Ramadan In Summer, Anyone?

Taken from Emel

One of the many things to be happy as Indonesians is the almost constant weather. Stretching on the equator, Indonesia only have two seasons: dry and rainy. We also have equal hours for day and night almost everyday. Which helps a lot during Ramadan.

As I mentioned before, Muslims use lunar calendar but the daily prayer is set on the movement of the sun. We pray five times a day: Subuh (at dawn), Zhuhur (noon), Ashar (afternoon), Magrib (around dusk) and Isya (evening). 

Tangent: when I took my Vietnamese friends going around Jakarta, I excused myself to do the Zhuhur and Ashar prayer. They were a bit disappointed when I left them, but surprised to see me back so quick. Perhaps they think Muslim's pray is like going to a mass for 2 hours? :)

We start fasting before Subuh which is at 4.30 a.m. - 4.45 a.m. and end fasting at Magrib, which is at 5.50 p.m. - 6.10 p.m. (CMIIW). So it's around 13-hour fasting. And that applies the whole time. It won't matter if Ramadan falls in December or in August, fasting in Indonesia swears by those hours.

I wonder what it's like for Muslims who live near the North or South Pole, where the sun lingers longer during certain months. I google it up, and found a Muslim living in Sweden, near the North Pole who acknowledges that when Ramadan falls in Summer, he fasts up to 18-hour. It's the power of will and faith, indeed. Subhanallah.

I can see from the feedjit that there are readers from other continents. Any reader ever do fasting during summer? Here's wishing you to a cool blessed day, dear brothers and sisters.