Text copied Link copied

Al-Fatawa – home

﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

Scholar
Search mode

The harms of relying on astronomical calculations to determine the times of prayer

Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : And I am giving you now another example related to astronomical calculations and the religious violations they have brought upon the Muslims. The calculators or "almanacs" in which the times of the five daily prayers are recorded are based on astronomical calculations. These astronomical calculations do not provide the Shari'ah time for every country. Therefore, we see serious and very serious phenomena in some Islamic countries where the Fajr adhan is called approximately half an hour before the true dawn appears. In some countries, the sun has not yet set, and yet we hear the adhan being called. This is because that adhan, or this one, is based on astronomical calculations, whereas the Shari'ah timing is based on visual observation, as stated in the hadith agreed upon as authentic:
Let not the adhan of Bilal deceive you, for he only calls the adhan at night. لا يغرَّنَّكم أذانُ بلال ؛ فإنَّما يؤذِّن بليل
, and in another narration:
He only calls the adhan so that the sleeper may rise and the one who is eating suhur may eat his suhur. So eat and drink until Ibn Umm Maktum calls the adhan. إنما يؤذِّن ليقومَ النائم ويتسحَّر المتسحِّر ، فكلوا واشربوا حتى يؤذِّنَ ابن أم مكتوم
. He was a blind man who could not see the dawn, but he would climb onto the roof of the mosque and would not call the adhan until the passersby said, "It has dawned, it has dawned." So he would call the adhan based on the people's sighting of the true dawn. Likewise, the time for Dhuhr and the time for 'Asr should be called based on the sighting of the shadow, the shadow of the sun cast by a vertical object. And likewise, Maghrib is not called except upon the setting of the sun, not based on astronomical calculations. And likewise, 'Isha' is not called except upon the disappearance of the red twilight. This is the Shari'ah timing. Astronomical calculations have exposed the prayer of many Muslims who rely on astronomical calculations to invalidity. Therefore, we say: Flee to Allah, flee to the Shari'ah of Allah, and do not legislate for people anything that was not mentioned before. And in that is a reminder for whoever has a heart or lends an ear while being a witness. Indeed, in that is a reminder for whoever has a heart or lends an ear while being a witness. This is what Allah has facilitated for me as an answer to this question. And we ask Allah for us and for all Muslims success in what He loves and is pleased with.
Yes.
Source www.al-albany.com

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

Similar fatwas