Clarification of the Respons
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the Seal of the Prophets, and upon his family and his pure companions.
To proceed:
Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
In my earlier response concerning the time of breaking the fast, I stated that there are differing narrations regarding the determination of the time. There is no harm in acting upon any of them, because their classification in the books of worship as “sound”, “weak”, “unknown”, or “abandoned” is not an infallible categorisation. Rather, it represents the scholarly judgement of the one who considered it correct.
I also indicated that there exists a narration permitting the breaking of the fast at the commencement of the adhān, another permitting it upon the disappearance of the sun’s disc, and a further narration recommending precaution by waiting until the eastern redness has vanished.
The safer and more balanced approach is to affirm the permissibility of breaking the fast according to any of these narrations. Adopting one does not necessitate invalidating the others. All of them are transmitted through the Ahl al-Bayt. No jurist can categorically assert the absolute authenticity of one while declaring the others void. Each scholar has a particular methodological approach in evaluating narrations. Therefore, if one jurist gives weight to a particular report, this does not imply that another jurist is mistaken for relying upon a different one.
This is a brief reflection on the issue of determining the time of breaking the fast, and on what is supported by the Qur’an and the Prophetic traditions.
Discussion on Verse (187) of Surah al-Baqarah
Allah, the Exalted, says:
“Permitted to you on the night of fasting is intimacy with your wives. They are a garment for you and you are a garment for them. Allah knew that you used to deceive yourselves, so He turned to you in mercy and forgave you. So now be intimate with them and seek what Allah has prescribed for you. And eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread. Then complete the fast until the night. And do not be intimate with them while you are in retreat in the mosques. These are the limits set by Allah, so do not approach them. Thus does Allah make clear His signs to the people that they may become mindful.” (2:187)
The Issue Concerning the Meaning of the Word “Night” (al-Layl)
Then complete the fast until the night.
What is intended by the word “al-layl” (the night) in the verse:
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In Maqāyīs al-Lughah it is stated: “Al-layl: the opposite of the day.” 1
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In Lisān al-‘Arab: “Al-layl: that which follows the day.” 2
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In Tāj al-‘Arūs: “Al-layl: the opposite of the day.” 3
Linguistic Definitions
In Lisān al-‘Arab: “Al-layl follows the day, and its beginning is from the setting of the sun…” 4
In Al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ: “Al-layl and al-laylah: from sunset until the appearance of the true dawn, or until sunrise.” 5
In Tāj al-‘Arūs: “Its limit is from sunset until the appearance of the true dawn, or until sunrise.” 6
Difference and Multiplicity of Meanings
The difference in the interpretations of the word “night”:
as the opposite of the day,
as contrary to the day,
as that which follows the day,
as the darkness of night,
and the restriction of its general meaning in certain contexts.
Among them is what is stated in Lisān al-‘Arab:
“Al-nahār (daytime) is the name for every day, and al-layl (night) is the name for every night. 7
Then the distinction between yawm (day) and nahār (daytime), and among that is what is stated in Al-Kulliyyāt:
“Yawm linguistically is designated for absolute time, whether night or otherwise…
Conventionally: the duration during which the sun is above the earth.
Legally "Shar‘": a time extending from the appearance of the second dawn until the setting of the sun.
In contrast, nahār is a time extending from the rising of the sun until its setting.
Therefore it is said: ‘I fasted the day (yawm),’ and it is not said: ‘I fasted the daytime (nahār).’” 8
Then the disagreement regarding determining the beginning of daytime and day, according to two conventions:
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According to the convention of astronomers:
It is from sunrise, or from the rising of the solar disc even partially, until the complete setting of its disc.
Thus the beginning of night is from sunset, or from the complete setting of the solar disc, until its rising. -
According to the convention of the people of Shar‘ (religious law):
It is from the appearance of the true dawn, or from the appearance of the true morning, until the complete setting of the solar disc.
Thus the beginning of night is from passing beyond the western horizon, where darkness appears on the eastern side, or from the complete setting of the solar disc until the appearance of the true dawn.9
The statement:
- The customary daytime (al-nahār al-‘urfī):
Its beginning is sunrise and its end is sunset. - The legal daytime (al-nahār al-shar‘ī):
Its beginning is the appearance of the second dawn and its end is sunset.
Thus it differs from it in the beginning and agrees with it in the ending. 10
That which indicates the multiplicity of meanings explains the difference of narrations; because they are according to what is commonly understood among people, so that they may know what they were charged with.
Narrations Transmitted from Ahl al-Bayt
The narrations concerning the determination of the time of Maghrib are divided into three categories according to their wording:
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Among them: the disappearance of the eastern redness,
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Among them: the disappearance of the solar disc,
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Among them: the setting of the sun.
The First Category: The Disappearance of the Eastern Redness
In al-Kāfī, Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām, al-Istibṣār, Wasā’il al-Shī‘ah, Biḥār al-Anwār, and ‘Ilal al-Sharā’i‘:
“… from Imam al-Ṣādiq(a.s): ‘The time of Maghrib is when the redness disappears from the east…’” 11
The Second Category: The Disappearance of the Solar Disc
In al-Kāfī, Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām, al-Istibṣār, Wasā’il al-Shī‘ah, and Man Lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh:
“… from Imam al-Ṣādiq(a.s): ‘The time of Maghrib is when the disc disappears…’” 12
The Third Category: The Setting of the Sun
In al-Kāfī, Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām, al-Istibṣār, Wasā’il al-Shī‘ah, and Biḥār al-Anwār:
“From Imam al-Ṣādiq (a.s): ‘The time of Maghrib is when the sun sets and its disc disappears.’” 13
Determining the Night
Among those who defined the limit of the night is al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā, who said:
“The night is the extension of darkness from the moment the disc of the sun first falls (sets) until the morning becomes bright.” 14
The Establishment of Custom (‘Urf)
Al-Majlisī pointed to the establishment of both general and specific custom in considering the beginning of the day to be dawn and the beginning of the night to be sunset. This is because, as will be explained, people during the night were free from their necessary activities due to the preventing darkness; therefore, they would seize some portion of light for their movement and for turning toward their religious and worldly tasks. And at night it is the opposite: since they would grow weary and tired from the movements and activities of the day, they would seize some portion of darkness to abandon those activities. Hence, the matter differed regarding the beginning of the day and its end.
As for what is stated in the Shar‘ that midday (zawāl) is half of the day, this is by approximation and estimation… 15
He also transmitted from the words of al-Bīrūnī:
“The word yawm (day) by itself and nahār (daytime) carry one meaning, and it is from the rising of the body (disc) of the sun until its setting; and night is the opposite and reverse of that, by common usage among all people between themselves, and by agreement of the majority without dispute. However, some scholars of jurisprudence in Islam defined the beginning of the day as the appearance of dawn and its end as sunset, thereby equating it with the duration of fasting.
They argued by His statement, Exalted is He:
‘And eat and drink until the white thread becomes distinct to you from the black thread of dawn; then complete the fast until the night.’Thus they claimed that these two limits are the two ends of the day. Yet there is no connection for one who holds this view with this verse in any respect…
Rather, when He, Exalted is He, defined the beginning of fasting by the appearance of dawn and did not define its end in the same way, but instead mentioned it generally by referring only to “the night,” it was because all people know that it is the setting of the disc of the sun…” 16
Critique of Directing (Interpreting) the Narrations
The disagreement of jurists regarding the determination of the beginning of the night — whether it is by the setting of the sun or by the disappearance of the eastern redness — does not invalidate any of the narrations mentioned previously. Nor does the inclination of a compiler toward directing a narration in accordance with the view of the majority (al-‘āmmah), and interpreting it as taqiyyah (dissimulation), necessitate the invalidity of that narration. For it is an opinion that its holder may err in, and another may be correct; and no human being is infallible in that regard — unless one can guarantee that the Imam intended nothing other than what he himself understood, and who can guarantee that?
In the disagreement referred to in this commentary, and in the impossibility of asserting definitively the determination of something which the Noble Qur’an did not explicitly clarify, together with the multiplicity of narrations, there is justification for acting upon them all. This is because the standards by which narrations are classified do not remain free from critique after reflection upon how they are categorized as strong or weak in terms of chain (sanad) or text (matn).
What I adopt, given the multiplicity of narrations, is the permissibility of acting upon them all. In that there is safety from the consequence of asserting definitively the intended meaning of the Imams. Exercising caution in facilitating practice and easing obligation, in my view, is preferable to asserting with certainty the correctness of restricting precaution to one specific form, which may have underlying reasons whose basis has not become clear to me.
Therefore, breaking the fast upon the disappearance of the solar disc, or upon the disappearance of the redness, is valid; there is no hardship in permitting either of them, if Allah wills.
Not everything practiced by others must be invalidated merely on the basis that it differs from the opposing view. In my knowledge, that is not a firm and irrefutable reason.
This multiplicity was nothing but a mercy, for people are not equal in their patience and endurance. What some jurists have reasoned in favor of acting exclusively upon what is narrated regarding the disappearance of the eastern redness — as opposed to the setting of the sun or the disappearance of its disc without consideration of whether the redness has disappeared or remains — is not, in my view, a strong justification.
This is my opinion. Each person may choose what he sees fit, and may follow (taqlīd) whomever he trusts and deems reliable.
And above every possessor of knowledge is One more knowing. (Surah Yusuf 12:76)
Then all praise is due to Allah, and prayers and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, and his companions.
- 1Mu‘jam Maqāyīs al-Lughah, Ahmad ibn Fāris, Union of Arab Writers edition, 2002, vol. 5, p. 225.
- 2Lisān al-‘Arab, Ibn Manẓūr, Dār Ṣādir, Beirut, 3rd ed., 1994, vol. 11, p. 607.
- 3. Tāj al-‘Arūs min Jawāhir al-Qāmūs, al-Zabīdī, ed. ‘Alī Shīrī, Dār al-Fikr, Beirut, 1994, vol. 15, p. 677. Lisān al-‘Arab, vol. 11, p. 607.
- 4Lisān al-‘Arab, vol. 11, p. 607.
- 5Al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ, al-Fayrūzābādī, introduction by Muḥammad ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Mar‘ashlī, Dār Iḥyā’ al-Turāth al-‘Arabī, Beirut, 2nd ed., 2003, p. 974.
- 6Tāj al-‘Arūs, vol. 15, p. 677; also see Muḥīṭ al-Muḥīṭ, Buṭrus al-Bustānī, Maktabat Lubnān Nāshirūn, reprint 1998, p. 824.
- 7Lisān al-‘Arab, 11/607.
- 8Al-Kulliyyāt, Abū al-Baqā’ al-Kafawī, ed. Adnan Darwish & Muhammad al-Masri, Mu’assasat al-Risālah, Beirut, 2nd ed., 1993, p. 981.
- 9Adapted from Al-Kulliyyāt, p. 981; Kashshāf Iṣṭilāḥāt al-Funūn, al-Tahānawī, ed. Dr. Ali Dahrūj, Maktabat Lubnān Nāshirūn, 1996, 2/1815.
- 10Buḥūth fī al-Taqāwīm, Abdul Karim Muhammad Nasr, Dār al-Bashā’ir, Damascus, 1st ed., 1991, p. 10.
- 11¹¹ Furū‘ al-Kāfī 1/264 (172), Chapter: The Time of Maghrib and ‘Ishā’ Prayer, Ḥadīth (1). Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām 2/28 (4), Chapter: The Times of Prayer and the Sign of Each Time, Ḥadīth 83/34. al-Istibṣār 1/265 (149), Chapter: The Time of Maghrib and ‘Ishā’, Ḥadīth 959/20. Wasā’il al-Shī‘ah 4/173 (16), Chapter: That the Beginning of Maghrib is the Sunset Known by the Disappearance of the Eastern Redness, Ḥadīth 4829/3. Biḥār al-Anwār vol. 33 / vol. 80 / p. 156 (8), Chapter: The Time of the Two Evening Prayers, Ḥadīth 28. ‘Ilal al-Sharā’i‘ 2/46, Chapter (60): The Reason Why the Time of Maghrib Is When the Redness Disappears from the East.
- 12Furū‘ al-Kāfī 1/264 (172), Chapter: The Time of Maghrib and ‘Ishā’, Ḥadīth (1). Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām 2/28 (4), Chapter: The Times of Prayer and the Sign of Each Time, Ḥadīth 83/34. al-Istibṣār 1/265 (149), Chapter: The Time of Maghrib and ‘Ishā’, Ḥadīth 959/20. Wasā’il al-Shī‘ah 4/173 (16), Chapter: That the Beginning of Maghrib is the Sunset Known by the Disappearance of the Eastern Redness, Ḥadīth 4829/3. Biḥār al-Anwār vol. 33 / vol. 80 / p. 156 (8), Chapter: The Time of the Two Evening Prayers, Ḥadīth 28. ‘Ilal al-Sharā’i‘ 2/46, Chapter (60): The Reason Why the Time of Maghrib Is When the Redness Disappears from the East.
- 13Furū‘ al-Kāfī 1/265 (172), Chapter: The Time of Maghrib and ‘Ishā’, Ḥadīth (6). Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām 2/30 (4), Chapter: The Times of Prayer and the Sign of Each Time, Ḥadīth 95/46. al-Istibṣār 1/266 (149), Chapter: The Time of Maghrib and ‘Ishā’, Ḥadīth 965/26. Wasā’il al-Shī‘ah 4/156 (10), Chapter: The Times of the Five Daily Prayers and Some of Their Rulings, Ḥadīth 4791/2. Man Lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh, transmitted from al-Bāqir (peace be upon him), 1/210 (32), Chapter: The Times of Prayer, Ḥadīth 656/10.
- 14Rasā’il al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā, introduction by Sayyid Aḥmad al-Ḥusaynī, Dār al-Qur’ān al-Karīm Publications, Iran, Second Collection, 1405 AH, p. 281.
- 15Biḥār al-Anwār, vol. 22, p. 477, Chapter (15): On Days, Hours, Night and Day.
- 16Biḥār al-Anwār, vol. 22, p. 476, Chapter (15): On Days, Hours, Night and Day.
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