calculations to establish the birth of a new crescent. Therefore in our jargon, if the calculations predict the conjunction of the new crescent to take place at or before midday on a longitude (in its local time), then the new crescent has been "logically sighted" at that longitude. You can read that scheme from my last blog, but here I summarise the main outline.
A Longitude-based Crescent Sighting Scheme
Below by sighters we shall mean the physical sighters and by calculators the logical sighters. We have defined a concept of longitudinal sighting, which states that:
(i) if the crescent is physically sighted at any point on a longitude, then it should be accepted as sighted physically at all points (i.e. all latitudes) of that longitude (for the physical sighters).
(ii) Similarly, if the crescent is logically sighted at any point on a longitude, then it should be accepted as sighted logically at all points (i.e. all latitudes) of that longitude (for the logical sighters).
This concept can be used by both the sighters and the calculators. Based on this concept, we have defined sighter's and calculator's longitudes, the former is the eastern-most longitude in which the new crescent is physically sighted, and the latter is the longitude where the conjunction for this new crescent takes place exactly at 12 noon (at the longitude time of that longitude) and hence the eastern-most longitude for the logical sighters (i.e. the calculators) for that new crescent. Furthermore the crescent would be deemed sighted (physically or logically as the case may be) on all longitudes west of it, until the east side of the sighter's or the calculator's (as the case may be) longitude is reached. As discussed above this scheme will work for both sighters and calculators and also at high latitudes (polar latitudes) where sun/moon may not even rise or set for days, i.e. the lands under midnight sun. (See the blog for scid02 for more details [www.scienceunderislam.blogspot.com ])
5. Theological Views (Fatwas):
Many theologians believe that we need a global solution to this problem, but the solutions proposed are not the same. Here I shall present two solutions one favouring latitude 45 degree and the other for a lower latitude:
(i). The European Council of Fatwas and Research [www.IslamOnline.net]
They quote the Islamic Council of Fiqh Academy and its decision at Mecca
They divide the northern area into three zones (i) 45N – 48 N, (ii) 48N – 66N, (iii) 66N – 90 N
In zone (i) they follow normal practice, fasting from true dawn to sunset (in compliance with Sharia). But if the day length is excessive for some people, then those people can fast at another more convenient season. The zone (ii) usually has very long twilight which makes the separation of Maghreb and Isha difficult, in which case Muslims there are recommended to follow the closet regions, where the twilight is not a serious problem, for which 45N is suggested as a solution. For zone (iii) all times are to be calculated in analogy with 45N. Muslims may use ijtihad, the fatwa says, for their decisions. For the southern hemisphere 45 S will be the relevant latitude. I do not know why they have chosen 45 deg latitude. Summarising, this fatwa says that 45 deg is to be used as the canonical latitude, and those who find its fast-length too long, they can fast at another season, when the day-length is shorter.
I present below some implications of this fatwa, using Turin
Therefore the fast-length near the summer solstice will be around 18 hours. Today, we have numerous older people who will be generally too frail to keep this long fast as is the case in London
Given these issues the obvious question is why 45N, rather than any other latitude? What is so special about 45N? I do not know. I have not seen any theological justification for 45 N. However consider Istanbul (41.00N, 29.00E) which has the max day length (in the summer) of 15h 08 min, compared to Turin's maximum day length of 15h 39 min, thus Turin (45.06N, 07.6E) having a 31 mins longer day-length at the summer solstice. Istanbul has latitude 41N,and as far as I know, people in the Ottoman Empire did not ask for a fatwa in favour of a lower latitude. So if 41N was OK, then why not 45N (which Turin
(ii) Alternative Fatwa
Since The Quran does not say anything on this, therefore we should invoke ijtihad, they argue. In their view any fasting for a day-light time longer than 14 hours is not easy and causes hardship, which God could not have meant it, since Islamic practices are not meant to be difficult to follow. They usually quote two verses from the Quran:
"It was in the month of Ramadan that the Quran was revealed as guidance for mankind, clear messages giving guidance and distinguishing between right and wrong. So anyone of you who is present that month should fast, and anyone who is ill or on a journey should make up for the lost days by fasting on other days later. God wants ease for you not hardship. .. .. " [2.185], [Abdul Haleem]
"God does not burden any soul with more than it can bear ....." [2.286], [Abdul Haleem]
I have used the recent translation by Abdul Haleem
They argue that the Quran gives a general guidance to Muslims as captured in the verse 2:185 which, after prescribing Ramadan fasting, goes on to say that: "God wants ease for you not hardship". Furthermore in the verse [2:286], the Quran re-enforces this hardship point by saying "God does not burden any soul with more than it can bear." Taken together these imply that God wants that which is easy for you, not that which is overbearing. Therefore the argument continues: Fasting is not meant to create severe hardship or health-risk, but to teach Taqwa – consciousness and awareness of the Divine.
Following these thoughts various proposals have been made, ranging from following a country that has more regular day-night division, to an average day length (averaging over the summer and winter) to individually deciding on the start and end hours of fasting the maximum duration not exceeding some 14 hours or so. I guess the idea of 14 hours comes from Mecca, or Medina, where the maximum day length (sunrise to sunset) in June is 13 hrs 27 minutes and 13 hours 39 minutes respectively, to which one must add about one hour for the fasting length from Fajr to sunset (Maghreb).
The idea of nearby countries or origin-countries have been discussed and found to be wanting, earlier in this discourse. Average day length is 12 hours (if we average over a year) and hence it is equivalent to taking the day-length at the equator – a position that has also been discussed and found to be wanting earlier. One scholar gave a fatwa in favour of individual decision up to a maximum of about 14-hour-day, starting from 5 am and ending at 7 pm. The same scholar also indicated a preference for the use of fast duration at Medina or Mecca
"I realize that there are Muslims who for whatever reason (be it stamina, strict adherence to the tradition, , etc) will view my suggestion as heresy, and stick to the dawn and sunset times in their regions regardless of the extremely long summer days. My recommendation is for those Muslims who concur that Allah does not want the fast to be overly burdensome on us. And Allah knows the best".
[ www. forpeoplewhothink.org/Answers/Ramadan-Summer-Days.html.]
Our question is how does a Muslim choose? I guess it has to be left to ijtihad. If a Muslim finds the fasting length too hard, he/she can choose either Mecca Mecca Turin , Mecca
6. Summary
At higher latitudes where the day is too long in the summer and too short in the winter (or even the sun does
not set in the summer and does not rise in the winter), we have a problem for the determination of fasting and
prayer times. I have described above two fatwas on fasting times, one uses 45 N (say Turin ), and the other proposes a lower latitude such as that of Mecca
© S. M. Deen, 2011.
END