Start of day (Jews and Moslems)

M

mathman

Valued Senior Member
Both Jews and Moslems use sunset to define the end of a day. What is the effect of latitude, particularly in the polar regions, especially around the solstices?
 
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mathman said:
Both Jews and Moslems use sunset to define the end of a day.
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True. (Some of our Sciforums compatriots seem to have been unaware of that.) Muslims and Jews also use a lunar calendar for religious purposes. So among the three 'Abrahamic' religions, Christianity seems to be the odd man out. That's likely because Christianity converted the Roman empire, which already had its own 'Julian' calendar. (Apparently some medieval monasteries started their new liturgical days with evening 'vespers'.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_calendar

What is the effect of latitude, particularly in the polar regions, especially around the solstices?
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Above the arctic circle or in Antarctica, there will be days (by our calculation) during the winter in which the Sun never appears over the horizon, and hence never rises or sets. And there will be days during the summer when the Sun never dips below the horizon, hence never rising or setting.

I'm not sure how Muslims or Jews in polar regions make their religious calendrical calculations. I believe that they probably use our familiar Western system for practical purposes.

exchemist said:
None, since Eskimos are neither Jewish nor Muslim. Obviously. What a silly question.
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What a silly remark. Jews and Muslims travel to polar regions for scientific and commercial purposes. And in the case of observant Muslims particularly, calculating the religious day is important for determining the time of daily prayers, for the observance of Ramadan, and for purposes like that.

I'm not sure what they do. My guess is that they use clocks, determining sunset for their religious purposes in accordance with the time of sunset wherever they come from.

Muslim astronauts would have to do the same thing.
 
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Yazata said:
True. (Some of our Sciforums compatriots seem to have been unaware of that.) Muslims and Jews also use a lunar calendar for religious purposes. So among the three 'Abrahamic' religions, Christianity seems to be the odd man out. That's likely because Christianity converted the Roman empire, which already had its own 'Julian' calendar. (Apparently some medieval monasteries started their new liturgical days with evening 'vespers'.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_calendar



Above the arctic circle or in Antarctica, there will be days (by our calculation) during the winter in which the Sun never appears over the horizon, and hence never rises or sets. And there will be days during the summer when the Sun never dips below the horizon, hence never rising or setting.

I'm not sure how Muslims or Jews in polar regions make their religious calendrical calculations. I believe that they probably use our familiar Western system for practical purposes.



What a silly remark. Jews and Muslims travel to polar regions for scientific and commercial purposes. And in the case of observant Muslims particularly, calculating the religious day is important for determining the time of daily prayers, for the observance of Ramadan, and for purposes like that.

I'm not sure what they do. My guess is that they use clocks, determining sunset for their religious purposes in accordance with the time of sunset wherever they come from.

Muslim astronauts would have to do the same thing.
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Touché, Yazata.
 
What difference would it make to anyone when the sun went down? There are millions of stores that are open after sunset as well as hospitals and government agencies as just a few examples. So even if they observed this practice what good is it for most don't use it any longer except for the orthodox ones and even they stretch things. If you put a string or rope around a certain area where you work after sunset , according to Jewish laws, and it is blessed by a Rabbi then you can work all of the time. Funny that there's always a way around many of the religious laws that once were set in place but are now forgotten.
 
When in doubt, you can consult the Islam Help Line: http://www.gowister.com/islam-answer-8084.html
But if one finds oneself in a place (north or south poles) which have perpetual periods of days and nights for a long period of time, the scholars and jurists in Islam have offered two rulings regarding the observance of prayer or fast times in these places:
1. One may align oneself and follow the prayer times and the start and end times of fasts of Makkah, or
2. One may align oneself and follow the prayer times, and the start and end times of fasts of the nearest geographical place which has apparent ‘normal’ timings and a routine of day and night alteration in a span of 24 hours.
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Yazata said:
And in the case of observant Muslims particularly, calculating the religious day is important for determining the time of daily prayers, for the observance of Ramadan, and for purposes like that..
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Wow. This year Ramadan was from 18 June to 16 July. Did this mean that Muslims near the Arctic circle had to continually fast for 2-3 weeks while their Asian counterpart were feasting at night?!
 
John Connellan said:
Wow. This year Ramadan was from 18 June to 16 July. Did this mean that Muslims near the Arctic circle had to continually fast for 2-3 weeks while their Asian counterpart were feasting at night?!
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How many Muslims can be found near the Arctic Circle?

Christianity is the only Abrahamic religion that has spread with any momentum into the Earth's cold regions. The Muslims, Baha'i and Rastafarians tend to remain closer to the tropics. Of course the Jewish people have spread all over the globe, but since Judaism is not an evangelical religion their numbers have not grown proportionately to our species.
 
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