MUSLIMS in Bahrain will be fasting for 13 hours and 30 minutes today, the first day of Ramadan, according to an expert.
The fasting period today will last from the Fajr call to prayer at 4.21am until the Maghreb call to prayer at 5.51pm, said Arabian Gulf University professor of applied physics and Bahrain Astronomical Society president Dr Waheeb Al Nasser.
“There is then a daily increase of 1.5 minutes and a total increase of 45 minutes of fasting over the days, resulting in people fasting for 14 hours and 14 minutes on the last day,” he told the GDN.
The number of fasting hours will keep increasing, with the longest day of fasting being the last day of Ramadan (April 20), he added.
More than 1.9 billion Muslims will be abstaining from food, drink, sex and smoking during daylight hours throughout the holy month.
The fasting hours vary from country to country and depends on the geographical location of the person, and the length of the day and night caused by the earth’s tilt and the position of the sun.
In countries located closer to the equator, the fasting hours tend to be shorter, while those located farther away experience longer fasting periods.
However, the average fasting hours worldwide usually fall between 14 and 15 hours with Muslims in Saudi Arabia and the UAE fasting up to 14 hours per day.
Islamic scholars advise Muslims living in areas such as Greenland and Alaska where the sun never sets, to follow the fasting hours of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
They have long agreed upon the system since Saudi Arabia is home to the Ka’aba – the holiest site in Islam.
Some of the top countries fasting the most hours daily this year include Greenland and Iceland (18 hours), Finland, Scotland and Canada (17 hours) and the UK and France (16 to 17 hours).
The countries with the shortest hours of fasting include New Zealand, Chile and Argentina (12 hours), Indonesia and Kenya (13 hours) and Pakistan, India and Bahrain (13 to 14 hours).
The average fasting hours for other countries in the Gulf and the wider Middle East that also fall between 13 and 15 hours include Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Palestine.
In the Middle East and North Africa region, people in Algeria will fast the longest on the last day of Ramadan at 14 hours and 58 minutes.
Meanwhile, Dr Al Nasser added that according to long-term meteorology, it is likely that the middle of Ramadan this year will be rainy, and the weather will witness sudden changes.
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