If you are fasting for 10, 12, 18, or even 20 hours a day, do not complain!! Feel for those living in or near the poles. According to Islamic laws set out in the Qur’an, the keeping and breaking of a fast are related to times of sunrise and sunset which do not occur near the Poles as they would on other places on the Earth.
As we get closer to the North or South Pole, the day or night might extend for up to several months each. At the North Pole itself, daylight and darkness last for more than six months at a time.
“Why do you think Islam did not take into consideration Muslim astronauts and Muslims living near the Poles?” We can understand some 7th – century desert dwellers not knowing about the poles or believing that Muslims would someday end up in space, but an omniscient being should have known better. Whoever made these rules either believed that the Earth is flat, or the Earth is in a perfect perpendicular tilt relative to the Sun. Proving that the author of the Quran is a just a human who did not know better.
How did our Mulla’s fix the Qur’an? Some suggested to follow Mecca others to follow the nearest city with a “reasonable” periods of sunsets and sunrise times. This minute, there are people eating during the day in those areas while some fasting at night…ridiculous? Of course. Then comes the “Ramadan loophole” if you have money! You fly to countries where the sunrise is only four or five hours. A friend told me when Ramadan come in the winter (Middle East 12 hours fasting) his parents would fly to Scotland or Scandinavia, where they fast four hours a day! Subhan-no-Allah.