What is your opinion of those who say that the calendar precedes the dawn by about a quarter of an hour?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you. This questioner says: One of the students of knowledge said that he went out to observe the appearance of the dawn, and he found that the calendar precedes the appearance of the dawn by about a quarter of an hour. So what is your guidance? May Allah reward you.
Answer:
This is incorrect, and this is casting doubt, casting doubt in acts of worship. This is not the concern of these people; this is the concern of the scholars and the authorities. The calendar, praise be to Allah, is a regulated calendar, and there are specialized committees that monitor it and scrutinize it. We have not found any error in it, except if they mean by the appearance of the dawn the full lightening of the sky, meaning the sky becomes fully light and you can see far away. That is not the appearance of the dawn; that is called the full lightening (isfar). As for the appearance of the dawn, the second dawn, which is the horizontal whiteness in the horizon, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pray in the darkness (ghulas), meaning in the dark, to the extent that a man did not know his companion, and he would lengthen the prayer.
(peace and blessings be upon him). So when he finished the prayer, the man would know his companion. So he would enter the prayer in the darkness, meaning early in the dark, and he would leave the prayer after the full lightening, to the extent that a man would know his companion.
And we observe that the call to prayer for the dawn is made according to the calendar, and then the imam waits a third of an hour, or most of them wait half an hour, for the prayer to be established. We leave the mosques, and the full lightening is very clear. So if the calendar were early, this would not happen.
So the application indicates that the calendar is accurate, and it is not permissible for these interlopers to speak about matters of religion and matters of worship, confusing people in this matter. Yes.
May Allah reward you. This questioner says: One of the students of knowledge said that he went out to observe the appearance of the dawn, and he found that the calendar precedes the appearance of the dawn by about a quarter of an hour. So what is your guidance? May Allah reward you.
Answer:
This is incorrect, and this is casting doubt, casting doubt in acts of worship. This is not the concern of these people; this is the concern of the scholars and the authorities. The calendar, praise be to Allah, is a regulated calendar, and there are specialized committees that monitor it and scrutinize it. We have not found any error in it, except if they mean by the appearance of the dawn the full lightening of the sky, meaning the sky becomes fully light and you can see far away. That is not the appearance of the dawn; that is called the full lightening (isfar). As for the appearance of the dawn, the second dawn, which is the horizontal whiteness in the horizon, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pray in the darkness (ghulas), meaning in the dark, to the extent that a man did not know his companion, and he would lengthen the prayer.
(peace and blessings be upon him). So when he finished the prayer, the man would know his companion. So he would enter the prayer in the darkness, meaning early in the dark, and he would leave the prayer after the full lightening, to the extent that a man would know his companion.
And we observe that the call to prayer for the dawn is made according to the calendar, and then the imam waits a third of an hour, or most of them wait half an hour, for the prayer to be established. We leave the mosques, and the full lightening is very clear. So if the calendar were early, this would not happen.
So the application indicates that the calendar is accurate, and it is not permissible for these interlopers to speak about matters of religion and matters of worship, confusing people in this matter. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 10 - 55 ما رأيكم فيمن يقول أن التقويم يسبق الفجر بنحو ربع ساعة؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.