La ikkra fid-deen

It is clearly and unambiguously ordained that there is no hardship in practicing deen.  La ikkra fid-deen. Somehow I cannot reconcile to it when I see the month of Ramzan falling in the hot months of June & July when the daily fast is 16 to 17 hours long and the mercury touches 50 degrees plus in some parts of the world like Sibi, Jackobabad, Cholistan and Thar deserts, Multan, Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan, Rajisthan & Bikaneer, Libya and Sahara, Moroco, Sudan and parts of Saudi Arabia etc.etc. Is it humanly possible for a labourer to toil in the scorching heat and observe the fast also, and that too not for a day, or a week but continually for a full month?!  Please sentiments apart, give it a real thought.  Is it not (real) hard to observe fasting under such conditions? But the Almighty Allah (swt) says there is no hardship for you in practicing your deen !! Okay, even if one forces it upon himself to fast for the full thirty days under suc h intense conditions, is he not likely to suffer some dehydration which could affect adversely his health in the long run? Does our Maker want us to endanger our health in any way?  There is something amiss somewhere and our religious scholars must research this aspect, especially when all the important events of ALL other religions fall exactly at the same time of the year. I think we may find an answer to it if we try to explore about the luni-solar calendar followed by the early Muslims and the Holy Prophet (SWAW) himself before the introduction of the Hijri calendar which is purely lunar.  The same luni-solar calendar is followed even today by the Jews and their Yom e Kapoor and all other important events always fall on the same dates of the year. With that calendar (Luni-solar) Yom ul Fitr – Shawwal 1^st, would always fall around 21 March (equinox – equal day and night and most pleasant season) and the month of Ramazan start a month befor e it; that is approximately from February 20^th.  Could there be a better period of the year than February March to observe the fasts?  Would it not just fit exactly into La ikkra fid-deen?!

Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)