Do we delay the pre-dawn meal and not consider the unified call to prayer, just as we did not consider it for breaking the fast?

The questioner : My master, regarding breaking the fast, regarding the pre-dawn meal, how is it? Do we follow this as well, meaning, do we not follow the unified call to prayer as well?

The Shaykh : Among the defects of the unified call to prayer, in order to clarify the issue, is this: if all the Muslims fasted and prayed according to the call to prayer of Makkah, would that be prescribed? The answer is no. Why? Because the horizons of sunrise and sunset differ. Likewise, the unified call to prayer in this country is an Omani-Jordanian innovation with no parallel in the entire Islamic scholarship. This unified call to prayer has corrupted people’s worship, their prayers and their fasting. For example, I live on a mountain called Jabal Hamlan, and around me are many houses, in the tens if not hundreds. Some of them see the sun set before I do. I conducted an experiment with our brother, Abu 'Abdullah 'Aziz. You know my house is close to his house. Thus, Allah inspired me to prove how the land differs from land. They say in the sale of land... the land differs by a span from a span. So, I took the phone and greeted this brother of mine, who is only a five-minute distance from me, and the sun was about to set. I said, "Look, Abu 'Abdullah, when the sun starts to burn from below and sets, tell me." He said to me, "It has just started." I said, "The sun is still up for me. Why?" Because he is slightly lower than me. When he said the sun had set for him, the sun had not set for me. And the result of this theory is that it is permissible for him, when he sees the sun set, to break his fast, but it is not permissible for me. He is the one who informed me that the sun had set, so I must take his word. And I am the one who informed him that the sun had set, so he must take my word. This means that if every mosque had a mu'adhdhin, and every mu'adhdhin called to prayer according to the Shari'ah timing, this great sin would not occur, where people break their fast before the sun sets. We have given you examples of this earlier, and people break their fast after the sun sets, which causes them to miss the virtue of . Therefore, the principle is that every mosque has an imam, every mosque has a mu'adhdhin, and every mu'adhdhin calls to prayer by visual observation, not by astronomical timing. This is because the astronomical timing for all of Jordan is at one time, my brothers. Amman alone does not get one time. Amman alone, so what about the other countries? In Idlib, in Aqaba, in Ma'an, all of these have their own specific timings. And among the wonders is a statement that is not accompanied by action: the calendar issued by the Ministry of Awqaf puts down the timings and puts down the phrase "it should be considered that there is a difference in timing." Who should consider the difference in timing? The general public or the specific people? The specific people. The specific people are the ones who consider it. On the contrary, they are fighting those who consider it. They see how the general public is unable to consider the difference in timing at all. Rather, a few of the specific people are the ones who can. But the specific people who have the power and the state are fighting these people who are among the most specific, and who consider the Shari'ah timing. And they say, "What? These people break their fast before the time, meaning before their call to prayer. But what is their call to prayer? Their call to prayer is not Shari'ah-compliant. Their call to prayer is astronomical." And we have seen this calamity spread across the Islamic lands. We know that in Kuwait, the Fajr call to prayer is before the time. In Morocco, the Fajr call to prayer is before the time. In Ta'if, the Fajr call to prayer is before the time. In Egypt, the Fajr call to prayer is before the time. Why? The astronomical timing encompassed them and included them. Yes, there is a difference in astronomical timing between, for example, Amman and Egypt, but Egypt differs just as the countries of Jordan differ, so they gave them one ruling. This is a calamity caused by people turning away from applying the Shari'ah rulings, which are in their hands. Then the complaint becomes: "We cannot change the laws." Here comes the wisdom: "Establish the state of Islam in your hearts, and it will be established for you on your land." You cannot pray Fajr with the Fajr call to prayer, and you cannot pray Fajr before the call to prayer, so your prayer is invalid. You cannot break your fast with the setting of the sun, not before it and not after it. If you cannot do these matters, which are easy, then a fortiori you cannot address the major problem, which is changing the law. Who is it in the hands of? The rulers. And we have no power with them, nor do we have a state with them. Rather, the things that concern ourselves are what we must do. If we do not do them, we will not be able to do what is more than that.
The Shaykh : I think it is time, Abu 'Abdullah.
Please go ahead.