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starroute

(12,977 posts)
9. This year Ramadan occurs when the days are longest
Sun May 22, 2016, 11:36 AM
May 2016

Muslims are required to fast throughout the daylight hours during Ramadan. But a restriction that's barely tolerable at Middle Eastern latitudes becomes a lot more difficult to deal with further north -- and almost impossible when Ramadan falls around the summer solstice.

Here's a chart of June sunrise and sunset times in Paris, as well as the onset of twilight by various definitions.
http://www.timeanddate.com/sun/france/paris?month=6

According to http://www.as-sidq.org/mosque/time.htm, leading Islamic organizations endorse the use of astronomical twilight, which marks the onset of complete darkness, though some apparently accept nautical twilight.

So if you look at that chart for Paris, when Ramadan starts on June 5, there is less than an hour and a half of full darkness -- and by June 12, there is no full darkness at all. Even by the looser definition of nautical twilight, darkness lasts for roughly four and a half hours.

Which is great for Nuit Debout, of course -- but maybe not so helpful if you're a would-be Islamic terrorist.

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