Ramadan and the Olympics

doctoremma

Hmm, came across this article...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jul/22/ramadan-olympics-fasting

TL;DR: Many Muslim athletes are choosing not to fast during the Olympic competitions.

The main reason I can see being used as justification is that there is an exemption for "travelling", which is being extended to include the whole time the athletes are in the UK. Is this a reasonable interpretations of the "travelling" exemption?

Just wondered if anyone had any thoughts? I've seen a wide range of reactions, from "They should fast", "They can defer" to "It's discriminatory to hold the Olympics during Ramadan".

hivizman

Muslim athletes who are not fasting during Ramadan are following one of the exemptions allowed by the Qur'an in Surat al-Baqarah 2:184: "[Fasting for] a limited number of days. So whoever among you is ill or on a journey [during them] - then an equal number of days [are to be made up]. And upon those who are able [to fast, but with hardship] - a ransom [as substitute] of feeding a poor person [each day]. And whoever volunteers excess - it is better for him. But to fast is best for you, if you only knew." (Sahih International version).

More details are given in this article on Exemption from Fasting. I was interested to note that the exemption from fasting applies to those for whom fasting would cause hardship because of their work, which would presumably include professional athletes.

I see that some of the British athletes who are Muslims are compensating for not fasting by feeding poor people while others are going to fast later. Given that this will postpone the fast until the autumn, when the days are shorter, I can't help thinking that this is a bit of a "cheat".

doctoremma

hivizman wrote: »

More details are given in this article on Exemption from Fasting. I was interested to note that the exemption from fasting applies to those for whom fasting would cause hardship because of their work, which would presumably include professional athletes.

Ok, the "hardship because of work" thing sounds reasonable.

Although, are Olympic athletes supposed to be amateur?

Does this mean that those with very physical jobs - farmers, construction workers and so on - are exempt?

hivizman wrote: »

I see that some of the British athletes who are Muslims are compensating for not fasting by feeding poor people while others are going to fast later. Given that this will postpone the fast until the autumn, when the days are shorter, I can't help thinking that this is a bit of a "cheat".

So you'd prefer to see a charitable donation in lieu of fasting, rather than a deferral?

hivizman

doctoremma wrote: »

Ok, the "hardship because of work" thing sounds reasonable.

Although, are Olympic athletes supposed to be amateur?

The original ethos of the Olympic Games was that they were competitions among amateur sportspeople, but that ethos was disappearing by the 1970s if not earlier (the transitional period was sometimes called "shamateurism"). Although there are no direct cash rewards for achievements in the Games, virtually all sports at the Games are open to professional athletes.

doctoremma wrote: »

Does this mean that those with very physical jobs - farmers, construction workers and so on - are exempt?

The article I linked to gave miners as an example. Presumably others in similar heavy jobs could claim exemption, and either defer the fast or feed poor people. The article points out that, even if someone falls within an exemption, they can still undertake the fast if they want, but this would not merit any special reward, as they might be considered to be rejecting a concession that Allah, in His mercy, had allowed them.

doctoremma wrote: »

So you'd prefer to see a charitable donation in lieu of fasting, rather than a deferral?

No: just noting that fasting falls particularly heavily this year on those in the upper latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. In Dublin, the fast runs from about 3:30AM to 9:30PM today. In Makkah, it's about 4:30AM to 7:00PM. On the other hand, in the Southern Hemisphere, the fast period is much shorter - Muslims in Melbourne, for example, are fasting between 6:00AM and 5:30PM (and their Ramadan started a day earlier).

irishconvert

hivizman wrote: »

No: just noting that fasting falls particularly heavily this year on those in the upper latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. In Dublin, the fast runs from about 3:30AM to 9:30PM today. In Makkah, it's about 4:30AM to 7:00PM. On the other hand, in the Southern Hemisphere, the fast period is much shorter - Muslims in Melbourne, for example, are fasting between 6:00AM and 5:30PM (and their Ramadan started a day earlier).

Try living in London this year, some mosques have declared fasting is from 1:27AM until 9:05PM!!! There is a disagreement on the starting time and depending on the mosque you follow it ranges from 1:20AM to 3:30AM. More info here.

doctoremma

A slight tangent...

I know pregnant women are not technically expected to fast (whether they o under social pressure is a different matter). There are numerous studies to show that fasting during pregnancy has detrimental outcomes on the physical and mental health of the child.

What about women who are trying to conceive? Do they not fast, just in case they are in the very early stages of a pregnancy?

hivizman

irishconvert wrote: »

Try living in London this year, some mosques have declared fasting is from 1:27AM until 9:05PM!!! There is a disagreement on the starting time and depending on the mosque you follow it ranges from 1:20AM to 3:30AM. More info here.

Thanks for this - I hadn't realised that the differences in calculating prayer times could lead to such an extreme outcome. Presumably, by the time we get to 2015, with Ramadan including the summer solstice, there will be virtually no non-fasting time if you follow the Croydon Mosque's methodology. Even following the Unified Islamic Prayer Timetable for London favoured by the East London Mosque gave Fajr at 3:24AM and Maghrib at 9:03PM today (this uses the approach of moonsighting.com, which argues that the 18 degree angle of declination of the sun assumed by the scholars followed by Croydon Mosque is not scientifically valid in the upper latitudes).

Several of my Muslim friends have headed off to their home countries in the Middle East or South East Asia for Ramadan, to avoid the effects of the short nights. I heard today from another friend who told me that her son (on vacation from University) is coping by going back to bed after Fajr prayer and not getting up again until nearly noon.

I have nothing but admiration, even awe, for Muslims who stick with the intention to fast during Ramadan.

hivizman

doctoremma wrote: »

A slight tangent...

I know pregnant women are not technically expected to fast (whether they o under social pressure is a different matter). There are numerous studies to show that fasting during pregnancy has detrimental outcomes on the physical and mental health of the child.

What about women who are trying to conceive? Do they not fast, just in case they are in the very early stages of a pregnancy?

I don't know the answer to this, but I see that women are not supposed to fast during their menstrual periods (though they have to make up the missed days of fasting later). I would suspect that, if a woman doesn't already know that she is pregnant at the beginning of Ramadan, then she should fast until her period, and if this doesn't come on at the expected time, then she should take a pregnancy test, the outcome of which will determine whether she should resume her fast or not.

In the article I linked to earlier, it states that: "Women who are pregnant or breast-feeding may not fast if they fear for themselves or for their children on the basis of past experience or on the advice of a competent doctor or if it seems highly likely that their fears are well founded." I suspect that some scholars would be able to stretch this to cover women who think at the outset of Ramadan that they may be pregnant and who fear for themselves and/or their possible foetus if they fast. No doubt there are some fatawa out there, if anyone can provide appropriate links.

Frank Grimes

hivizman wrote: »

I have nothing but admiration, even awe, for Muslims who stick with the intention to fast during Ramadan.

Same here. I've always admired (amongst the Muslims I've known/spoken to about this, obviously there'll be exceptions) the lack of complaining, attention/glory seeking etc. accompanying the fasting. Maybe part of that is me coming from an Irish cultural perspective where something even remotely approaching fasting in the Islamic sense would be either an ordeal or something to brag about