Fasting Alone in the Arctic Circle
In northern Norway, the sun doesn’t set in summer. Ramadan tested my body and my creativity.
How do you fast when the sun doesn’t set? In Tromsø, above the Arctic Circle, midsummer means 24 hours of daylight. My first Ramadan as a new Muslim coincided with the midnight sun.
I chose 18-hour fasts following Makkah times. Still brutal. Still beautiful.
I broke my fast alone every night with the sky a pale gold that never darkened. There’s something surreal about making du’a at 1am in broad daylight.
By the end of Ramadan, three coworkers said, ‘I could never do that, but I respect anyone who can.’ In Norway, that’s practically a standing ovation.