In the northern hemisphere, Genesia Wahyu Saputro, a master's student in the Project Management program, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) shared his experience of fasting there. Norway, which is currently entering spring into summer, is starting to experience longer days.
The first week, Gene was still doing well because night time was still there -- albeit relatively short. Now, in this 2nd week, due to the absence of a 'true night', where the phenomenon of the sun never setting more than 17 degrees, the determination of the time for Maghrib and Isha azan also requires the help of religious experts.
"Now there are so many rules, meaning that there are many schools of thought that say they can join. The hours are divided by three to sunset at this time, Isha at this time, iftar at this time. Or someone says that fasting is 'oh well, take it from Mecca time'. Where are we? the clock is set like the clock in Mecca," said Gene.
If you follow the local clock in Norway, iftar time can start at 21:30 or even 22:00 local time. Because of that, Gene decided to break his fast following the Mecca hour where iftar is at 19:40.
"Only interesting, when I break my fast, it's still late outside. Because it's still not down (the sun), so it's not pleasant to see. But because the sect is allowed like that, yes, it's quite interesting, anyway," he said with a laugh small.
Meanwhile in the southernmost part of the Earth, there is Imran Aryan Kamil, a physics major at the University of Tasmania (UTAS) who shares his story. He describes the rules or schools of thought for breaking the fast in Australia tend to be clear.
When breaking the fast there, there are also benchmarks and guidelines from the Muslim community there. Usually, the duration of fasting in Tasmania is around 12 hours.
"Actually, there are not many (fasting challenges) because the fasting hours are still the same," said Imran.
There are also many applications that can be used to determine the Maghrib call to prayer in Tasmania so that there is a clear benchmark for iftar and tarawih times. According to Imran, fasting conditions in Australia are still similar to fasting.
Congratulations and the spirit of fasting, yes, for friends who run it in various parts of the world!