He was asked about the time for breaking the fast, and about the two dawns, and about the time for abstaining from food and drink.

The Shaykh : On this occasion, you are here and you can see the setting of the sun, the rising of the sun, and the appearance of the dawn, right?

The questioner : There is cloudiness today.

The Shaykh : No, no, let us leave the clouds aside.

The questioner : We cannot.

The Shaykh : Why?

The questioner : The area is eastern on our side and not open, so the fast cannot be broken [by seeing the sunset]. As for the western side, it is clear, meaning there is a mountain that blocks the sun from us before the sun sets, this western mountain.

The questioner : Does the western mountain block the sun?

The questioner : Before it sets, we cannot tell whether it has set or not.

The Shaykh : This is a problem. So, what does not block [the view]?

The questioner : The distant horizon.

The Shaykh : What is the horizon?
Al-Halabi : After the mountain...

Another questioner : The buildings block the view of the setting sun.

The Shaykh : Your words are not his words, even though the answer is the same. The only difference is that there is a natural, divine blocker, and there is a blocker of what? Man-made.

The questioner : I say there are two blockers, if Allah wills, be patient with us.

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : The blocker that is original for us, meaning many people consider breaking the fast before the Maghrib adhan to be a trial and a religious innovation. They see it that way, and we do not see it that way, if Allah wills.
Al-Halabi : This question is good.

The questioner : But in the sense of, for example, closing the door to a trial, especially for the brothers, and those among them who are sufficient for us, we wait for the adhan and break the fast with the adhan. This is among people. But if one is alone, as for myself, if I see the setting of the sun and I am in any place, I break the fast, and praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, even if it is before Maghrib according to the custom. But with people, I wait for the adhan so that we do not fall into, for example...

The Shaykh : No, that is not the intention. The intention, first of all, is knowing the Shari'ah ruling. Second, the method of calling to this Shari'ah ruling. So there is a goal and there is a means. We must distinguish between the goal and the means. Your answer was not from the perspective of the means, but from the perspective of the goal. Meaning, if you were in the middle of nowhere, you say the mountain blocks the view, so when do you break your fast?

The questioner : When I hear the adhan.

The Shaykh : When does the mu'adhdhin call the adhan, may Allah reward you? We are truly in a lost whirlpool. When does the mu'adhdhin call the adhan?

The questioner : After the setting of the sun by a duration that may reach five minutes.

The Shaykh : May Allah guide you, Abu Ahmad. Does the mu'adhdhin call the adhan according to the Shari'ah timing or the astronomical timing?

The questioner : According to the astronomical timing.

The Shaykh : Is this the Shari'ah?

The questioner : This is not the Shari'ah.

The Shaykh : If we stick to the Shari'ah, and my question just now was Shari'ah-based, when does the mu'adhdhin call the adhan for the Maghrib prayer?

The questioner : According to the astronomical timing.

The Shaykh : Have you forgotten what we just said? We asked a question. Did you give the mu'adhdhin today the Shari'ah timing or the astronomical timing? The answer was the astronomical timing. We set that aside. When should the mu'adhdhin call the adhan according to the Shari'ah timing?

The questioner : Immediately at the setting of the sun.

The Shaykh : Ah, so how does he confirm that the sun has set, if there is a mountain in the west? When does he confirm that the sun has set?

Another questioner : I go to the sea.

The Shaykh : Nice, he laughs.The Shaykh : May Allah have mercy on him, this answer has meaning.

The questioner : The principle is that he should confirm [the setting].

The Shaykh : Please think and speak, think and speak, because the question will be derived from your words: how does he confirm?

The questioner : I repeat the answer to you, if Allah wills, so that you give me the useful information, because I do not want to say, if he no longer sees the sun, it is permissible for him to break the fast for fear that the mountain is high and the sun has not yet set.

Another questioner : Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Is the time now for you or not?

Another questioner : Four minutes are left, or five minutes.

Another questioner : Of course, for the astronomical adhan.

The Shaykh : It appears that all the people, except a few of them, are lost. They do not know how to establish the five times according to the Shari'ah timing. Please, some town has a horizon that is the sea coast, and another town has a horizon that is the flat land, and a third town has a horizon that is a mountain, or let us say a plateau, and a fourth has a mountain, and so on. So when do these people break their fast? And when do they call the adhan? If the sun has set, whether the setting is on the sea coast, or on the flat land, or on the plateau, or on the mountain, the important thing is that the sun has set. It is said in Arabic, and it is observed now, the sun has set. But stopping and saying, "Oh, there is a mountain!" Well, what do you want other than a mountain? Do you wait for there to be a coast, like our friend said, he goes to the sea, and that is it? This is a burden that cannot be borne. In truth, the religion is easy, but people have made it difficult. Some of them by their ignorance, and another group of them by their stubbornness.

Another questioner : O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Yes.

Another questioner : In Europe, you find that in the days of summer, the day is long, and then it is ten o'clock at night and the twilight is still present. There, the confirmation of the setting of the sun means it is needed.

The Shaykh : Stay in your Arab country, and then we will talk about the non-Arab country.

Another questioner : There is no god but Allah.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
Al-Halabi : Our Shaykh, specifically regarding the issue of the setting of the sun, behind this mountain, there is something that indicates it, which is the eastern direction with the light of the night...

The Shaykh : Correct, I am telling you that people are lost from knowledge.
Al-Halabi : Meaning this indicates that.

The Shaykh : If the sun has set here with you, then breaking the fast has become permissible and the Maghrib prayer has become obligatory. I see buildings with you, do you want to go up and see the mountain behind these buildings?

Another questioner : There is a mountain behind the mountain, O Shaykh!

Another questioner : O Shaykh, is the dawn one or two? The true dawn and the false dawn?

The Shaykh : There are two dawns in the Shari'ah terminology: the true dawn and the false dawn.

Another questioner : How do they know that the true dawn has come? What is its sign? How do they know?

The Shaykh : The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) clarified what you are asking about. If the light extends like this in the horizon, then it is the true dawn. When you look and cast your gaze to the east and you do not see this darkness? When the darkness begins to rise, a white line, not a horizontal line, a white line extending from north to south, then this is the true dawn.

Another questioner : How long can we determine the duration?

The Shaykh : No, it has no [fixed duration], a line indicates a line.

Another questioner : How long can we determine the duration in the present time? You know that the dawn adhan is called before...

Another questioner : Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.

Another questioner : So can we determine the timing by minutes or by hours?

The Shaykh : It is possible, my brother, but this is not fixed; it varies with the days. Until recently, the dawn was rising early. I think now it seems to have stopped. The dawn adhan was called before, a month or two months, three and a half and five approximately. Now, excuse me, I said it is called, and I meant the Shari'ah adhan, not this actual adhan. So let us say that the dawn used to rise at approximately four minus a third, now it rises at four and ten. So what is fixed, but there is also a ratio close to each other, between this astronomical adhan that you hear from the mu'adhdhin and the rising of the true dawn, a duration that ranges between half an hour and twenty-five minutes, yes, and between the Shari'ah adhan and the astronomical adhan, about ten minutes.

Another questioner : The adhan for the Fajr prayer.

The Shaykh : Maghrib, yes.

Another questioner : The adhan for Fajr itself.

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : The adhan for Fajr itself, the astronomical one?

The Shaykh : It is the astronomical one, yes.

The questioner : Meaning, if one eats during the adhan?

The Shaykh : No problem, my brothers, you must know this hadith. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: and he pointed to the east Therefore, it is a delusion and a grave error to imagine that if we see the sun set from here, we would say, "By Allah, here on the mountain," or as the other person said, "in nice buildings," and we look to see if the night has come from here or not? If the light is still above us, the light of the day, the daylight, and it is still extending to the east and so to the west, even if the sun has set, the fasting person has not broken his fast. But if the night comes from here, meaning the darkness begins to rush in from the east, and the light of the sun begins to disappear behind the horizon, and the sun has actually set, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And so we cannot imagine a situation where these three descriptions gather: the night comes from here, the day departs from here, and the sun has set, and we say, "No, it is not yet time to break the fast." This contradicts the hadith of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). He is speaking in clear Arabic, saying, "If the night comes..." This is in the realm of the self-evident. Now, if we see the sun with our own eyes, the disk of the sun is going down, going down until there is contact between the lower circle of the sun from below and the mountain, or with the buildings, and then the disk of the sun begins to disappear, disappear until we do not see it, is it not permissible for us to say, linguistically, religiously, and by custom, that the sun has set? Why do you doubt the self-evident? The sun has set. The only thing that could make us hesitate is if we see, by Allah, that the light of the day is still there to the east and in the middle, and to the west it is still as it was, that would leave us in doubt. But the reality is not so. Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest.