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Can One Skip Fasting In Ramadan & Make It Up Later In The High Latitude Regions?
I wanted to ask about Ramadan fasting for Muslims living in Scandinavian countries like Norway, Sweden, and Finland, especially during the summer months when daylight can stretch to around 20 hours or more, and in places inside the Arctic Circle where there may be no real night at all for 24 hours.
My question is: in such conditions, is it valid for a person to postpone the Ramadan fasts and then make them up later as qada when the day/night cycle becomes more normal, for example around the autumn or spring equinox in September or March, when fasting hours are much more reasonable?
I know there are different fatwas on this issue.
- One common fatwa says that Muslims should simply fast from the local sunrise (or true dawn/fajr) until the local sunset, no matter how long the day becomes. But this view raises practical problems for me. In some Scandinavian regions during summer, the fasting time can approach or exceed 20 hours. For people working full-time jobs, studying, commuting, or doing physically demanding work, this can become extremely difficult and exhausting for an entire month. And then there is an even bigger problem: what happens in places inside the Arctic Circle where there is literally no proper sunset or no proper night for 24 hours? In some locations the sun barely dips, or does not disappear at all for weeks. In that situation, how can sunrise-to-sunset fasting even function normally? The standard local-day model itself seems to break down there. Some scholars suggest that one should follow the time table of the nearest city with day and night, but that can be very difficult too because that city can also be in high latitude with 23 hours long day and only 1 hour long night.
- Another fatwa says that Muslims in such regions can follow the fasting timetable of Makkah/Medina. But honestly, this makes no sense to me practically. If someone is physically living in Norway or Finland, why should their fasting schedule be determined by the daylight cycle of Makkah/Medina instead of their own local environment? It seems like an artificial workaround rather than a naturally understandable solution. It also seems inconsistent that fasting is detached from local astronomical conditions while prayer times usually are not. Because as far as I know, Muslims in Scandinavian countries generally do not pray according to Makkah/Medina time; they still use local or locally-estimated prayer times based on their own region. So if salah remains tied to local conditions, why is fasting treated differently?
That is why I wanted to ask whether there is a stronger argument for a different approach: namely, postponing the Ramadan fasts and making them up later in the year when the day/night cycle becomes moderate and normal again, such as around March or September (Spring or Autumn equinox). This seems more practical and more connected to the Qur’anic principle that Allah does not intend hardship.
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Can One Skip Fasting In Ramadan & Make It Up Later In The High Latitude Regions?
updated 1 week, 3 days ago
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NVM, I found Ghamidi Sahab’s stance on this. He thinks just the same as me, in those conditions fasting can be shifted to other days
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tLWq4XRY4c
English translation by chatgpt
In many places in the world such as Alaska, Iceland, Russia, etc., there are regions where there is 21, 22, or even 23 hours of daylight. So in such countries, what should be done regarding fasting in Ramadan?
One method is what Allah Himself has already stated: if fasting becomes difficult—whatever the reason may be, such as illness, travel, or living in a region where the fast becomes excessively long—then Ramadan can be shifted to other days.
This has already been mentioned in the Quran, and it is based on the Quranic wording: if such difficulty arises, then you may complete the fast on other days. This decision can be made both at an individual level and at a community level.
In such countries, another approach has been adopted by some scholars. I do not say that it is completely wrong, although in my view the first method—which Allah Himself has prescribed—should be followed. That second approach is that people determine fasting times based on nearby regions, or alternatively based on estimation or averages.
There is no objection to this method either. It is similar to what I explained earlier regarding issues like nail polish: when a new problem arises for which there is no explicit guidance from Allah and His Messenger, then principles are applied in order to derive rulings. The goal is to create ease for people, while keeping the essential spirit of the religion in view.
So, considering all this, in my opinion the better method is the one the Quran has itself prescribed: that you shift the fast to other days.
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