30 Days 30 Questions about Ramadan – EP07

Salam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu this Avinash agenda from Pelham Institute, coming to you with another session of the column hangout 30 days 30 questions about the month of Ramadan? So the question that I got, and this is the topic of conversation, a lot of communities this year and probably for the next couple of years, and that is where I live, the fasts are way too long. You know, I was talking to a couple of students that I have in Seattle, and they were telling me about 1819 hour long, fast during the month of Ramadan this year. So what do we do? And a lot of folks are also asking, Is it possible to pick the nearest location where they have a more, you know, moderate

timeframe for fasting, you know, 15 hours, 16 hours, and basically base our fast off of their timings. Is that okay, or not? So there's all these questions in this whole conversation going on. So what's exactly the issue? So I did a lot of reading and research on this issue. And what I found, and I'll be very honest and upfront about this, I did end up looking up a lot of the, you know, older fatawa, classical fatawa. And even in our times, the fact was in the rulings given by many of our senior senior scholars and researchers and experts, when it comes to fear, and I read their discussions and their arguments. And I also felt compelled that basically the answer in this

situation, as honestly as possible, is that the rulings and the the Quran and the Hadith of the prophets allowed him to put on in the sooner the Quran in the sayings of the prophets a lot easier when it comes to fasting. And the beginning time of fasting and the ending time of fasting, are so explicit and so clear, that it really doesn't leave any room for discussion, that the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet sallahu was very clear that fasting begins with allegedly thony, the break of dawn, all the way till the setting of the sun. And that is very, extremely explicitly stated. So therefore, this is going to sound a little difficult, but I'm going to provide a little bit of an

explanation. Therefore, even if that day ends up being like 20 hours long, as long as there is a distinguishable break of dawn, and a distinguishable setting of the sun, that will still be the beginning time of the past and the end time of the past. Now I understand that it's extremely difficult. But now here's the second part of that answer. That, at the same time, severe hunger, to the point of where it could cause physical harm to a person. And

illness. And even the threat of serious illness and health concerns and health issues is a valid reason is a valid excuse for not fasting. So in these types of locations were fastened to being 1920 hours long,

it will still be mandatory to fast from the break of dawn till the setting of the sun. However, even if there be a significant part of the population, that whether we're talking about elderly people or people with some health concerns, who normally would have been able to fast a 15 hour day a 16 hour day, but it's very difficult for them to fast a 20 hour day, then it will be permissible and okay for those people to try their best to fast but if they're not able to fast, then it's okay for them to not fast. During the month of Ramadan, that concession is provided for them again, through the Quran, through the Sunnah of the profits, a lot of them and then they are permitted, they are

allowed to make up those fasts of Ramadan afterwards, when the day will not be as long and it will be a little bit more practical for them to be fat to for them to be able to fast. And so that's the basic ruling on it. So I realized that that's a little difficult, but also understand that there nukem there, there are some places there do come times when our hands are restricted and tied by what a line is messengers, a lot of them have said, and this is one of those types of situations.

The second thing that also needs to be kept in mind about these types of locations is that eventually when the calendar kind of cycles through, and they you know, Ramadan is during the months of February, January, December, November, a lot of people in these types of places that are maybe right now have to fast 1920 hours, they might be fasting like 10 hours a day. So it works kind of both ways. So inshallah May Allah subhanaw taala. give you many, many Ramadan's. And so you might have a couple of difficult Ramadan's

bunch of you know, moderate Ramadan's. And then you'll have a couple of super awesome Ramadan's. So just something to keep in mind. But the second part of this answer is that if there is a place where the where, during the summertime, the days and the nights become so distorted that sometimes

Entire 24 hours can go by, without a complete, you know, cycle in terms of the sun rising and the sun setting and all of that, you know, near the,

you know, near the North Pole and the South Pole and, you know, in extreme places like that extreme latitudes where they don't even experience the full cycle of the day. For those people, they will pick the nearest location where there is a where there is an actual full cycling of the day, and they will basically fast based off of their timings. So there is a there is that type of a ruling and a concession. But that is specifically for those people where they don't even have, you know, the break of dawn in the setting of the sun because of the extreme latitudes that they live in. So that's the basic gist of the answer. So I realized So the answer to summarize again, here at the

end, that even if the fast is extremely long, you still have to go ahead and fast the entire day. If it's too difficult for somebody, don't worry as long does not obligate you beyond your capacity, you can make up those days later on. If somebody lives in a place where there is no break of dawn and setting of the sun right now due to summertime, then they can pick the nearest location where that does occur, and they can fast based off of their timings. May Allah subhanho wa Taala accept Ramadan from all of us. May Allah subhanaw taala make it a very productive Ramadan. Until next time design from Allah Hayden. Remember to send your questions. You can tweet them, Facebook them, leave them in

the comment section of this video, where you can email them to us. Just remember to tag your questions with hashtag alum Hangout. Salaam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu. I'll see you all next time.