Irishbeekeeper

Actually, we wake up much before that (different time zones have different times ofcourse) and eat as much as we can, which for me is absolutely zilch as I can barely keep my eyes open and cant stand the smell of any sort of food in the morning, so I just drink as much water as I can and go back to sleep.

But 90% of the ones who do observe fasting in this month, wake up much before that, have a lot of food and water, till the time of the call to prayer. So it is the time to begin the fast and carry on till sun-down, when there would be another call to prayer, indicating the end of fasting, hence gluttony!!

shiva

surely shoving your face full of food before the fast and immediately afterwards kind of defeats the object of fasting in the first place.

I regularly fast for 24 hours between evening meals (probably 2-3 times a week), just because i often don't eat during the day. its not particularly difficult in any way and i don't eat a massive evening meal to prepare for it. admittedly i do drink water during the day but having fasted for ramadan in the past i fail to see the need for pre and post fast gluttony. the thirst thing was a bitch though.

Irishbeekeeper

yes, totally agreed on both points!
eating too much and making it through the day just to eat too much again is not the spiritual purpose in my opinion, I have always thought that there was much more to it. Had to go through a pretty rough patch for a few weeks once where I was down to a meal a day. So would ration my evening meal just so I could have enough to eat some in the morning before setting out again and I guess by the end of it all, I sort of understood the meaning of it. You keep yourself hungry for a month to understand what the truly hungry are going through every day for the whole year. Its got nothing to do with religion in my honest opinion, its more about spirituality attained by true hunger. Case in point, every major religion has one or another way of fasting.
the second point about thirst being a major b*tch is SO true as well

britexpat76

Fasting in the UK must be a nightmare with the long daylight hours? Al least here it is dark early so by 7pm they are eating.

britexpat76

That is exactly what Religion is mate.

Irishbeekeeper

yep! and my hats off to the ones who do it for the entire month. A few days even a week is doable but for 30 days is really exhaustive I think.

the higher the latitude, the longer the days are, hence one cannot expect someone living near the north pole to adher to the same rule

what I am told is most people living in the higher latitudes follow the 12 hour rule i.e. start the fast at dawn and count down 12 hours from that time

scot47

Another possibility is to follow the time at Mecca.

OleJanx

I was under the impression that this was the accepted rule in the U.K.

britexpat76

I thought it was too until this week.

Irishbeekeeper

yes, i.e. mark the fast for the number of hours the fast is in Mecca

do you know that there are people living in the north of Pakistan who even follow the, number of days to fast, rule with Mecca?

The Muslim year is based on Lunar sightings / calculations so of course sometimes the month will start sooner and sometimes it will end later (based on the sightings of the moon)
and as any child can tell you, it is NOT possible to see the first night of the moon in two different time zones in the world on the same night, and yet these northerners STILL manage to come up with eye-witnesses who would claim to have seen the moon on the exact corresponding day with Mecca and same for the end of the month i.e. Eid ul Fitr. So you end up with the rest of the country on a completely different time table then those dinky Pathans in the north

We have a few running jokes about this btw, the people in the North having the idiotic need to do everything differently than the rest of the country

kittycat1

I think it is a very provocative act by Channel 4- at a time when tensions are high, - Is it responsible at a time when feelings are so sensitive?
but that's channel 4 for you- they have always pushed boundaries. I would be concerned that Channel 4 are handing a lit taper to the british extremists though, at some point I think the issue has to be broached and at the moment no politian dare address the issue. Should new cultures be more intergrated? Can they be? With such different values can we all live side by side?

And as for break of fast- I've worked with several young muslim lads over the years in various jobs in the UK and have never known one of them stick to fasting in the same way most Christians don't abstain for lent.

scot47

Can we now expect Saudi TV to relay services from Saint Peters ?

jam25mack

When I used to live in Scotland my ex Mrs used to fast from dawn till dusk during Ramadan, which to be honest seemed to be the norm (not Mecca hours).... she'd be up at 4am and finished at 10:30-11pm. Thought she was hardcore!

flares

I watched the 4Ramadan opening episode and I must say what a lovely fella Rashid Khan is.

Rashid Khan - former professional rugby league player and star of the award-winning Make Bradford British - travels across Britain, exploring the physical, logistical and spiritual preparations for the holy month of Ramadan

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/4...bit.ly/13jHr7W

Millhouse

will you download it on your torrent website?