Ramadan Question

I guess Muslims in the arctic circle have to have some special dispensation from their mullah's. Who also get to say when it starts and ends, based on sightings of moon. Trust you to think of that Bags. I wonder if there are any muslims in the arctic circle...

Good question, Bags!

How does it work if you live in the far north if Ramadan happens during the time when the sun never sets? Are you allowed to use Mecca time?

I believe nursing mothers exempt, but interpretation varies. There are a lot of different shades - just as there is with Christianity.
i was once in the dentist and a young man said he could not have treatment in ramadan - even dental mouthwash was not allowed to pass his lips!
As a school governor i was always pleased when it coincided with school holidays (like this year) - kids not on top form in school, and then wanting 2 days off for EID. (attendance stats suffer if you have say 1/4 muslim)
It is hard on the women when it falls in the summer though - unlike the middle east where they do not have our long days, in Uk they have to get up about 3.30 to make breakfast and then they cannot break their fast until after sunset - at which point, large meal and lots of washing up! Fall into bed about midnight, and before they know it, off they go again. I worked with someone who was shattered throughout ramadan for this reason.

If you can't fast for a legitimate reason, you can provide charity instead. One of the Olympic athletes this year fed, I think it was 100, poor people by teaming up with a charity working with the homeless. He couldn't fast while he was training.

A Muslim girl we once had on work experience had a blinding headache and clearly was unwell, but she refused our offers of painkillers because it was Ramadan. I suspect she was making an overly strict interpretation of the rules.

Some people fast full time, others only on certain days and some not at all. Where I worked the children would start to fast when they were 10 years old but it wasn't expected that they would do without water or that they would fast every day. No one criticised them if they found it too difficult. If a child stayed for an after school club then the mother gave the teacher a small pack up for the child with the time of sunset written on it so that the child could break fast rather than have to wait until they got home.

The sick, elderly or pregnant don't have to fast. It's accepted that fasting is so challenging to the body that you have to be fit to do it.

This reminds me of when I was a wages clerk at a Jewish-owned clothing firm many years ago, in Leeds. Many seamstresses were Muslims, and the firm set aside easy light work for them to do during Ramadan.

This is one aspect of fasting that should not be ignored - people need to take it easy when they fast.

I feel sorry for the people, often the mums, who do the cooking. While you are hungry and thirsty you have to prepare the food in readiness for sunset! Sorry, but I would not have the willpower to stop myself from nibbling! I'd be a very bad Muslim.

Breast feeding mothers, I'll people, diabetics and anyone whom a doctor has advised should not fast, should be given an exemption by their iman, is what I was told by one of our Moslem interpreters!

looks like pregnant women and children under 12 are exempt