If the duration of the night is five hours, for example, in a country like Sweden

The questioner : A brother asks and says: The period from the setting of the sun until the appearance of the dawn is about five hours in a foreign country like Sweden. How, O my Shaykh, are the timings for fasting in this country?

The Shaykh : Excuse me, five hours, what? The day?

The questioner : The night.

The Shaykh : The night?

The questioner : Yes, from the setting of the sun until the appearance of the dawn and the twilight.

The Shaykh : Okay; the matter is easy. First: it is obligatory to look at that country to see if there is a setting of the sun, as it appears? The answer is: Yes. Okay; is there an appearance of the red twilight? I do not know. If there is a twilight that appears in that country, then the ruling does not differ from any other country where the night is longer than five hours. The important thing is that the time is timed by the setting of the sun for Maghrib, and by the setting of the red twilight for Isha. So, there is no problem in this matter, if Allah wills.
Abu Malik: Our Shaykh... the prayer, the mixing of the two times, the setting with the rising, the setting of the sun with the appearance of the dawn. Here is the problem; because in many countries... the red twilight does not disappear until the dawn appears.

The questioner : ... This is exactly what is intended.

The Shaykh : This is what is intended, good; but the question is not clear.

The questioner : ... I do not know.

The Shaykh : This is what is intended, I mean, okay.
Abu Malik: This actually happened to me, I mean it actually happened to me; I was on a plane and I wanted to pray Maghrib. Then I looked from the plane and the sunset appeared, so I said: I will combine the two prayers. And if the sun is rising, and the twilight is still visible.

The Shaykh : You mean the twilight remains visible for five hours?
Abu Malik: I do not know, it could be five, it could be less.

The Shaykh : Approximately, I mean?

Another questioner : ... Two hours.
Abu Malik: It could be less than this, yes.

Another questioner : In places, at a specific time of the year, the night and day connect and both are one.

The Shaykh : Yes, this is a well-known hadith in "Sahih" that says that when the Dajjal comes out, the length of one of his first days will be the length of a year, and his second day the length of a month, and the third a week, and the rest of his days like your days. So they asked him: What is the situation of the prayers at that time? He said: . So, the problem, if we assume as we also hear, and it was mentioned earlier that in some countries the sun remains up for months, I mean, and likewise the night, it is estimated, and that is by looking at the nearest neighboring countries to that country where the sun or the night remains, and which have night and day; at that time it is estimated, I mean, for example, how long does the time of sunset, the setting of the sun, last until the red twilight appears in the nearest town? Let us assume, for example, one hour or two hours or less. On that basis, the people of the country where the day is long for months, or the night is many months, deal with it, and so on; so the matter is easy, it returns to the estimation of the people of the country living in it by analogy to the neighboring countries.
Abu Malik: Here now, it also appeared.

The Shaykh : Excuse me, yes?

Another questioner : ... Four hours.

The Shaykh : Ah, do you want it regarding fasting?

Another questioner : Yes, common people there...

The Shaykh : Okay; if the speech was understood regarding prayer, likewise regarding fasting; I mean, regarding the countries where the rising of the sun continues so they do not see a night, or the opposite, the fasting is estimated regarding the nearby countries themselves. But in a case that can be treated, or rather must be treated; and that is that it may be that the day is clear and the night is distinct in one of those countries you are asking about; with the large difference between the length of the night and the length of the day, it may be, for example, let us assume with exaggeration or without exaggeration, that the day is twenty hours, like this you want the topic.

Another questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Good; and the night is four hours; so do they fast twenty hours? The answer: As long as they see the dawn and they see the setting of the sun, they must fast, even if the hours are many and reach twenty or close to that. But it is not hidden that any legal ruling is only within the limits of: . So, whoever is able to fast in those countries for twenty hours, as long as the day after the appearance of the dawn reaches these hours; he must fast. And in my belief, the matter there is easy; because the difficulty is only imagined regarding the hot countries where the fasting person is exposed to drinking water. As for the cold countries, the long fasting for these many hours is not difficult as I imagine the topic. Nevertheless, we establish the rule: whoever cannot fast, his ruling is one of two things; either we attach him to the old, dying Shaykh who cannot fast even in moderate countries, so he expiates for every day by feeding a poor person, or he can utilize the time when the long day turns into a short day, so fasting becomes easy for him, so he makes up what he missed of fasting at that time; his case in that is like the case of the sick person whose recovery is expected, and not the sick person whose recovery is hopeless. The sick person whose recovery is hopeless is attached to the incapable, dying Shaykh, so he expiates for every day by feeding a poor person. As for the sick person whose recovery is expected, he is as He, the Exalted, said: . So, these people who live in that long day, and in Ramadan, some of them are able and some are not able to fast in its proper time. The one who is not able to fast in its proper time fasts as a make-up if he is able, otherwise his ruling is the ruling of the incapable who expiates for every day by feeding a poor person.
Perhaps the answer became clear - also - regarding fasting?

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And to you.
Yes.