Ramadhan in New Zealand

Ramadhan 1420 AH (1999-2000) will by my fourth fasting month. Ramadhan currently falls in the New Zealand summer (the Islamic calendar is based on a lunar month, and is slightly shorter than the Gregorian year - thus, every year, Ramadhan moves back about 10 or so days).

The New Zealand summer consists of very long days, and currently we are fasting (from food, water, sexual activity) from about 3:30am each morning (first light) until about 9:30pm (sunset). Tarawih prayer here starts after Isha at 11pm, and finishes up at about midnight. Thus it is a tiring month for all of us, but alhumdulillah it is not too hard.

Temperatures in New Zealand are not as high as in other countries like Singapore, Malaysia, and in the middle east. We rarely reach 30 degrees or more, and at times have very cool conditions.

In Dunedin we currently have a family ifthar gathering every Saturday evening, and there are various Islamic programmes run during the month. Although there is masjid or Islamic centre currently here, we make do with a small hall that we pay for access to.