On Long Days of
Fasting in Ramadan
BISMILLAH.
This year,
in addition to the next six years, the fasting is going to be very long in both
the months of May and June. If we compare it to the fasting time in Madinah
where the commandment to fast was first revealed to the Prophet (SAW), we find
that the current timing is 04:00 am for Fajr and 19:10 for Maghrib. This makes
it a 15 hour fast. In London, Fajr is shown at 02:45 am and Maghrib is at
21:15. This makes the fast over 18 hours long; in Scotland it is even longer.
The verses
of Surah Al-Baqara (2:183-187) not only speak about the commandment to fast and
its excellence, but also gives a number of rulings including the time of the
fasting as well. It says:
وَكُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكُمُ الْخَيْطُ الْأَبْيَضُ مِنَ الْخَيْطِ الْأَسْوَدِ مِنَ الْفَجْرِ ۖ ثُمَّ أَتِمُّوا الصِّيَامَ إِلَى اللَّيْلِ ۚ وَلَا تُبَاشِرُوهُنَّ وَأَنْتُمْ عَاكِفُونَ فِي الْمَسَاجِدِ ۗ تِلْكَ حُدُودُ اللَّهِ فَلَا تَقْرَبُوهَا ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ آيَاتِهِ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَّقُونَ
“…And eat
and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black
thread [of night]. Then complete the fast until the sunset. And do not have
relations with them as long as you are staying for worship in the mosques.
These are the limits [set by] Allah , so do not approach them. Thus does Allah
make clear His ordinances to the people that they may become righteous.”
So the time
is from dawn to sunset. Let us take the timing of Madinah for this month of
Ramadan:
Fajr time = 04.02am
Sunrise = 05.32am
Sunset =
19:08 pm.
This tells
us that Fajr begins one hour and thirty minutes before the sunrise. Thus, the
duration of the night would be 8 hours 24 minutes (from sunset to Fajr time).
That is the time during which a person has to perform a number of acts i.e.
breaking the fast, offering Maghrib prayer, after a while offering Isha prayer
followed by Tarawih prayer which normally lasts for more than one hour. And
then enjoy sleep till such a time before the Fajr, when a short meal can be
taken which is known as the Suhoor meal.
Compare this
time with countries in the East as far as Malaysia and Indonesia where due to
their proximity to the equator, the whole night (from sunset to sunrise) may be
equal to the day time. If we take away one hour and a half because of Fajr, the
people are left with around 10.5 hours to enjoy as the night.
Now compare
it to the high latitude areas starting from latitude 52 degrees (which passes
near to London) and see its duration of the night.
Sunrise on 6th
June 2016 (1st day of Ramadan) is: 4.43am
Sunset is:
9.16pm
Total day
length is: 16 hours 31 minutes
We have to
add to it the time of Fajr as well to find out the total length of the fasting
day. Great Britain is covered by a latitude between 49 degrees to 59 degrees.
So in the more northern parts of the UK because of an early sunrise and late
sunset, the length of the fasting day is increased by a further one hour,
making the night an hour shorter. Go more towards the north, on a 70 degree
latitude, mainly in Norway and Sweden, the day gains one more hour and night is
decreased by one hour. So the problem is not that the days are long but that a
number of activities have to be performed in a very short time during the
night.
Here comes
this vital question: Can the hours of fasting be reduced in high latitude
areas?
Answering
this question, we have to take these two principles in mind:
1. Where there is a clear sunrise and
sunset, no reduction can be offered as far as the daytime is concerned.
2. In high latitude areas
(above 70 degrees to 90 degrees) where the sun remains visible on the horizon
for more than 24 hours for weeks and months, it remains
shining for six months at the North Pole (90 degrees) and then casts a six
months night because it remains under the horizon. In these areas, prayers and
fasting have lost all the signs for all five daily prayers. The same could be
said about fasting. But here, we are guided by the Hadith of Dajjal which sets
this golden rule:
“When signs
of prayers or fasting are not found, go and estimate the time…”
Let us read
this Hadith first:
THE HADITH
OF AL-NUWAS IBN SAM'AN AL-KILABI.
sallam)
spoke about the Dajjal. Sometimes he described him as
insignificant,
and sometimes he described him as so dangerous that we
thought he
was in the clump of date-palms nearby. When we went to him
later on, he
noticed that fear in our faces, and asked, 'What is the
matter with
you? We said, 'O Messenger of Allah, this morning you spoke of
the Dajjal;
sometimes you described him as insignificant, and sometimes
you described
him as being so dangerous that we thought he was in the
clump of
date-palms nearby.
"The
Prophet (sallallahu alayhe wa sallam) said, 'I fear for you in other
matters
besides the Dajjal. If he appears whilst I am among you, I will
contend with
him on your behalf. But if he appears while I am not among
you, then
each man must contend with him on his own behalf, and Allah will
take care of
every Muslim on my behalf. The Dajjal will be a young man,
with short,
curly hair, and one eye floating. I would liken him to 'Abd
al-Uzza ibn
Qatan. Whoever amongst you lives to see him should recite the
opening Ayat
of Surat al-Kahf. He will appear on the way between Syria and
Iraq, and
will create disaster left and right. O servants of Allah, adhere
to the Path
of Truth."
"We
said, 'O Messenger of Allah, for the day which is like a year, will
one day’s
prayers be sufficient? He said, 'No, you must make an estimate of
the time,
and then observe the prayers."
So during
the first three days, one day equal to one year, second day to a month and
third day to a week, the Prophet (SAW) advised us to pray by estimating the
timings.
This means
that for the endless days in the Arctic Circle, residents can assign 12 hours
for the night during which Maghrib and Isha can be offered before sleep, and
Fajr prayer on awakening. The day time would be good to offer Zhur and Asr
prayer. This benefits from the golden rule: “When signs are lost, then estimate
the time for determining the prayer time”.
The question
then arises whether this golden rule can be used to determine Fajr time during
May and June in high latitude countries such as the United Kingdom. The answer
is that it can indeed as during this period, the signs for Fajr do not exist as
the true dawn that comes after night does not occur.
According to
Sharia, when the sun sets, Maghrib prayer time becomes due. The time for Isha
is due as soon as the red twilight disappears from the horizon (according to an
authentic Hadith) or the white twilight disappears (according to Hanafi
jurists). This phenomenon can be observed by the naked eye, but astronomers
have determined it by the degrees to which the sun goes below the horizon.
According to their calculations, when the sun goes 15 degrees below the
horizon, the red twilight starts disappearing. When it goes 180 degrees below
the horizon, the white twilight disappears completely. The time the twilight
takes to disappear in countries at moderate latitude (such as in the Middle
East) is 75 minutes (at 150 degrees below the horizon) to 90 minutes (at 180
degrees below the horizon). In countries at high latitude (above 48 degrees
till 90 degrees of the North Pole), the time the twilight takes to disappear
increases by the increasing degrees of latitude.
For example,
if red twilight takes 100 minutes to disappear in February-March, it will take
2 hours in April and around 3 hours in May. By mid-May to mid-July (in Southern
England) it does not go below 18 degrees at all but stays on the horizon. The
same phenomenon is repeated before the sunrise. After the nightfall, when the
sun starts rising, the Fajr time (true dawn) appears as soon as the sun comes to
18 degrees. That is the time when Fajr Adhan is recited and fasting begins.
Now if the sun
does not go below 18 degrees after sunset and then starts rising once again (as
it is the case in two months of summer in London), it means that the twilight
instead of disappearing completely, will start shining more. This phenomenon
creates two problems:
1. Isha time is difficult to be determined
because the red light does not disappear completely.
2. Fajr (true dawn) cannot also be
determined because there has been no darkness out of which Dawn can emerge.
This is
exactly what we said earlier:
“If the
signs of time for a certain act of worship do not exist, then we have no option
except to estimate”.
For the time
being, two opinions have been advanced and practised by the Muslims in the UK.
1. Determine the date on which the last
twilight disappeared completely. This may be from early April and will show
that red twilight disappeared 3 hours after sunset. So this will be the time
for the beginning of Isha.
Then determine the last time a true dawn was sighted, which would be 3
hours before sunrise.
This creates the difficult situation in which people have one hour only
in which to pray Isha, Tarawih and eat the Suhoor meal. They then pray Fajr at
01:30 am. The fast will then be 20 hours long.
2. Follow the chart based on the
observation of the true dawn throughout the year including the summer months.
This chart has been prepared by a host of scholars (known as Hizb-ul-Ulama)
after they attempted to visually observe the true dawn in the Blackburn area in
the year 1988-1989. Their observation of Fajr varied from 75 minutes to 2 hours
before the sunrise.
During some mornings they were not able to observe the true dawn but they
accommodated such days by the times of dawn on days preceding or following
them. According to this chart, a standard time of 100 minutes before sunrise is
quite fair to determine the beginning of Fajr.
Accordingly,
the fasting could start around 2:43 in the morning (i.e. 2 hours before the
sunrise). The fasting time is reduced to 19 hours instead of 20 hours 33
minutes. The same span of time is added to the sunset to determine the time of
Isha (i.e. 2 hours after Maghrib)
3- I would
like to introduce a third option which although not new, has seldom been
followed. This argument is that if we are basing our Suhoor and Fajr on
estimation, we can reduce the length of the fast by one more hour if we pray
Fajr 65 minutes before sunrise. This would reduce the fasting time to 18 hours.
This is
based on the following methodology:
Determine the
position of dawn in a city of normal zone, such as Madina in the month of June.
Fajr is observed 90 minutes before sunrise in Madina. Given that the entire
night is 8 hours and 24 minutes (from sunset to sunrise), dawn covers
one-seventh of the night.
So in an
abnormal zone (from 48 degrees upwards) we have to allow one-seventh of the existing
night for both Isha and Fajr. For example, on 6th June in London (52
degrees), the night lasts for 7 hours and 27 minutes. The one-seventh would be
one hour and four minutes approximately.
Therefore, a
person can pray Isha one hour and four minutes after sunset, and similarly he
or she can end their suhoor meal one hour and four minutes before sunrise. In
this way, the fast would be 18 hours long.
On a higher
latitude, the duration of the night will be less than seven hours. So they have
to set their time accordingly.
This opinion
was recommended during a seminar held in Sweden on 9th June 2015 by
leading Islamic scholars to discuss this issue. Let me conclude by saying that
setting the time of Fajr and Isha by this formula of estimation is only for
that period during which Fajr and Isha times cannot be determined.
This period differs
from one city to another as follows (duration of the night):
London (52
degrees) – from 21st May to 24th July (7 hours and 27
minutes).
Edinburgh
(56 degrees) – from 5th May to 9th August (6 hours and 20
minutes).
Oslo (60
degrees) – from 21st April to 24th August (5 hours and 7
minutes).
ADDENDUM.
The Theory
of Estimation is based on the fact that in countries above 48% latitude (which
includes England and Scotland), the twilight during the summer months does not
disappear and so light remains throughout the night. As the true night does not
happen, so the true dawn cannot happen either. During this period the twilight
remains on the horizon from sunset right through to the dawn. The signs of Isha
prayer (total darkness) and Fajr prayer (daybreak) therefore do not take place.
The times
for Isha and Fajr prayer (which also determines Suhoor in Ramadan) therefore
have to be based on estimation rather than on visual sight. They can be
estimated in two ways:
1- The duration of the night is to be
halved. The first half of the night (approximately from Maghrib until 1:03am
London time) will be for Maghrib and Isha prayers. The second half of the night
(approximately from 1:03 until 4:43 London time) is for dawn. The suhoor meal
can be taken at the beginning of this time (1:00am in London) and will be
followed by Fajr prayer.
2- The suhoor meal can be taken an hour
before sunrise and will be followed by Fajr prayer. If sunrise is in London at
4:45am, then the meal has to be eaten before 3:45am and Fajr prayed after this.
This theory corresponds with the theory that dawn is one-seventh of the night.
If the time between Maghrib and sunrise is 7 hours, then Fajr is indeed one
hour before sunrise.
The first option is suitable for those people who wish to eat early and
then get a good night’s sleep before going to work. Their fast will however be
almost 3 hours longer than those following the second option.
Most prayer timetables claim to be based on visual observation of the
night sky and of dawn. They set Fajr prayer to be two hours before sunrise; in
London this would be 2:45 at present. This is presented as the best opinion to
follow as it is based on actual observation rather than estimation. I reject
this claim totally based on my own experiment.
On the night of 10th June 2016, which was the sixth night of
Ramadan 1437, I travelled to a country house in Theydon Bois, Epping. The
grounds around the house are vast and they are undisturbed by any artificial
light. This is very different to London where one cannot escape the haze of
street lamps and the glow from houses. I conducted the experiment with my
son-in-law, Dr. Liaquat Ali, and my grandson Hisham Ali (who is aged 22 years).
We chose a spot and looked at it every hour to see how visible it was with the
naked eye. The experiment was conducted between sunset (9:20 pm) and sunrise
(4:43 am). These are our observations:
10:10 pm - There is enough light
for the children to play football with a white ball.
10:50 pm - Objects in the grounds are clearly visible. I can read the
number plate of my car (black numbering on a white plate) from a distance of 10
feet.
11:50 pm – No change in the light and in my ability to read the number plate.
This is midnight and it should be pitch dark, but the twilight remains in the
sky.
01:00 am – No change in the light and in my ability to read the number
plate. Twilight remains.
02:46 am – Two hours before sunrise and the sky has not changed. I can
still read the car number plate. The horizon is slightly cloudy but the light
conditions on the ground do not change.
03:43 am – One hour before sunrise; there is more light in the
surrounding areas and I am able to read the number plate from a distance of 25
feet.
My experiment established the following:
1- There was never any pitch or true
darkness, from which we could say that dawn had emerged.
2- The light from 10:50 pm to
approximately 3:30 am remains at the same level.
3- The claim that twilight disappears
two hours after sunset and that true dawn is seen two hours before sunrise is
false.
I therefore submit that a
timetable for the long summer months that claims to be based on visual
observation has no credibility. The only option left is to estimate and to
choose either of the two opinions mentioned earlier. In my opinion, the second
opinion is closer to the Sunnah of our beloved Messenger (peace be upon him),
who said:
“My Ummah will remain in
a good form as long as it hastens to break the fast and to delay the Suhoor
meal.”
It is also in accordance
with the words of the Almighty in the context of verses related to fasting:
“Allah wishes ease for
you and does not want hardship for you.”
It is also in line with
the Sunnah of the Messenger (saws) as reported by Aisha (RA), the Mother of the
Believers:
“Whenever the Prophet
(saws) was given a choice between two things, he would always choose the easier
option as long as there was no sin. If there was a sin involved, he distanced
himself from it totally.”
It is also reported that
the Messenger (saws) said to his Companions Mu’adh ibn Jabal and Abu Musa Al
Ash’ari when they were travelling to Yemen:
“Make things easy and not
difficult. Give good news and do not make the people fearful.”
I therefore suggest that
the second opinion is closer to the spirit of the Sunnah, and Allah knows Best.
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