Research output
Complete citation
Poljarević, Emin. “Ramadan in Scandinavia.” Islamic Horizons 46, no. 3 (May–June 2017).
Status
Published
Publication type
Public scholarship / commentary
Overview
This short article considers how Muslims observe Ramadan in Scandinavia, where long summer days create distinctive practical and interpretive challenges. It asks how communities preserve the religious aims of fasting while navigating unusually extended daylight, minority conditions, work and school routines, and differing legal opinions about prayer and fasting times. The article presents Ramadan not merely as an individual test of endurance but as a shared practice through which Muslims negotiate devotion, community, and belonging in a northern European setting. It draws attention to the diversity of responses among scholars and local communities while keeping the ethical purposes of fasting—discipline, solidarity, worship, and attentiveness to others—at the centre. Its contribution is to make visible the interaction between Islamic normativity and lived religious practice: established obligations are neither abandoned nor mechanically applied, but interpreted within concrete environmental and social circumstances.
Research question or central concern
How do Muslims in Scandinavia interpret and practise Ramadan under exceptionally long summer daylight and minority social conditions?
Main argument, approach, and contribution
The article argues that Scandinavian Ramadan practices reveal a productive interaction between Islamic normativity and lived circumstances. It combines attention to legal interpretation, communal practice, and the ethical purposes of fasting.
Keywords
Ramadan; Scandinavia; fasting; lived Islam; Islamic law; Muslim minorities; religious practice
Emin Poljarević 