Süleymaniye Foundation  

Religion and Creation’s Dispositions Centre  has sent a

commitee to Norway to research the conditions of five prayer times.

The Centre has sent a group of scientist to the city of Tromso in Norway in the Northern Polar
Circle to observe the “Prayer Times in Polar Zones” onsite. Istanbul University Department of
Astronomy Sciences proffessor Dr. Adnan ÖKTEN attended the observations of Süleymaniye
Foundation President Prof. Dr. Abdülaziz BAYINDIR,  Dr. Servet BAYINDIR and the
technical commitee as consultant. The commitee made observations at the location for two
days and calculated the exact times of prayers in the light of obtained scientific data. It is
proved that times of five daily prayers can be determined clearly. All the work of the
commitee has been recorded in order that the rest of the scientific calculations be completed.

The scientific work carried out in Tromso has been announced at a press conference held at
Süleymaniye Foundation Religion and Creation’s Dispositions Centre. Prof. Dr.
Abdülaziz BAYINDIR, Dr. Servet BAYINDIR and Prof. Dr. Adnan ÖKTEN from the
commitee have also joined the conference.

Prof. Dr. Abdülaziz BAYINDIR has stressed that the prayer times in the polar zones is one of
the most argued subjects, especially over internet and that they have been to Tromso as a
commitee, which is one of the northest civilization locations where the sun does not rise.

Abdülaziz BAYINDIR announced that they have been to Tromso to be able to observe how
prayer times can be determined at locations where the sun does not rise. He also added : “Five
of all the five prayer times are determined according to the same conditions as in Turkey, with
small difference that the sun does not rise in the morning and does not set in the evening.”

RESULTS MATCH THE VERSES OF QUR’AN EXACTLY

BAYINDIR stated that sunrise and sunset cannot be observed within deep valleys, either: “At
such places, determination of sunrise is based on observation of sunlight at the western
horizon. When we see the illumination start at the western horizon, we say ‘the sun has
risen’. We have observed this criterion in Tromso. The sun not appearing in Tromso is just
like the sun remaining hidden behind a mountain in Turkey or somewhere else.”

BAYINDIR explained their observations with examples from Qur’an: “We have been to
Tromso for observation as the first commitee consisting of Islamic, astronomic and technical
experts. The most overwhelming aspect of these observations is that the results match the
verses in Qur’an perfectly.”

BAYINDIR reported that there were around 800 Muslims in Tromso some of which were
locals. The commitee asked: “Which criteria do you take for prayer times?”, and got replied:
“We are told that prayer time conditions are not met here, so we respect the conditions of
Mecca.” BAYINDIR also reported that they had informed the Muslims in Tromso of the
prayer time conditions being met in Tromso, which had startled all the Muslims in there.

Istanbul University Lecturer Prof. Dr. Adnan ÖKTEN reported that they had decided on the
observation location as Tromso after careful investigation and that this research should be
taken from two aspects, first the religious, second the scientific.
ÖKTEN told: “Religious conditions were set by Süleymaniye Foundation researchers and I
checked whether these conditions were met astronomically. I determined where the sun was
located at the moment when the condition set by the commitee was met. If a calendar is to be
prepared in the following days, after doing further observations, we can apply the same rules
for everywhere on earth.”

RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS USES WRONG CRITERIA

Prof. Dr. Abdülaziz BAYINDIR replied the questions after the press conference. Journalists
asked about the prayer times which The Presidency of Religious Affairs calculated for
Tromso. BAYINDIR replied that they had not compared the calculated times until then. He
also claimed that Diyanet used wrong criteria to calculate the prayer times and added: “We
are going to carry on our observations and the calendar is going to be prepared thereafter. I
have made observations together with The Presidency of Religious Affairs of Turkey for three
years. I also insisted then, that the criteria were wrong. Not only Religious Affairs but also all
other institutions take those wrong criteria as basis. We need to have our work completed to
be able to tell how many hours of divergence exactly exists.”

CIHAN MEDIA SERVICES

Translator: Zeynep DÖNMEZ