Fasting - at the poles?
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I recently had this troubling thought, how does one living at the North or South Pole fast as per the prescription in the Quran?
A couple of things I already have in mind
Perhaps the poles were not inhabited at that time? My knowledge is lacking here- hence this thought' but then that creates a conflict in the Quran"s claim of being i.e. "a guidance for mankind" - implied meaning "all" mankind of course.
Fasting is prescribed in "Ramadan" i.e the month of high heat, or the month in which the Quran was revealed. What are we supposed to lean upon? Fasting because supposedly fasting in the heat is beneficial for the body? or, because it is more of a spiritual endeavor to be more aware of God? Either way, that creates a problem for those living in parts of the world, where the days can be unhealthly long and nights unhealthly short...or am I missing something from the Quran when it comes down to understanding?
Fasting is an initial stage of self-discipline to acquire self-control.
The technicalities of how you do it, where and when doesn't really matter.Every culture / tradition have their own technicality details of how and when, suited to their own living environment.
But it's the objective that matter, not the technicalities...
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Peace,
I agree that the objective matters and that the purpose of fasting is to acquire self-discipline and self control. But this is just a means to an end, i.e. God's good pleasure and forgiveness - that is the real objective. But the objective is only meaningful if you do it the way God prescribes it (and you can find it in the Quran if it matters). Without that all of this is meaningless anyway.
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I agree that the objective matters and that the purpose of fasting is to acquire self-discipline and self control. But this is just a means to an end, i.e. God's good pleasure and forgiveness
If God's forgiveness is your objective.
Then you need to 'forgive' others..
The rule is that simple.. do unto others what you want God do to you..And 'self-control' will help you do that.
With 'self-control' you can avoid any negative emotional outburst, fanaticism, grudges, urge for revenge and it shall makes it easier for you to forgive.But the objective is only meaningful if you do it the way God prescribes it (and you can find it in the Quran if it matters). Without that all of this is meaningless anyway.
Without the end-result of actual 'good deed' / 'action'. rite is meaningless.
While technicalities of the rites doesn't matter.Feel free to study the world around you for evidence of it..
Book and writings can be forged, but the actual world around you no human can forge it.. -
peace all,
hawk99, I was referring to this (bold)
What happens if you don't witness it?
Peace Wakas,
My mistake, as far as witness goes I think that those who know that this is Ramadan are witnessing this month!
This is different from citing.Related to WITNESS
Synonyms
attestation, confirmation, corroboration, documentation, evidence, substantiation, testament, testimonial, testimony, validation, voucher, proof
Have a blessed Ramadan
peace
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It is a Verbal Noun of verbs -. A verbal noun signifies an act and a state without time reference. Its Root is " ". Ibn Faris , renowned lexicographer stated( ة
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That it leads to the perception of abstinence, and stasis-stagnancy at home.
The objective is that you people might remain self cautious and avoid conduct inspired and governed by emotion in reverence and fear of Allah the Exalted.
All our desires and acts are motivated for satisfying three areas of the body chest; belly, and pelvic area. The appetites of belly and pelvic area are a natural phenomena and can also be triggered involuntarily by external stimuli and man can become victim of sudden incontrollable emotional surge. Volitional and conscious suspension of satiating the desires of belly and pelvic area during the day time of the month of Ramadan is an exercise to develop ability of holding firm control over these urges. This exercise will help develop the ability to hold back or run away in an urging situation to avoid an act which is inspired and governed by emotion.
man at a given point in time is in either of the two frames
- He is governing his chest, belly and genitalia; or.
- He is governed by his chest, belly and/or genitalia.
In the first frame the man is using his Logical brain Prefrontal cortex. Thereat, he truly depicts his status and appointment as self-governor enjoying freedom, discretion and executive authority of will of self rule. But when he wishes not to govern his brains and body parts he surrenders himself to the disposal of either Emotional brain or Stem-Survival-reptilian brain; he is in the second frame a slave and host of desires and lusts of belly and pelvic area.
The Fasting
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As to the harvest, I come from peasant families and I would say that by the equinox the worst is over. The worst is precisely the summer including august. But of course it depends of the kind of crops that are being grown.
That is what I suspected. It would not make sense to fast for a whole month around this time then when most people would have to be engaged in physical work lasting all day and into the night as gathering of the harvest tends to be. However the evidence for the 'Night of power' being related to the stars and not the moon and therefore a fixed point around august is strong. Perhaps 'Ramadan' as a period of fasting and the requirement to fast on this special night ARE ACTUALLY TWO DISTINCT THINGS?? hmm
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Peace wasi,
However the meaning of that word is abstention hence why it is used for the same purpose but abstention from speech. It is not specified what kind of abstention is for 2183 and onwards, however we can probably infer that it is abstention from food and drink. The same abstention is also used as a punishment that one can voluntarily undertake to repent for sins. If the abstention was from speech then it would be a way harder punishment than if it was from food or drink because then you are virtually invalidated during the course of the month or two in the case of some punishments.
However I think that the usage of fajr and isha are misunderstood and that causes a problem that the fasting causes "monster-fasts" in certain regions of the Earth. To me is seems as if it should be beginning in the morning and run until dusk. And I would suppose that it is on once the sun is visible in the horizon and ends once it disappears. Obviously some regions still have a problem with that but what the heck... just improvise. God cannot be that intolerant. Take a standard morning let us say from 6am until a normal evening 8-9ish. The fast should run according to normal human wake hours and not in some unnatural way even if the light days say otherwise. God is not that square-minded.
People are too stuck on details. Just go up eat breakfast at your normal time and then fast until the evening and break it there.
However I have a feeling that Ramadan fasting is intended as a way of redemption for your acquired sins and should run for a comparable number of days.
Everywhere except 2183-187 fasting is used as a punishment or redemption for sins, but strangely not in the 183-187. However I think I know why and that is another scandalous misrepresentation of the Arabic discourse.
God bless you
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People are too stuck on details. Just go up eat breakfast at your normal time and then fast until the evening and break it there.
The Quran provides details about the beginning and ending times of fasting. What you are saying is indeed going against those Quranic verses. Now of course you will say as always that those verses have not been interpreted correctly.
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Peace,
Yes of course. It has not, in most cases. Why not is astonishing.
I know the traditional interpretation of white thread against the background of black.
Unfortunately it is impossible to follow that instruction in some regions because the sun does not leave any darkness behind and thus you have to to instead implement a reasonable compromise.
In countries like Arabia or Iran closer to the equator fasting becomes a reasonable period. I had between around 5 o'clock in the morning until around 8 o'clock the years I was in Iran. And when the twilight is visible it takes less than 30 minutes until there is full light and after cirka 15 minutes of twilight you can see the sun. But as soon as you move in any direction away from the equator the fasting becomes harder and harder and eventually you are supposed to fast around the clock following the passage literally. I suppose an attempting person would be quite exhausted afterwards.
I tried to fast a couple of years ago in Sweden and I went through with it with monster fasts from around 130am until 1015pm for a couple of weeks. What kind of fast is that?
This is why you could as well fast from 6 in the morning until the evening and doubtfully God will be grumpy about that devotion.
God bless you
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I'm in Seattle, our dawn/dusk time is about 18hrs. Its been fun yeah