Discussion of the harms of astronomical timekeeping and the resulting discrepancies in the times for fasting and prayer.

The Shaykh : Now we wish to draw the attention of our guest brothers, who may have noticed that we broke our fast with dates and then drink before hearing the adhan. Every Muslim must know when it is permissible to break the fast according to the Shari'ah. There is a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in which he said: and he pointed to the east and he pointed to the west . Thus, every land has its night and its day, its rising and its setting. Therefore, it is among the miraculous nature of the Qur'an that it referred to this reality sometimes by saying: meaning the setting and rising of summer and the setting and rising of winter. But between this summer rising and the winter rising, there are settings, because the sun moves every day as is observed. So, Blessed and Exalted is He, also referred to this reality when He said: There He said: and here He said: . These are cosmic realities; our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, arranged the universe with this rising and setting in multiple regions. The point is that Oman, as you see, has mountains, valleys, and plains, though these plains are few. The adhan you hear today from the radio is not based on the Shari'ah time, but on the astronomical time. This is because the Shari'ah time takes into account the direction from which the true dawn appears or from which the sun rises, as well as the direction in which the sun sets. We have observed that the astronomical adhan, or let us say the radio adhan, does not consider the Shari'ah rising points at all; rather, it follows the astronomical calendar, if that is the correct term. In many places, we see the sun has set and the day has passed with its setting, and night has come from the east, yet people do not break their fast; they wait to hear the adhan. The adhan is delayed by ten minutes for many of the mountains, and for those in the center of Oman, it is delayed by more than a third of an hour or more, because Oman is very low-lying. Therefore, we do not take the astronomical adhan into account, because it is not a Shari'ah adhan. We hope our guest brothers will know this reality and not be surprised if they see some of the people of this land breaking their fast before hearing the adhan, because they know that the adhan—welcome, and peace be upon you—they know that the adhan is delayed by at least ten minutes.