As you know, during Ramadan Muslims are not supposed to eat or drink between sunrise and sunset. Most predominantly Muslim countries aren’t too far north or south of the equator, so the days there are pretty evenly divided.
But what about Muslims living way up closer to the poles, where at certain times of year there are only a few hours of daylight - or night? If you’re a Muslim living up in the Northwest Territories and Ramadan falls during a time of year when there are only three or four hours of night, are you really expected to fast 20+ hours a day? Are there exceptions in such situations?
They needn’t even stray very far from home for differences in sunrise/sunset to become a factor. The people on higher floors of the Burj Khalifa have to stave off the munchies a little longer than those downstairs.
Where I am its 40C. 90% humidity and the fast lasts 16 hours (today it is from 3:23 am till 7:22 p.m). Incidentally, its not directly between sunrise and sunset, its from slightly before sun rise to slightly before sunset.
As it is you don’t really feel any different until about 4 p.m.
OP: there are different opinions and practices. Some people will only keep local time, other follow Mecca, others the nearest city with less than 20 hours of light (or some other number), others their hometown.
There are a great many in the UK, and today, sunrise is at 05:03 and it sets at 21:09, that’s over 16 hours and the temperature is in the high 20s, and even over 30 in places today.
When I worked in a factory in Birmingham I worked with several Muslims. Out of, maybe, half a dozen, there was only one who took it seriously. He was pretty well flaked out after lunch and often took days off. The rest varied from those who drank water only, to those who just carried on as normal.
You’re also allowed to do a catch-up ramadan at a later time, ie winter. I’m just back from my annual trip to Romania with a group of teenagers. We do very hard physical work all day, and we don’t allow the kids to participate in Ramadan while we are there. It’s 40C degrees and we are digging out in the hot sun. Kids are in danger of keeling over even if they do eat well. So we always speak to their parents in advance and encourage them to speak to someone at their mosque, but we have always been told that if there is a good reason that it would be irresponsible at that time, you can just catch up at a later date. This year we had four kids who did that. They always say they want to try, but our rules are clear: if you don’t eat, you don’t work.
It’s not easy, but with practice and preparation, it CAN be done. For the record, yesterday was the Jewish fast day of Tisha B’Av. On the one hand, it is only one day of no food or water, rather than a whole month. But on the other hand, it is more than 24 hours long - this year it was from sunset on Monday evening until it gets dark on Tuesday night. (And the Jewish fast of Yom Kippur is also 24+ hours.)
Personally, my preparations are mainly getting totally off caffeine at least a day or two beforehand; that has totally eliminated headaches. And I load up on Gatorade or Powerade during the 6-12 hours before the fast – I discovered a few years ago that the incredible thirst on a fast day is only an illusion caused by losing electrolytes, and loading up in advance will prevent it. Of course, it is very important to stay cool during the fast itself, preferably with air conditioning, or the illusory thirst will turn all too real and become a genuine health hazard.
As it turned out, I managed okay. No hunger, no thirst, no headaches. I was somewhat groggy most of the day, but that’s still not too bad.
Fasting over here in London where the temperature easily gets into the 30s can be difficult even after the first week, but eventually you just get used to that routine of not eating in the daylight hours which are between 5am to about 9pm.
Ramadan doesn’t mean one month without food and water, it means one month without food and water during daytime. Food consumption is often higher than other parts of the year because people compensate at night for what they haven’t been allowed to eat during the day.
Yes, I did know that. My point was that for some people, the more difficult task is one short burst of something that is an extreme deprivation (one full-day fast), while for others, it is more difficult to do something that is ongoing for a long time, even if the deprivation is less extreme (a whole month of half-day fasts). No doubt, there are people of both religions who think the other one has it easier. And people of both religions who think the others have it harder.
As regards your last line: I’ve heard it debated whether eating a lot before the fast makes the fasting easier or more difficult. Some say that the food stretches the stomach, so that once it’s been digested, the empty stomach it even more noticeable. Personally, I’m on the fence with that; anyone know if there have been any scientific studies?
At 40C, with even 55% humidity, the heat index is 59C, which is 139 farenheit. I’ve never even seen charts that go beyond this. I also live in the Southeast US, and humidity just desn’t rise that high when temps are high in my experience (it feels humid as can be, but when you check the weather it’s only like 30 or 40 percent by the afternoon when temps are up in the 90s).
eta: I found a calculator that would calculate 40C and 90% humidity, the heat index would be 95C, or 202 F. That seems a little unrealistic to me.
Using humidity to judge is pretty meaningless, because that drops as the temperature rises. The Dew Point is what really counts. If the dew point is above about 75-F, you will feel uncomfortable at any temperature. If dew point is below 75, even temperatures above 100 are tolerable.
The dew point stays fairly constant through the day, and will remain fairly close to what the overnight low temperature was, since the dew point can never be above the temperature.
Anybody can go all day without food, but it is hard and dangerous to go without water.
Not knowing where AK84 is located, it’s not easy to verify his claim. So I went to a website to randomly look at the current temperature of some very hot spots, and I saw the the “ReelFeel” was cooler than the actual temperature! That’s when I realized: Any location where the temp is 40C is probably going to be in a dry desert. Where can one find such heat AND humidity at the same time?
I thought to use his sunrise and sunset for a clue. His local midday is at about 10:23 AM, which would put him near the far eastern end of his time zone. But I still have no clue about which time zone, or the latitude. Oh well.
Totally agree. But I feel like I always hear people talking about 90 degrees and 90% humidity, and it gets a little annoying. Who exactly are they trying to impress with obviously made up numbers? Ignoring your point that it’s a crappy measure anyway…
The highest dewpoint ever recorded on earth is 95-F, in Saudi Arabia near the Persian Gulf. If the air temperature had gone down to 95 at that time, a fog or mist would have formed from the condensation of moisture in the air into water droplets. Laundry that has been hung out will not dry. On such a day, the overnight low temperature is probably also in the 90s. I’ve been in Saudi and Kuwait on a humid summer day, and the close feeling of the humid air at those temperatures is memorable, especially driving across the desert in a car that is not AC.
Last summer, the hottest ever in the US midwest, a number of weather stations reported dewpoints in the upper 80s, but that is an exremely rare occurrence in North America.