The problem with Ramadan

[WinterHold]

How?

I think fasting for 20 hours or so is the exact example of "hardship".
And the verse even said "So whoever among you is ill or on a journey".

And a small cultural lesson; ancient Arabs traveled all year long, and literally lived most of their days on the road.

Nomadic lives, sure. Having a woman not eat or hydrate for some cockamamie reason like religion, causing harm to the child developing in her womb is inexcusable, anywhere on the planet. Or the universe, for that matter. How about your religion takes a fetus into account as "being on a journey", and allows women the "latitude" to properly nourish her baby. Do you have any understanding as to how this looks to the rest of the world, if your women have to go through this? Do you just accept the occasional damaged children as the status quo? FFS. Might as well go put them out for the wolves, if they are defective. SMH

How, and the region was producing fine fit children, who fought and defeated the Eastern Roman empire, Persia, occupied Spain, occupied India...etc.
That doesn't seem to be a nation of sick people to me. Especially when we consider that so many battles were fought in the month of Ramadan.

Moreover; I think we should care more about the garbage non-believing countries produce and call junk food. Obesity is far more fatal than 12 hours of fasting for a month of the year; maybe if modern humans learned to fast, modern humans would lose a lot muffin-tops and weird looking butts. Saturated fats are more fatal than the cherry-picking you introduce.

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Yeah, but a lunar calender is stupid, it's not fixed. I mean it's not fixed to the seasons or daylight changes.

He (Muhammad) chose the lunar calender because he claimed the solar calender was based on infidels worshipping the sun. So if muslims fasted according to the solar calender they would be sun worshippers which is very wrong (according to them). There's also the fact that muslims can't pray when the sun is at its highest point in the day.

Guess moon worship is ok though lol.

?????

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

This report convinced Umar of the need to introduce an era for Muslims. After debating the issue with his counsellors, he decided that the first year should include the date of Muhammad's arrival at Medina (known as Yathrib, before Muhammad's arrival). Uthman ibn Affan then suggested that the months begin with Muharram, in line with the established custom of the Arabs at that time. The years of the Islamic calendar thus began with the month of Muharram in the year of Muhammad's arrival at the city of Medina, even though the actual emigration took place in Safar and Rabi' I.[1] Because of the Hijra, the calendar was named the Hijra calendar.

Mohammed -Peace be Upon Him- introduced nothing to Muslims regarding date. The Islamic calendar was born long after his death. The second Caliph Umar Ibn Al-Khattab -the same man who fought Persia and Rome together; and won- is the person who introduced the idea of "an era for Muslims".

So; I guess moron quoting of imaginary historical events and contexts is; on the other hand; okay?

[SaStrike]

He has forbidden following the solar calender and praying when the sun is at its peak and when it is setting.

Your point is separate, yes a calender can "start" from where ever. The islamic calender has a start date (BUT STILL FOLLOWS THE MOON). It's like the international calender "starts" from 2018 years ago because of jesus birth. That doesn't mean it isn't following the sun.

[downbeatplumb]

No. In case somebody couldn't handle fasting, let it be for sickness or long time, they should pay charity to the poor instead of fasting.
The Quran said it explicitly:

Sura 2, The Quran:
( 183 )   O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous -
( 184 )   [Fasting for] a limited number of days. So whoever among you is ill or on a journey [during them] - then an equal number of days [are to be made up]. And upon those who are able [to fast, but with hardship] - a ransom [as substitute] of feeding a poor person [each day]. And whoever volunteers excess - it is better for him. But to fast is best for you, if you only knew.

I read that as "fisting" for some reason the first time and it was much more entertaining.

[WinterHold]

He has forbidden following the solar calender and praying when the sun is at its peak and when it is setting.

Your point is separate, yes a calender can "start" from where ever. The islamic calender has a start date (BUT STILL FOLLOWS THE MOON). It's like the international calender "starts" from 2018 years ago because of jesus birth. That doesn't mean it isn't following the sun.

That's the opinion of the Sunni sect, based on Hadith books.
The Quran has nothing about prohibiting the prayer in certain times.

My point has nothing to do with lunar or solar basis of the calendar. My point was that you mentioned that "Prophet Mohammed was the inventor of the calendar"; but it's a wrong statement because the calendar was introduced after the Prophet's death, by the Caliph Umar Ibn Al-Khattab.

[SaStrike]

Yeah my bad, when i said lunar calender it was for lack of a better word. Lunar system which the calender is based?

Anyway, you can't say because there are times (depending on location of the sun) during the day that prayer in islam is forbidden, that this law is due to sunni corruption? Where do you get that? Your own version of islam?

[Brian37]

I've always thought that Ramandan thoroughly proves Islam has human origins. After all, it moves around seasons, which means when it's in the summer, and if you are living in Sweden, or Canada, the fasting requirement becomes impossible.

Now I know that Islamic scholars have said that there are ways around the fasting if you live in one of those places.

That's not the point though, the point is that this is one of the 5 pillars of Islam, not some obscure side rule. It would be inconceivable that an all knowing God would make such an obvious mistake. It's easy to see how a man from the middle East, who had limited knowledge of the world as a whole would make that mistake though.

The meme of abstaining from food is not unique to Islam. 

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

And in addition the idea of the "5 pillars" really are nothing more than the same thing all religions try to sell, the idea that a label constitutes a patent on good through a divine source. Christians and Jews and Hindus and Buddhists ALL have their claims of what to do and how to do it in order to live a good and moral life. 

"The New Atheism" by Victor Stenger makes the comparisons of appeals to "good" as false arguments as to where our behaviors come from. 

There is no patent or cure all in religion. There are only good individuals and bad individuals and our behaviors are in our evolution, not on old mythology.

[CapnAwesome]

Lol, that says NOTHING about the daylight difference. It's not acknowledged at all in the Qur'an because when Muhammad had no idea about it. An almighty God would know, and at the least make his calender set in the spring or fall. Instead of a lunar one, where the season Ramadan is in changes.  People who live in Sweden aren't ill or on a journey. Whoever made up this pillar of Islam obviously had no idea about the daylight difference.

How?

I think fasting for 20 hours or so is the exact example of "hardship".
And the verse even said "So whoever among you is ill or on a journey".

And a small cultural lesson; ancient Arabs traveled all year long, and literally lived most of their days on the road.

Okay, good job at ignoring the obvious error in one of your pillars. Then traveling has had nothing to do with the obvious geographical problem of this pillar.

[WinterHold]

How?

I think fasting for 20 hours or so is the exact example of "hardship".
And the verse even said "So whoever among you is ill or on a journey".

And a small cultural lesson; ancient Arabs traveled all year long, and literally lived most of their days on the road.

Okay, good job at ignoring the obvious error in one of your pillars. Then traveling has had nothing to do with the obvious geographical problem of this pillar.

The key is not "the journey"; but "the hardship":

Sura 2, The Quran:
( 183 )   O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous -
( 184 )   [Fasting for] a limited number of days. So whoever among you is ill or on a journey [during them] - then an equal number of days [are to be made up]. And upon those who are able [to fast, but with hardship] - a ransom [as substitute] of feeding a poor person [each day]. And whoever volunteers excess - it is better for him. But to fast is best for you, if you only knew.

? I even made it bold.
Isn't fasting in Sweden, is hard? you yourself said it's impossible ! I think the error is in you not picking "hardship" as the key, which is quite....cherry picking?

[The Grand Nudger]

Meh, 20hrs without food is just what happens when I forget to eat.  Then, like any good muslim, I gorge.  It's not a hardship..it's a silly taboo.  That's one of the pillars of islam?  What are the others?  Dont step on cracks cuz you'll break mamas back?  Cant Say bloody hamza 3 times into a mirror?  Shit like that? Pass.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

Yeshua said that people should fast. Of course since he was a glutton he was on the fat side.