What do you do in space?

Ooh, please sir, I know this. There’s precedence, a Muslim chap did it about ten years back. They observed Ramadan using local time at the launch pad.

So the unusual cordiality extended to this religion-based thread is due to double standards or fear of violence?

One spot of Googling later,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Muszaphar_Shukor

Since Sheikh Muszaphar is a Muslim, and as his time in space coincided with the last part of Ramadan, the Islamic National Fatwa Council drew up the first comprehensive guidebook for Muslims in space. The 18-page guidebook is titled “Guidelines for Performing Islamic Rites (Ibadah) at the International Space Station”, and details issues such as how to pray in a low-gravity environment, how to locate Mecca from the ISS, how to determine prayer times, and issues surrounding fasting. The orbit of the ISS results in one day/night cycle every 90 minutes, so the issues of fasting during Ramadan are also addressed. Sheikh Muszaphar celebrated Eid ul-Fitr aboard the station, and packed some satay and cookies to hand out to the rest of the crew on 13 October 2007 to mark the end of Ramadan.

So the unusual cordiality extended to this religion-based thread is due to double standards or fear of violence?

I can tell you one thing that differentiates this thread from most of the other religion threads is that someone actually reported posts they found offensive (and those posts were subsequently deleted) rather than just bleating on in the thread making allegations of bias.

Other than the deleted posts no-one’s actually tried to derail the thread into an argument so far. Well, apart from you, just now.

People in the Middle East and Asia do have a shorter day but have you checked the temperatures there recently? They average between 32-45deg Celsius. It’s not that bad just cracked on with it.

Currently sitting in a gold mine in Mali. Colleagues are struggling to get into the rhythm. 38 degrees….

Best of luck Gonzy, I wouldn’t fancy it – my folks live in Bahrain, they say it’s a time to be extra careful driving as tired and hungry people don’t also make great drivers ha ha.

I just read that in the Middle East Vimto has become a traditional Ramadam treat, like Turkey at Christmas or oddly KFC at Christmas in Japan – does it have that sort of connection in the West? I find things like that fascinating.

Ramadan Mubarak

Good link Cougar, cheers! I thought on the ISS you could probably seek exemption because you’re travelling. Praying towards mecca must be interesting as you fly over at 17000mph. Need a turntable.

Also interesting the navigation skills and understanding of celestial mechanics needed to face Mecca – there’s suggestions tat this is why Muslim astronomers and mathematicians were so advanced in the Middle Ages.

National night of Vimto drinking and late night food shopping.
The night is filled with gents just walking and having conversations with their and lady’s and children visiting friends. It’s like a busy normal daytime but at night.

I sooo love Ramadan 😀

Who doesn’t have to fast

Those that choose not to
Sick/Elderly
Pregnant/Breastfeeding
Mentally disabled

Some more i can not think of right now.

Awesome thread OP

Thank heavens for Christianity 😀

Good luck to the OP it’s not a challenge I’d relish.

Just out of interest, what’s the deal with people who have jobs like doctors, nurses, professional drivers etc where being alert (and not suffering from low blood sugar) is a necessity

I saw one of those Police Interceptors type progs when the officer featured was fasting and had to give foot chase to some crims. Low blood sugar caused him to go all pale and puky after a few seconds. Not sure fasting in that role was the best idea….he could have put a colleagues or member of the public’s life in danger by not being able to react.

I’ve seen more than a few police officers who’d go pale and puky if asked to run, and they definitely weren’t Muslim 😉

Ah – that’s alright then!

Gonzy Eid will come soon enough 🙂

My colleague at work is fasting and I’ve promised not to eat/bring food to my desk. Hard enough without water, smelling food would be awful.

The tone of this thread is somewhat creepy ! Must be some heavy censoring going down.

Wondering how many get kicked off Ramadan at our place when the Imam finds out the cheats, as he always does.

thebees?

Also interesting the navigation skills and understanding of celestial mechanics needed to face Mecca

I always put it down to navigating in the desert and the fact that they where great seafaring merchants

As for the hours Ramadan was conceived in the Middle East where the varience in the length of the days is not so great, certainly much more difficult at this lattitude

To question = To derail.

All very 1984.

To question = To derail.

To question? You asked if the cordiality was due to “fear of violence”. What sort of “question” is that ffs?

Were you seriously asking if people were being cordial towards gonzy because they feared violence if they weren’t?

Of course not.

It was simply a moronic “question” designed shit-stir and derail the thread.

Ernesto has awoken, like a snarling guard dog. Good dog.

I asked a Moslem work colleague about how Ramadan works in northern latitudes as if it is summer north of the arctic circle there is no sunset. He said (if I remember correctly) that you go with the times of the nearest place where it is practical. He thought that in June the latitude of Aberdeen was getting close to the limit for using local sunset sunrise times for fasting.

He also had an app on his phone to show him what direction Mecca was when he had to pray while at work without going to a Mosque.

I didn’t know about vimto, I can’t remember the last time I saw it in a shop (but that might just be from living abroad for a while)
Funnily enough, the Algerian top selling fizzy drink is called selecto. It’s more or less dandelion and burdock.

He also had an app on his phone to show him what direction Mecca was when he had to pray while at work without going to a Mosque.

You mean like a compass?

I asked a Moslem work colleague about how Ramadan works in northern latitudes as if it is summer north of the arctic circle there is no sunset. He said (if I remember correctly) that you go with the times of the nearest place where it is practical. He thought that in June the latitude of Aberdeen was getting close to the limit for using local sunset sunrise times for fasting.

He also had an app on his phone to show him what direction Mecca was when he had to pray while at work without going to a Mosque

Before you delete the post irc may I say you are even worse than Ernesto at derailing a thread so only 2/10

You can get special watches too:

I’ve got an old one in my retro digital watch collection somehwere.

I don’t believe in any of gonzy’s stuff either. I’m an atheist, but I’m a lazy one and can’t be arsed being militant about it tbh.

I really like gonzy’s posts though. They are always interesting and give insight into what is to many of us in the secular side of life, a bit of a mystery. I quite like how he lets any “insults” run off him like water off a duck’s back and answers some of the “but what about…” with patient detail. He’s how I imagine the great majority of practising Muslims to be. In short, it seems he tries his best not to be an intolerant prick. You should try that sometime enfht. Be the change you want to see.

(By the way, did you read about him going to the beach and then having a birthday party for his daughter. That must all sound unsettlingly normal to you. So, it’s ok, I can understand how you might have been feeling a bit anxious reading through the thread which possibly provoked you to ask your innocent question.)

Ramadan Mubarak gonzy!

^ spot on. Militant atheists just make the rest of us normal atheists look like dicks.

You can get special watches too

And clocks which play “call to prayer”

I once worked in someone’s flat and got quite a surprise when instead of chiming their clock started playing a “Azan”.

You mean like a compass?

Well since facing east is not facing Mecca. I’d assumed it pointed to Mecca rather than east. But maybe Moslems face east instead of actually facing Mecca. I don’t know.

Anyone know the answer?

And clocks which play “call to prayer”

Is it wrong to want to buy that and hide it somewhere in Nigel Farage’s house?

But maybe Moslems face east instead of actually facing Mecca. I don’t know.

No, they face Mecca. It’s called a Qibla compass, and it’s corrected for the lat/long of major cities.

No it’s Mecca not east. But they’ve been doing it for over a thousand years before smart phones were invented so I guess compasses must have played a part. Unless they are actually standing in Mecca of course.

Unless they are actually standing in Mecca of course.

Is there a specific place in Mecca you have to face if you’re actually in Mecca?

Could be a good quiz question like those “standing at the North Pole facing west” ones.

I think they have to face this :

Sounds barbaric to starve yourself and eat at night only.

Seriously? Well it’s your choice at the end of the day so you might as well as enjoy it.

As an atheist I do prefer religions who party and celebrate with fantastic food like mince pies or samosas!

Stuffing yourself with food and booze and then throwing up everywhere sounds a bit barbaric to Frank.

One of our family friends in my teens was a PhD student from Algeria. I went out to visit her in the 90s. She was deeply religious and her life was filled with certainties I have never had. Her version on Islam was scholarly and intellectually appealing – and with all the ritual which gave her life structure – from prayer to fasting. It made such good sense I seriously considered it. However, there was one major stumbling block (and it wasn’t Ramadan!): I just don’t believe in God. Which would have put a bit of a spanner in the works.

I had a brilliant time in Algeria, her sister Karima and I got a bus right out into the Sahara and went exploring. Lovely people wherever we went. So hot, and such an alien landscape and architecture (even for Karima who was brought up on the coast). Thanks for reminding me if it!

Ramadan Mubarak 🙂

Frankenstein ( 🙄 ), are you trying to start a Ramadan ding-dong ?

I hope your day’s going well gonzy (and fellow fasters)