Re: ramadan

From: Michael M. Butler (mmb@spies.com)
Date: Tue Jan 07 2003 - 05:23:30 MST


IGNORE MY PREVIOUS POST ON THIS MATTER> I AM STUPID AND SHOULD BE ASLEEP

Spike, you're right; there are secular pressures
to adopt a lunar-solar calendar for Islam, but the link I posted from
doesn't talk about them at all.

The 9th Islamic-lunar month does indeed wander a lot.

spike66 wrote:
> I was viewing a program about Islam. They mentioned
> that true Muslims fast while the sun is up during
> the month of Ramadan. Then they said the month is
> not a specific time of year, but is based on a lunar
> month. I reason that the month of fasting must work
> its way around the calendar, so that sometimes
> Ramadan is in the winter and a few years later in
> the summer. Right?
>
> If that is the case, what happens if Ramadan straddles
> the summer solstice and the believer lives north
> of the arctic circle? Do they just starve? Anders,
> do they have this problem up your way? If Ramadan
> is around the winter solstice, those in the far north
> would scarcely notice. Seems like the true believer
> who didn't like fasting could just move to Damien's
> neighborhood in those years which Ramadan was in July,
> and Sweden when it was in the December.
>
> How would a true believer in LEO work it? Just
> eat quickly while in the earth's shadow? What if
> they were in a polar orbit? On Mars? spike

These questions have been bruited about for decades at least.



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