News: June 29: 1st Day Of Ramadan Officially Announced In The UAE

Its official: First day of Ramadan in the UAE will commence on June 29th – a Sunday, according to the Sharjah Planetarium.
According to astronomers, the crescent moon of this religious and holy month will show up at 12.08 am on a Friday, June 27th and then set at 7.12 pm according to WAM, the state news agency. Though its actually not that bad (compared to other countries) as the Planetarium also presented that, as Ramadan kicks off, the daylight hours will stretch up to almost 14 hours alongside the 15 hours fasting period. But the further into the month of Ramadan we get, the “easier” it’ll be as we´ll be getting 13 hours and 25 minutes of daylight at the end of the month and about 14 hours and 55 minutes of fasting.
As we might have it “easier”, time-wise, here in the UAE, the summer sure aint going to ease off. The UAE is predicted to have an average summer temperature of about 43 degrees Celsius as it later drops down to an average of 41 degrees Celsius. Though as mentioned before, muslims in other countries will be facing a much longer fasting period during the summer solstice. Let me explain with what I mean by “much longer.” Daylight in Sweden for instance will last for almost 19 hours, going from 03.34am to 22.07pm, while in Tokyo, sunrises at4.25 am and sunsets at 7pm. But it gets even worse. Reykjavik, Iceland will actually experience a full on 24 hours of daylight – but there is simple liberating solution to that.
Hasan Ahmad Al Hariri, the CEO of the Dubai Astronomy Group explains that Muslims should fast in moderation in such extreme countries.”For people in London, they can follow the time of Morocco. About 14-15 hours of fasting, which we do in the UAE, is bearable and easy. Islam is based on moderation. It is never extreme.” He then takes it a step further in order to remind the people for whom and why they are fasting. “Are we trying to make people go hungry? The idea is to obey God the way he likes. Internal meditation is important and the idea is to complete a month in a simple, straight way.”