Does the time of prayer depend on the calendar?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Is it permissible for the mu'adhdhin to rely on the timing found in the calendar for his adhan?
The Shaykh : In which country?
The questioner : Here.
The Shaykh : Here, where are we... now.
The questioner : In the Kingdom.
The Shaykh : Yes, in the Kingdom. The government did not provide this calendar merely for people to look at it; they provided it for people to act upon it, to act upon it. However, if one is in doubt about the time at any given moment, let him investigate and delay. The principle is that the time has not entered. For example, if we are in doubt about Fajr, which is currently the subject of dispute, many of the brothers went out and observed the dawn on clear, dark nights and found that the calendar is at least five minutes early. Some say ten minutes, some say a quarter of an hour, and some say a third of an hour. If a person is in doubt about this—and he must be in doubt—let him delay, and there is no harm in that. As for the other times, I have not known of any disagreement among people regarding them. However, I was told that some people call the adhan for Maghrib while the sun is still visible. Perhaps this is because their clock is fast, and they call the adhan based on that clock without having seen the sun set.
The Shaykh : In which country?
The questioner : Here.
The Shaykh : Here, where are we... now.
The questioner : In the Kingdom.
The Shaykh : Yes, in the Kingdom. The government did not provide this calendar merely for people to look at it; they provided it for people to act upon it, to act upon it. However, if one is in doubt about the time at any given moment, let him investigate and delay. The principle is that the time has not entered. For example, if we are in doubt about Fajr, which is currently the subject of dispute, many of the brothers went out and observed the dawn on clear, dark nights and found that the calendar is at least five minutes early. Some say ten minutes, some say a quarter of an hour, and some say a third of an hour. If a person is in doubt about this—and he must be in doubt—let him delay, and there is no harm in that. As for the other times, I have not known of any disagreement among people regarding them. However, I was told that some people call the adhan for Maghrib while the sun is still visible. Perhaps this is because their clock is fast, and they call the adhan based on that clock without having seen the sun set.