When to Stop Eating: Determining Times of Fajr and Imsak

The following essay is an attempt to clarify the issue of al-fajr al-sadiq (the true dawn) and the cut-off point for suhur (the pre-dawn meal), in light of the Qur’an, the authentic traditions, and the sound practices of the companions, their successors, and the venerable imams and scholars.

Shari`ah, as it has been articulated by eminent jurists, has the sole objective of catering to the welfare of people in both worlds.

Consequently, practicality, balance, ease, and removal of hardship are all valid principles that have always been used as the criteria for providing rulings for people, according to changing times and circumstances.

The Qur’an and the Prophetic Sunnah have reiterated this principle throughout. Allah says what means,

{Allah intends to bring for you ease; and He does not wish to make things hard upon you.} (Al-Baqarah 2:185) and

{He did not appoint for you any hardship in this religion: the way of your ancestor Ibrahim} (Al-Hajj 22:78).

Additionally, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is known to have said:

“I have been sent to teach the simple, natural way (of Ibrahim).“;

“This religion is easy and simple to follow; whoever wrestle with it (i.e., makes it hard overburden himself with difficult duties) will end up defeated.” (An-Nasa’i);

“Make things easy for people; do not make things hard for them. Give them glad tidings, and don’t turn them away from religion (by making it hard on them)” (Bukhari)

`A’ishah, the beloved wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), tells us about the Prophet, when left to choose between two viable options, he would always choose the easier of the two, as long as it was not sinful; for if it had been sinful, he would be the farthest from it. (Bukhari, Muslim and others).

This spirit of ease, comfort, and removal of hardship, was the basis for how the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions practiced and applied Islamic principles.

While stressing ease and comfort, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also warned against rigidity and hair-splitting in religion. In this regard, he is reported to have said:

“Woe to those who are rigid.” (Muslim);

“Abstain from what I had forbidden, and fulfill the duties I had enjoined as best as you can (shunning rigidity) for the nations before you perished because of their excessive questioning and  disagreeing with their Prophets.” (Muslim)

Time of Fajr According to Arabic Linguists

Before elaborating on this issue further, let us look at the meaning of the word fajr as used in the Arabic language: “Fajr means the light of the morning; because it is the cleaving of darkness from before the light: i.e. the redness of the sun in the darkness of the night; the fajr in the end of the night is like the shafaq in the beginning. It is twofold: the first is called al-fajr al-kadhib (the false dawn);  that which rises without extending laterally, which appears black, presenting itself like an obstacle (on the horizon); the second is called al-fajr al-sadiq (the true dawn); which is the rising and spreading (dawn) which appears to rise and fills the horizon with its whiteness, and this is what is called ‘amud as-ssubh; rising after the former has disappeared, and by its rising the day commences, and everything by which fasting would be broken becomes unlawful to the faster..”

Time of Fajr According to Qur’anic Commentators

Now it is pertinent to ask the question, which of the three definitions of dawn should be the criterion to determine the beginning of imsak (beginning of fasting)  and the Fajr Prayer. This can be answered by a perusal of the Islamic sources.

In examining the various authentic commentaries of the Qur’an on the definition of the verse we have referred to above, we find that all of them indicate that fajr starts when we can be assured by means of our naked eyes of its arrival in no uncertain terms (the word used in the verse is yatabayyana).

The commentaries refer to various traditions and precedents of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the companions to clearly distinguish the false dawn from the true dawn. Whereas the false dawn is described as being deceptive in that it appears like dawn but does not dissipate the darkness, the true dawn is what is described as dispelling darkness gradually. Therefore, explaining the words, yatabayyana, Ibn Jarir cites the following statement,

“The proper way to describe this state is to say that the glow of dawn should be so wide-spread in the sky in such a way that the whiteness and light emanating from it should fill the streets.”

Therefore, it is said, “Whoever has any doubt whether the dawn has arrived or not, he or she may eat until they are certain that Fajr has indeed arrived.”

The criterion for determining true dawn is the certainty of its arrival beyond a shadow of doubt.

Time of Fajr According to the Sunnah of the Prophet and His Companions

It is no wonder then that we find the companions demonstrated remarkable latitude when it came to imsak, by postponing suhur and eating it until such time that it was plainly clear to them that the true dawn had arrived. In short, rather than erring on the side of abstention from foods, they chose to err on the side of consumption. The traditions, in support of this, are numerous:

– Hudhayfah states that Abu Bakr As-Siddiq and I were on a roof during Ramadhan and I came to him, asking,

“Won’t you eat (suhur), O the Caliph of the Messenger of Allah?”

He said, “Not yet”; I came again, and he repeated the same answer; when I came a third time, he looked at dawn, and told me, again, not yet. Then, after a while, I came, again, asking the same question, and he said, “Yes, now let us have our meal (i.e. suhur). Soon after, he prayed two rak’ahs, and stood up to pray fardh (in congregation).

– Hammad b. Salamah reports from Asim from Zirr b. Hubaysh,

“I had my suhur. Then I went to the mosque (to pray Fajr). On my way, I stopped by Hudhayfah (the Prophet’s companion). He brought a camel to be milked; then the milk was warmed up… and he told me to partake of suhur with him.

I told him, But, I intend to fast!’,

he said, ‘I also intend to fast’;

so we both ate and drank. Soon after, we went to the mosque and the iqamah was given. Hudhayfah told me, ‘The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had done the same thing with me.’

I asked him. ‘Did he have suhur after the daybreak?

He said, yes, it was the daybreak, but the sun had not appeared yet.’”

– Zirr b. Hubaysh asked Hudhyfah: “When did the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to have his suhur?” He said, “During the daybreak, but the sun did not appear in the sky yet!”

– Zirr reports, again, that Hudhayfah said, “The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to eat suhur when you could see where an arrow would fall-if you were to shoot it.”

– Anas said, “I saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) having suhur with Zayd b. Thabith (while he was intending to fast).  Having done so, he prayed two rak’ahs and headed to the mosque where the iqamah was already given.”

– Al-Hasan Al–Basari said, “`Umar b. Al–Khattab used to say: If two people doubt about the arrival of dawn, let them eat until they can ascertain that the dawn has arrived.”

Views of the Eminent Imams on the Time of Fajr & Imsak

The various Imams’ views on this issue include the following:

Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal said, “If one has any doubt in his mind about whether fajrhas arrived, he may eat until he is certain of its arrival.”

Imam Nawawi states, “Imam Ash-Shafi`i’s followers are unanimous on the fact that it is permissible for anyone who doubts the arrival of dawn to eat until he is certain of its arrival. The evidence for this is that Allah has allowed for us to eat and drink until the arrival of dawn; the one who doubts the Fajr is not certain of its arrival.”

And Imam Ibn Kathir writes in his famous tafsir: “Leniency and flexibility with regard to partaking of suhur has been reported from a great number of pious predecessors. It has been reported from Abu Bakr, `Umar, `Ali, Ibn Mas`ud, Hudhayh, Abu Huryah, Ibn `Umar, Ibn `Abbas, Zayd ibn Thabit and a considerable number of successors, including Muhammad ibn `Ali, Al–Husayn, …Ibrahim An-Nakha`i, ….`Ataa’, Hasan, ..Mujahid, `Urwah b. Az–Zubayr, etc.” This is the reason why Ibn Hajar, the great authority on Hadith and fiqh, denounced those who laid unnecessary restrictions in regard to partaking of suhur:

Among the reprehensible innovations of our times is the practice of calling the second adhan of fajr quarter hour earlier in Ramadhan and putting off the lights signaling that the one fasting should stop eating-under the false pretext that they would like to exercise caution in the practice of the acts of worship…Such an unwarranted caution has also led them to delay the adhan of magrib for some time. In this way, they end up delaying iftar (breaking the fast) and advancing the suhur and thus violate the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). No wonder then you find them bereft of virtue and rampant in corruption.

Conclusion

In light of the above incontrovertible evidence, it should be rather easy for us to conclude that relying on astronomical dawn to determine the time of imsak is unwarranted, and that we cannot go wrong if we consider the nautical dawn, if not the civil dawn, as the starting time of imsak and beginning of fajr. Furthermore, there is no basis for compelling people to start the imsak way before fajr, for, as it has been clearly demonstrated, the companions were in the habit of standing up for fajr soon after finishing their suhur.

Furthermore, it has been clearly demonstrated from the Sunnah and the practices of the pious generations that the time of imsak and fajr is not determined by minutes, seconds, or degrees, but by sufficient latitude, ease, and flexibility. Hence, there is no compelling reason for us to insist on the astronomical definition of dawn.

Still another point to note: When we consider the above statements and reports carefully, it is clear that their approach to the issue unravels another fundamental principle of jurisprudence.  This has been often phrased as “That which is certain cannot be removed by doubts.” When we apply this principle to the issue at hand, since the night precedes dawn, that is a certainty, as such, it cannot be ruled out until we can clearly determine that the dawn has arrived.

Closely allied with the above is the importance of taking into account our own times and circumstances. No one can doubt we are living at a time where Muslims are showing increasing complacency and are slipping away from the practice of Islam. Moreover, since the day hours are excessively long, such rigidity when determining imsak can be viewed as only dampening one’s spirit about fasting.

We saw all of the above leniency and latitude as pointed out above were demonstrated in standard time zones like those of Makkah and Madinah. So one might legitimately ask: By applying a far more stricter rule in calculating the time ofimsak, are we trying to prove to be more pious than the Prophet’s companions and successors, and end up causing greater and greater hardship for people, who reside in less than standard time zones?

In this regard, therefore, let us recognize that the juristic traditions in all of the acceptable schools of jurisprudence have taken into account the circumstances of people and countries, for they knew too well that Shari`ah is based on tangible maqasid (higher purposes) and masalih (benefits). They also understood that the function of an `alim (scholar) is to render ease where there is difficulty. Long ago, Imam Sufyan Ath-Thawri said, “A true scholar is one who finds (based on sound principles) an easier way for people, because as far as making things difficult is concerned, one need not have any knowledge to do that!”

It is perhaps pertinent to mention here that, according to one of the great jurists of the Hanafi school of the twentieth century, the late Shaikh Mustafa Az-Zarqa, Muslims living in time zones where daylight hours are unusually long may base their times for imsak and iftar on the regular timetables followed in Makkah and Madinah.

If this is the inference of an eminent Hanafi jurist, coming as he is from a long lineage of authentic representatives of the Hanafi school, how can we be faulted for going by a time-table which calculates the Fajr in a slightly flexible manner?

As a final word, it would be wise to remind ourselves of the dire warning of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), “There are among you those who simply drive people away from Islam.” (Bukhari and Muslim).

I pray to Allah to guide us to the straight path, make us instruments of guidance and gather us all under the banner of the seal of prophets and messengers.