How is salat (prayer) performed in the poles? How is fasting carried out?

As is known, in the country we are in, Turkey, the hours of the day do not differ very much. Though nights and days lengthen and shorten in certain seasons, they do not go beyond the normal shortening and lengthening. However, the nearer we get to the poles, the more different these normal lengthening and shortening become. The nights and days become much longer or smaller after the 45th parallel until the 90th parallel, where the day or the night becomes the shortest. There, in some seasons, a day of six month-length is lived, and in winter, this day is followed by a night of again six month-length.

In this day of six month-length, is a daily prayer performed? Or are the hours of this long day allotted to days, and is it thought as if a night passes each 24 hours and are the prayers arranged according to this clock?

— Different answers are given to this question. We will give a summary of these answers:

—In the days and nights that continually shorten and lengthen the more nearer we get to the poles, the times of prayer are decided. This deciding clarifies the situation and makes it healthy.

— The deciding comes from the hadith. This is the statement of our Prophet. When the Messenger of God, upon him be peace, informed about the Dajjal who would emerge in the place where the days are not very long, he said: One day of Dajjal will be as long as your one year. His later days will shorten the more he comes nearer. Thereupon, he was asked:

— O Messenger of God, in the day that you inform will be as long as our one year, how will the prayers be performed?

He answered: — by deciding! In other words, by deciding and reckoning the hours of the long days. (Muslim, Kitabul-Fiten ve Eshrâtus-Sâat, 20)

— How will it be decided and reckoned?

— It will be decided and reckoned by the calendar and clock of the nearest country with normal time.

Therefore, the word by deciding that is informed by the Messenger solves our problem. Thus, the person who performs his five times daily prayers by arranging them according to the nearest country with normal time attains peace and saves himself from falling into an error.

Here is another question to be answered:

— In some seasons just as the night starts, the dawn breaks soon thereafter, thus there is no time of the Iysha Prayer-the Night Prayer. In such short nights, how will we perform our prayers?

The answer is as follows:

— In the beginning of such short nights, firstly the Evening Prayer starts. When it is performed, if there is time left, the Night Prayer starts immediately. When it is also finished, the Morning Prayer starts right away. The prayers of the short night are performed by adding them to one another. The remaining prayers are performed by deciding.

Furthermore, today Muslims live in the countries with normal time. There is no Muslim country in such places with abnormal time. As there is not, we have no such vital problem.

About this matter, Prof. Hamidullah says in his book İslâm'a Giriş":

— Scholars of Islamic religion and justice as a majority explain that the hours (time) in the 45th parallel are applicable in the 90th parallel, i.e. in the poles. In the regions between the 45th parallel and 90th, it is judged according to the hour, not to the sun. This is the same for fasting etc, too.

In the work "Kaynaklarıyla İslâm Hukuku" which comprehensively deals with this issue, the ultimate judgment is given as follows:

— In the countries where the night and day each continue for six months, the prayers and fasting are carried out by applying the clocks of the nearest countries-those in the 45th parallel- with normal time zone, i.e. which have daytime and night.

The duty of Hajj-Pilgrimage is not dependent of any countrys decision. The calendar of Saudi Arabia is essential. The day they declare, pilgrims go to Arafat and to Muzdalifah, and again the day they declare, the Kabah is circumambulated. In this matter, a country with normal time zone and another with abnormal are equal. All of them perform the duty of Hajj according to the calendar of the country, which pays service to the sacred region.