UK Muslims rejected a fatwa issued by Islamic Foundation which called for Ramadan hours to be shortened in the UK as daylight hours in summer are too long for fasting.
Dr Usama Hasan of the Quilliam Foundation has issued a controversial fatwa, a religious edict calling for British Muslims to follow the “timings of the lands of revelation, viz. Makkah and Madina where fasting lasts around 12 hours a day.
“Those who wish to follow dawn-sunset timings of 18-21 hour fasts and can do so safely, are free to do so. Those who find this genuinely unbearable, or are convinced of the non-literalist approach of ‘morning to evening’ rather than the literalist ‘dawn to sunset,’ may wish to fast for 12 or preferably 14-16 hours, beginning from dawn, sunrise or even their usual morning meal (breakfast!) …,” he said in his fatwa.
“The day length in London during a midsummer Ramadan is almost 17 hours (sunrise-sunset). Since there is no agreed beginning of dawn, the dawn-sunset timings vary from 19 to 20.5 hours. The day length increases as we go further north, especially in Scotland and Northern Ireland…,” he added.
A number of Muslims who were polled by the BBC laid emphasis on the need to strictly follow the fast timing (sunrise-sunset) in the country where they dwell.