Clarification of start time for fasting/ending Suhur

DISCLAIMER: This reminder was originally delivered in Arabic on Friday, 20 July 2012. Any meanings lost in translation are not to be attributed to the speaker as reminders are translated by volunteers. The mosque has no official translator and volunteers often have no formal qualifications to translate on the day. Please forgive any errors as they are from our human weakness and any right guidance is from God

We welcome the month of Ramadan, a month that God (Glory be to Him, the Most High) favoured with great graces and many bounties. It is a treasure for those who are conscious of God and a means for those who wish to proceed to be closer to Him. God says: The month of Ramadan [is that] in which was revealed the Quran, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. [Al-Baqarah 2:185] It is a month that was favoured with the descending of blessings from The Lord of the heavens and earth as the prophet (peace be upon him) said: The month of Ramadan has approached you, a blessed month, God has written fasting upon to you. In this month the doors of Paradise are open, the doors of Hellfire are closed and Satins are chained. During this month there is a night which is more worthy than a thousand months. This who misses its befits, has really missed. All praises to God who made us witness the month of Ramadan in a state of heath, security and right belief out of His blessing and grace. We became joyful to witness the birth of its moon which is unlike any other moons. It a moon of great good and blessings that spread throughout the world and plant the spirit of tolerance, harmony, love and compassion within the hearts. It was authentically reported that the prophet (pbuh) used to say whenever he sees the new moon of Ramadan: O God, let this moon come to us with security and faith; with safety and Islam. My Lord and the Lord of (this month) is God, a new moon of guidance and good. In another Saying, the prophet (pbuh) said: when Ramadan starts the doors of Paradise are open, the doors of Hellfire are closed and Satans are chained [Bukhari and Muslim] This indicates that the causes of good and ease in worship are readily availability - out of Gods guidance- and that the means of evil are even rarer - with Gods protection and aid. In another saying, the prophet (pbuh) said: Every action of the son of Adam is given manifold reward, each good deed receiving ten times its like, up to seven hundred times. God the Most High said: Except for fasting, for it is for Me and I will give recompense for it, he leaves off his food for Me, he leaves off his drink for Me and he leaves off his desire for Me. Al-Hasan Al-Basri said: God The Exalted rendered the month of Ramadan a track for His slaves on which they would compete in earning His Satisfaction through carrying out acts of obedience to please Him. Some may win the race and others may face failure. How strange is the laughing competitor on the day when the pious people win and the wrongdoers lose! Ramadan is the season of blessings, a gift from God (Glory be to Him, the Most High) for those who know how to benefit from it. It is a season of trade for the pious who earn multiple rewards in their dealing with the Rich and the Generous by their sincere intentions which cause their deeds to be accepted and multiplied in reward. Fasting is a worship that

God prescribed upon us in order for us to reform our souls. So reform yourself, purify your soul with Gods remembrance and with applying the Quran, protecting your tongue, ears, eyes, hands, feet and all of your limbs from saying, touching, hearing, waking to or committing that which is unlawful. The one who does not adopt the manners of Islam, doesnt embrace the attributes of the believers and is not conscious of God (Glory be to Him, the Most High) in all of his situations in private and in public this is the one who will never taste the joy of the worship of fasting and therefore he will never gain anything from it except hunger and thirst. The tradition of the prophet (pbuh) was to do even more worships in Ramadan. He (pbuh) used to be more generous than a fast wind (which causes rain and welfare). He (pbuh) was the most generous of people and used to be the most generous in Ramadan. He (pbuh) used to give even more Sadaqah, spend more time with the Quran, in prayer and in remembrance. He (pbuh) used to favour Ramadan with worships that he (pbuh) did not do in any other month. So take advantage, O Muslims, of your time and your life to acquire that which will benefit you on the day when there will not benefit [anyone] wealth or children but only one who comes to God with a sound heart. God says: And hasten to forgiveness from your Lord and a garden as wide as the heavens and earth, prepared for the righteous who spend [in the cause of God] during ease and hardship and who restrain anger and who pardon the people and God loves the doers of good; And those who, when they commit an immorality or wrong themselves [by transgression], remember God and seek forgiveness for their sins and who can forgive sins except God? And [who] do not persist in what they have done while they know. Those their reward is forgiveness from their Lord and gardens beneath which rivers flow [in Paradise], wherein they will abide eternally; and excellent is the reward of the [righteous] workers [Al-Imran 3:133-136] Second reminder Some Muslims in the UK especially in Leeds- are confused by the permission to pray Fajr at around 1.30am yet our Ramadan prayer timetable puts the Imsak time (to start fasting and to stop eating) well after that? What follows are three issues from Shaykh Abdullah bin Yusuf Al-Judai - the Mufti of Leeds Grand Mosque - to clarify the method used by our mosque to calculate the time of Imsak and Fajr prayer: 1. God, the Wise Legislator made it a condition for the Fajr prayer to be valid to only pray Fajr after the entry of Fajrs starting time. The entry of the starting time cannot be specified in summer time in our region. That is why the starting time of Fajr according during the time when the sign of Fajr starting time cannot be distinguished was fixed by the last time a sign for the entry of Fajrs starting time could be distinguished. This indicates the entry time of Fajr time until sunrise for those who choose to pray at this time. However, it is worth noting here, that the starting time of Fajr is calculated based on different degrees according to the amount of the appearance and spread of light and so the astronomers differ in their calculations of the starting time of Fajr. Praying according to the astronomers calculations is valid because what counts is the presence of light- which was expressed in some texts as Buzugh. In most of the astronomers calculationsespecially using high degrees like 18- the light cannot be seen easily with naked eye yet the appearance of light can be calculated accurately by instruments. Therefore praying at this time is considered permissible.

2. Technically, the time of Imsak does not start until the light of the morning spreads. The appearance of this much light is not required for fixing the entry time of Fajr by astronomers calculation. For Imsak, the spread of light required technically is that which everyone can see - not only the astronomers or even the people who call Athan. There are many evidences for that, here are some of them briefly: a) The indication of the text in the verse And eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread [of night] [Al-Baqarah 2:187]. The word until means as far as and the phrase becomes distinct does not mean the entry time of Fajr, but for it to be clearly distinct. The companions clarification of Quran is considered valid evidence. Ibn Atiyyah said it is unacceptable for someone to see the distinct sign of Fajr and eating becomes impermissible to him unless some time passes after the starting time of Fajr. This same meaning was reported by some of the early generations such as Abi Ad-Duhha Muslim bin Subayh, who was one of the Tabieen. He said they did not use to consider your Fajr as Fajr. Rather, they considered Fajr that which fills with its light- houses and streets. This is what was meant when Ali ibn Abi Talib once prayed Fajr and said this is when the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread [of night]. b) The saying of Hudhaifa bin Al-Yaman I had Suhur with the messenger of God (pbuh) and it was morning except the sun didnt rise. Yazeed bin Shurayk AlTaimi said I went out with Hudhaifa bin Al-Yaman to Madaein in Ramadan. When Fajr time started, he (Hudhaifa) asked: is there amongst you who will eat or drink? We replied: not one who desire to fast. He said: but I want to. Yazeed continued: we kept walking until we thought it was getting late for Fajr prayer when Hudhaifa asked (again): is there amongst you who want to have Suhur? We replied: not one who desires to fast. He said: but I want to. Then he went down-from his ride, had Suhur then prayed. c) Umar ibn AlKhattab ordered Ubayy ibn Kab and Tamim adDari to watch the night in prayer with the people for eleven rakas (units of prayer). They recited the Mai'in (a group of mediumsized Suras) from the Qur'an until we would be leaning on our staffs from having stood so long in prayer. And we would not leave until the approach of dawn [reported in Al-Muttaa on the authority of AsSaeib bin Yazeed]. This was in Ramadan as mentioned in other narrations. This saying indicates that they used not to finish their night prayer until the approach of dawn which was the time of Fajr prayer. Salim bin Abdullah bin Umar said ibn Umm Maktoum was blind. He used not to call Athan until people see the approach of down and say to him: call Athan. The above evidences indicate that companions including Umar ibn AlKhattab and other people of knowledge at that time did not see any harm for a fasting person to keep eating until the approach of dawn or after the appearance of light. That is because the Quran has left it open until the light spreads. This is the view approved in our Ramadan timetable. 3. It is not permissible for that who intends to fast to eat after he prays Fajr. He is allowed to eat and drink before the spread of the light as long as he does not pray Fajr. If he prays Fajr then his prayer prevents him from eating and drinking. The practice at the time of the prophet (pbuh) and his companions was to delay the prayer if the delay the Suhur. May God send His blessings upon us during the month of Ramadan, help us to maintain it with sincerity and good deeds, make it a time of openings for those in submission to God and a means for restoring the honour for all those oppressed with the assistance of God to overcome the oppressors.