Ramadan Fasting Challenges Muslims in Sweden’s Long Summer Days

This year, the days will still be too long for Muslims forced to fast during the holy month in Sweden. Between the start of the fast at 3 a.m. and the sunset around 9 p.m., Muslims should push their own limits and abstain from eating and drinking for 18 to 21 consecutive hours.

During the summer months, when the sun almost never sets, it becomes almost impossible to observe Ramadan in the north of the country, and for the Muslim community there it is a real challenge to which the European Council for Fatwa and Research has tried to provide an answer, by adopting new guidelines to facilitate the observance of ritual abstinence.

Between the nostalgia for the Ramadan atmosphere in the country of origin and the discomfort of fasting for endless hours, the Muslim community of multiple nationalities drowns its sorrow in the Taraweeh prayers within the northernmost mosque in the world, and around the ftour adorned with the colors of the country.