Here's the main reason why some Muslims will fast 9 hours more than other Muslims around the world

According to the Quran, Ramadan fast is meant to last from before dawn to after dusk but says nothing about how many hours that might be.

Since Islam has spread from its Arabian heartland to the far reaches of the Earth, Muslims who live farther north must fast several hours longer than those in Mecca. On the year’s longest day, June 21, some could end up fasting for as long as 20 hours.

Religion writer Tom Heneghan, says Usama Hasan, a British Islamic scholar, thinks this makes Ramadan fasting unbearable for many Muslims living in northern Europe and Canada, especially the old and children just beginning to observe the practice. It also prompts many Muslims to give up fasting altogether during the summer, he said, or sneak a secret snack to help them get through the long days.

The former imam thinks this should change and has issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, calling for “moderate timings” to be accepted for those who need them.

“In mid-summer, the fasts are too long,” Hasan said on BBC television on Sunday, just days before Ramadan is expected to start there on Thursday (June 18).

“We are closer to the North Pole than to the Equator,” he added. “Muslim jurists for centuries have argued that you can reduce the fasting hours to something like you have in Mecca, 12 to 14, 15 to 16 hours maybe, but no longer. I think that’s very sensible, it’s a balanced approach which British Muslims should adopt.”

According to Religious News Service (RNS), not all of Britain’s 2.8 million Muslims agree. A BBC reporter at Friday (June 12) prayers found almost all Muslims at the mosque preparing to face the long hours. Comments on his blog, where Hasan last year quietly posted the fatwa he is now promoting in public, include several flatly rejecting his ideas.

“We cannot change the principles of Islam just to suit our needs,” one reader wrote.

“I’m glad this has started a discussion,” Hasan, a senior researcher in Islamic Studies at the Quilliam Foundation, told RNS after the BBC interview aired. “There are still relatively few people who adopt this. But this year, there is more awareness and discussion. People have been struggling.”

Because Islam uses the 354-day lunar calendar, the month of Ramadan starts about 10 days earlier than the year before in the 365-day solar year.

This year, the fast begins on the longest days of the solar year. This highlights the difference between Mecca — where there are 2.5 hours difference between the longest and shortest days — and Oslo, where the summer-winter gap is almost 13 hours.

Hasan said he began researching the issue last year after a Glasgow Muslim in his 60s asked for help because he felt he couldn’t go through the summer fasts anymore. At its longest, a summer fasting day can last over 18 hours up in the Scottish city, where the days in late June are an hour longer than those in London.

“I wondered if there were any fatwas out there and I did some research,” Hasan said. “I suspected that Muhammad Abduh, the famous Egyptian reformer, might have talked about it. He did, and that was a good 100 years ago.”