Does the dawn-to-sunset fasting rule expose a legislator who only knew Arabian daylight, since it becomes impossible at high latitudes?

The high-latitude objection identifies a real practical question, but it does not expose ignorance about the earth. The Quran gives a rule for the normal observable cycle of dawn and night, while Islamic law also recognizes cases in which that cycle is severely prolonged or does not occur.

Why the objection seems powerful

The argument is straightforward: the Quran says to eat and drink until dawn, then complete the fast until nightfall. In Norway or Iceland, however, the daylight may last twenty or more hours, and in polar summer the sun may not set at all. If Muslims then use Mecca's timetable or another city's schedule, the critic says they have abandoned the alleged literal rule. That can seem like evidence that the law was shaped around Arabian conditions rather than revealed by the Creator of every region.

What the verse actually establishes

"Eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread of night. Then complete the fast until nightfall."

Quran 2:187

The verse describes the two signs that define the daily fast: the arrival of dawn and the arrival of night. It does not say that every location on earth must have an identical number of fasting hours. In places where these signs occur, the basic rule remains: fast from actual dawn until actual night. A very long fast is difficult, but difficulty by itself does not make a rule impossible. Muslims in northern countries commonly observe such fasts, while those whose health would be harmed may use the established exemption for illness and make up the fast later.

In the exceptional case where sunset or dawn does not occur within a normal twenty-four-hour day, the literal signs cannot be applied directly. This is not unique to fasting. Prayer times also depend on dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset, and night; the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) addressed an extraordinary day in which normal time proportions were absent:

"Estimate its measure."

Sahih Muslim, in the hadith concerning the Dajjal's unusually long day

Classical and modern jurists therefore discuss estimation for extreme latitudes, using the nearest place with a normal cycle, Mecca or Medina, or a proportional calculation. These are methods for applying a command when its ordinary physical signs are absent, not a claim that the Quran secretly meant one Arabian timetable for everyone. Scholars differ over the precise method, but the underlying principle is well established.

What this argument does and does not prove

The objection shows that applying a universal rule in unusual astronomical conditions requires jurisprudential judgment. It does not show that the rule works only in Arabia, nor that long fasting is automatically impossible. Nor does it establish ignorance: a legislator can give a sign-based rule while leaving exceptional cases to reasoned application, just as laws generally do when their normal conditions disappear.

The Quran itself frames fasting as worship joined to capacity and ease: "Allah intends ease for you and does not intend hardship for you" (Quran 2:185). The latitude problem is therefore a real legal question, but it is not a contradiction in the revelation.