Dr Usama Hasan of the Quilliam Foundation has issued the controversial fatwa calling for the long fasting hours in Britain to be shortened.
“Those who wish to follow dawn-sunset timings of 18-21 hour fasts and can do so safely, are free to do so. Those who find this genuinely unbearable, or are convinced of the non-literalist approach of ‘morning to evening’ rather than the literalist ‘dawn to sunset,’ may wish to fast for 12 or preferably 14-16 hours, beginning from dawn, sunrise or even their usual morning meal (breakfast!) …,” he said in his fatwa.
“The day length in London during a midsummer Ramadan is almost 17 hours (sunrise-sunset). Since there is no agreed beginning of dawn, the dawn-sunset timings vary from 19 to 20.5 hours. The day length increases as we go further north, especially in Scotland and Northern Ireland…," he added.
A number of Muslims who were polled stressed the need to strictly observe the fast timing (sunrise-sunset) in the country where they reside.
Source: IINA