If a Muslim is eating when the Fajr adhan is called, what is the ruling on his fast? Does he have to make it up?

Eid Abbasi: If a Muslim is eating and the Fajr adhan is called; what is the ruling on his fast? Does he have to make it up...?

The Shaykh: The Qur'anic text is explicit in this matter; namely His saying - the Exalted - : , so the verse is explicit in permitting the one who is eating the pre-dawn meal to continue with his food and drink until the dawn becomes clear; that is: until he is certain of the rising of the true dawn. And this verse came for a wisdom, for which our Lord - Mighty and Majestic - said in it: ; because clarifying a thing is being certain of it. And the reality is that there are many questions regarding the fact that the mu'adhdhins in these lands call the adhan with the rising of the true dawn. We were in 'Umrah in this Ramadan in Makkah and Madinah, and we saw them delay the adhan of the true dawn by about half an hour. And we do not know of a difference in terms of longitude lines that leads to this difference between their dawn and our dawn.
And this last observation of ours there reminded us of what we hear from our cultured, knowledgeable brothers in Jordan, that they assert there that the adhan in Jordan - generally, not just in Ramadan - is called before the true dawn by about a third of an hour. Then some of these Jordanian brothers of ours came here and contacted some of our brothers, and they also observed the rising of the dawn here in Damascus specifically. So it appeared to them - and I do not say it became clear; because I have not yet become clear on what appeared to them - ; so it appeared to them that the matter here is like the matter there.
And therefore it was in my mind that we hold a special session with some of our brothers and discuss this issue for us here in Damascus; that is: do they call the second adhan - and not the first adhan - ; do they call the second adhan by which food becomes forbidden and prayer becomes permissible in the time completely, or do they advance it before the time as they do in the innovation of the first adhan? Since they call it the adhan of imsak, and it is in reality, from the Shari'ah perspective, the adhan of food and drink, not the adhan of imsak. So they call it the adhan of imsak, and it was even recorded in what they call the "imsakiyyah," so it became obligatory for every fasting person to abstain from his food and drink as soon as he heard the first adhan, which is Shari'ah-wise the adhan of food and drink; by proof of the hadith of al-Bukhari and Muslim from a group of the Companions that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . So he (peace be upon him) ordered the adhan of food and drink that a person should continue in it even after the adhan of Bilal; because Bilal says he calls the adhan so that the sleeper wakes up and the one eating the pre-dawn meal eats his pre-dawn meal. So the first adhan is for the purpose of alerting that now is the time of food and drink; he (peace be upon him) said: .
And it came in this hadith that the time between their two adhans was the amount of reciting fifty verses; that is: that the time between the two adhans is a very short time, and it is not - also - this distance that takes about a quarter of an hour today between the so-called adhan of imsak and the adhan of Fajr. Therefore, it is possible that some of the timekeepers who set this astronomical timing; perhaps - also - they observed a second precaution other than the precaution of the adhan of imsak; they observed a second precaution in timing the second adhan, so they advanced it so that the true dawn does not enter, in their claim. And some people are still eating and then break their fast. And if this is the reality, this indicates great ignorance; because there are two matters, each of which is worship and obedience. Just as it is not permissible for the one eating the pre-dawn meal to continue in food and drink until the entry of the true dawn; likewise it is not permissible for a person to pray before the true dawn; because each of them is worship.
So the summary: this second adhan, in reality, one must verify that it is called in the time. And we have very many doubts about the matters we mentioned. And with that, there is a leeway and an explicit dispensation in the authentic hadith. So if we assume that this second adhan is called by the mu'adhdhins in the correct time of the true dawn, this noble dispensation comes; where he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . meaning the second one. As for the first one: . As for the second adhan, you take your need, . So in this is a dispensation that the fasting person continues in food until he takes his need. It does not make it a pastime; it does not return - for example - to snack or crack seeds - for example - on the pretext that he is until he takes his need from it; no, this is not from what he has a need for, this is from the category of pastime; so the hadith is explicit: which he eats and drinks from; .

Eid Abbasi : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : Last question.

Eid Abbasi: All right.