Question:

Assalaamu alaikum I live in a western coutry where the summer days are longer and even sometimes the sun shines for 24h a day. We have been fasting Ramadan months in the summer according to the time of Makkah and then fast again the same month in the winter time to make sure we won't miss any. I would like to know if that is ok. Also like fasting the Mondays and Thursdays and the days of full moon, it is very important to my family and me to keep tight to Islam in all ways possible. All this is according to our time but when the summer comes we can't fast 23 to 24h, so we do it Makkah time. Also it is important to fast Ramadan at the same time with all Muslims when it is in summer Inshaallaah. Hope you help us in this matter. Jazakumullahu khaira.

Fatwa:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His Slave and Messenger.

If the sun shines for 24 hours a day in your country and never sets, then you should fast and break the fast according to the timing of the nearest country to you where the sun rises and sets; this applies to obligatory and supererogatory fasting.

However, if the fasting person finds hardship in fasting to an extent that he is unable to continue the fasting due to the extreme length of the day, then it is permissible for him to break the fast according to the necessity only [and not eat his fill] and then make up for that day whenever he is able to do so. As regards supererogatory fasting, one is not obliged to make up for the day he broke the fast.

Allah knows best.

Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb