Re: Moslems in the arctic (was: Metric Time (was Re: Why not 13 months? (Was La Systeme Metrique))
Joel Rubin (jmrubin@ix.netcom.com)
14 Oct 1995 16:09:40 GMT
In article <45omh3$6il@ixnews7.ix.netcom.com>, taibi@ix.netcom.com says...
>
>In <45olcf$s78@ixnews4.ix.netcom.com> jmrubin@ix.netcom.com (Joel
>Rubin) writes:
>>
>>Actually, some calendars DO have 13 months sometimes. The Jewish,
>Chinese and
>>Moslem calendars are all based on lunar months. But 12 lunar months is
>about
>>11 days short on a year. The Moslems don't do anything (probably
>because they
>>started out as desert nomads) and, as a result, Ramadan is not in the
>same
>>season in different years.
>>
>During Ramadan, Moslems must fast during the day but may eat
>at night. This must be pretty rough on Moslems near the arctic
>circle when Ramadan happens to fall in mid-summer.
>--
>S. Taibi
I should assume that if it ever came up, as with most religious codes of laws,
they would find some way around it. After all, surely suicide is a worse sin
under Islam than breaking a fast. (It is illegal under Jewish law to risk
one's life by fasting on Yom Kippur.)
I once read that the Iranian Shi'ites have some sort of temporary marriage for
young people in lust. (I'll let someone who knows what he's talking about
confirm or deny or explain that.) A Catholic who has been married for twenty
years somehow manages to get an annulment as if the marriage never existed.
Make a strict enough law and people will find the loopholes. (In the case of
religious laws, it seems to be the religious authorities who find the
loopholes!)
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