Question
I want to draw your attention to coming Ramadan. In Canada, Sehr time will be roughly 4.15 AM and Iftaar time will be around 9 pm. That means fasting time will be more than 16 hours a day. Understandably it will hard to work as with such long fasting and low glucose levels, judgment can be impaired and one decision can be made where life of other human being is concerned. I have been asking different people but no body seems to have solution and can’t deviate from Quranic “sun rise” to “sun set” rule. I am sure it is not first time, we are facing such situation. People in Scandinavian might face “sunlight” for months and night for months, it is not possible to fast for months….. Can consensus be reached to decide how many hours one has to fast instead of sunrise to sunrise rule?
Answer
There is a practical problem here that makes any new Ijtihad practically useless. That is, Muslims in west (like those in east!) are not following any agreed upon single source for controversial issues like this. If this was not the case then I think we could see scholarly views and solutions that were based on number of hours rather than time between sun dawn and sunset. However in the absence of such source, the state of the anarchy and disunity that might have been caused as the result, close the door to any such fresh views.
Answered by: Farhad Shafti
Date: 2015-02-11