We request clarification regarding the timing of the Fajr prayer.

The questioner : There is a set of questions being asked, O Shaykh, about the timing of the Fajr prayer and the talk surrounding it, so we request that you clarify that. May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : Yes, the time for the Fajr prayer does not enter until the dawn becomes clear. Likewise, abstaining from food and drink for the fasting person is not obligatory until the dawn becomes clear. This is the secret behind Allah saying: and He did not say "until the dawn rises." This means that the light must become clear on the horizon. There was talk about this two or three years ago, so some of the brothers observed the dawn and found that there was a twenty-five-minute gap between the dawn becoming clear and the scheduled time. Twenty-five minutes. A group from some neighboring countries came to me last week and said that they had observed the dawn and found that it does not become clear until twenty minutes after the scheduled time. They said that this timing contradicts what the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) established. Ibn Taymiyyah says: "The portion between the rising of the dawn and the rising of the sun belongs to the night", meaning that if the night is long, it is long, and if the night is short, it is short. But with our current timings, it is the opposite: in winter, the time between the rising of the dawn and the rising of the sun is shortened, and in summer, it is lengthened. So I told them to observe it tonight, and that night the moon did not set before the dawn. Observe it and write a report on this matter, and send it to the responsible authorities. We will, if Allah wills, speak within our capacity, because the problem is not just a problem of al-Qasim; it is the whole country, meaning the entire Kingdom is on this system. Yes, but in any case, if people were to delay, even in prayer, if they delayed even in prayer, it would be safer for their conscience. I have heard that some people are now praying at four o'clock minus five minutes. Yes, four o'clock minus five minutes means they are in great danger, that the dawn has not risen. Yes.