Nigerian clerics react to ‘Swedish Fasting’

Here, some Muslim scholars in Abuja bare their minds on how Muslims can observe the dusk-to-dawn fasting.Fasting time days during summer in North Pole nations like Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Finland, can be challenging and also very long, due to the no dusk, no dawn weather scenario. The sun staysup for 22 or 23 […]

Here, some Muslim scholars in Abuja bare their minds on how Muslims can observe the dusk-to-dawn fasting.
Fasting time days during summer in North Pole nations like Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Finland, can be challenging and also very long, due to the no dusk, no dawn weather scenario. The sun staysup for 22 or 23 long hours most of the times.
Sweden however, seems to be the hardest hit this year unlike in the 1989 summer season, when many of the other countries in the region shared the Swedish experience.
Majority of the estimated 700 Muslims in the mining town of Kiruna, located 145km north of the Arctic Circle and surrounded by snow-capped mountains of Sweden, have to put up with the sun staying up around the clock from May 28-July 16, covering half of the 29 or 30 days fasting of Ramadan.
The founder of the Al-Mustoffiyyah Islamic Society of Nigeria, UstazMaisuna M. Yahaya, said the neighbouring nations closest to Sweden can be contacted and their regular timings used to determine their own timing for fast and prayers.He also said they can use the calculation of weather and prayer times to determine the timing for their fasting.
The director and chief imam of Al-Habibiyah Society of Nigeria, Sheik FuadAdeyemi, said that though there are no permanent fatwas on the Swedish case, they people there can use the time of observing their Subuhi and Magrib prayers to determine the time they would observe the sahur and iftar.
“They (Swedish) can also look at the closest neighbouring countries with regular day and night times and apply that to their setting,”Adeyemi said.
The chief imam of FouadLababidi Central Mosque, Sheik Tajudeen Bello, urged people to be mindful of the essence of the fasting as the command (of Allah) also contains the reason for the fasting which is to be God-conscious.
“Ramadan fasting is fundamental as it is one of the pillars in Islam and Allah commanded Muslims to fast as contained in Surah Baqara Chapter two verse 183. Since the fast is from dusk-to-dawn using the commencement of Fajr (dawn) to stop eating and the setting of the sun to break the fast and eat, then those that will be affected outside the normal and known 12 hours or more or less of both day and night should at best use the analogy of the nearest parts of the world to them,” Bello said.
“If the nearest parts of the world to them are spending 14 to 15 hours of daytime and witnessing either seven or eight hours of night time they can take the analogy of those people and use it to observe their fasting. They cannot be compelled to observe fasting for 20 or 23 hours. This is the fatwas (rulings) of many scholars concerning this issue,” he added.
Speaking on the local timing for observing sahur (pre-dawn meal) and iftar (sunset/evening meals), Bello said the reality is that ceasing from eating commences from dawn (day break) and that Allah categorically mentions this as contained in surah Baqara Chapter two verse 188 of the Glorious Qur’an.
He said: “We have the original fajr and fake fajr. The original is the one you see the difference between darkness and light. Though there are numbers of estimations and calendar, you are to stop eating just some few minutes before the fajr, even five minutes and not to be compelled to stop eating one hour, 30 minutes and so on before fajr since Allah confirmed that you eat and drink until the dawn appear. In fact eating close to the appearance of the fajr is more rewarding way to break the fast immediately the sun sets and this applies to all parts of the country and all parts of the world.”