Ramadan and Fixed True Dawn

On July 29, 2013 – by Sheikh Nuh

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In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate

A Fasting Protocol for Northerly Latitudes

Nuh Keller

Ramadan takes place in any season in any land. Muslims living in Birmingham, England, and Oslo, Norway, asked me this year for a fiqh solution as to what time to begin fasting Ramadan each day when it occurs in the summertime, and there is no true dawn because of the persistence of twilight all night at their latitudes.

The first thing to remember is that the difficulty is a temporary one. Ramadan is one lunar month, and in Allah’s words emphasizing its briefness to mankind, “a matter of a few days” (Koran 2:184). It arrives about eleven days earlier each solar calendar year, so that in the main northerly cities with the lion’s share of the problem—those at around 60 degrees north such as Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen, and others—Ramadan advances after remaining for six or seven years in the summertime into the spring months that have true times, after which no special fiqh solution will be needed for another three decades or so. Some thirty years ago, I experienced Ramadan as a Muslim under the extreme circumstances of the summer months while deep-sea fishing out of Kodiak, Alaska, and became aware of the human parameters of the question. The answer I would give today is:

Fasting during the month of Ramadan commences each day when the sun rises to within 18 degrees beneath the horizon. This marks the beginning of “astronomical twilight,” and is the time of the first light of dawn. For Muslims in countries at northerly latitudes, such as the United Kingdom, Norway, and parts of Canada, the sun does not descend at night 18 degrees below the horizon for approximately one month before and after the summer solstice on 21 June. During this period a weak light (astronomical twilight) persists throughout the night. The question I have been asked is how to determine the starting time of fasting during this period.

My preferred method is to commence fasting at the time of the last true 18-degree time for one’s location, and then continue beginning to fast at that time until there is a true 18-degree time again. For example, in Birmingham the last true 18-degree time was on 17 May, when dawn entered at 1:27 a.m. In this case people should start fasting at 1:27 a.m. until 25 July, when true dawn begins again. From 25 July onwards one simply follows the 18-degree time for one’s location.

A second question might arise concerning “whose 18 degrees?” Different timetables list different times for 18 degrees. In the United Kingdom one should follow the times calculated by Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office, who have been observing and calculating times for approximately two hundred years, and until recently were part of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. These times can be found at http://astro.ukho.gov.uk/websurf/.

This year I reviewed a variety of proposed solutions to the question which are currently applied in various cities in northern Europe, and they are a potpourri of positions at odds with each other. I have studied the questions, and believe, for reasons that I shall discuss, that the Fixed True Dawn solution is the most logical and convincing; but at the end of the day, I cannot condemn or deny the validity of other true scholarly fatwas. Moreover, whoever cannot follow any valid method of fasting Ramadan, due to weakness or illness or old age, may break his fast, and make up the fast on days later in the year. The details of establishing one’s inability, and hence the permissibility of making up the fast-days later, are given by Hasanayn Muhammad Makhluf on pages 894–95 of Reliance of the Traveller.

Regarding the time of nightfall prayer (isha), people should determine its beginning when the red leaves the sky, relying on timing their own observation of this on clear evenings, and estimating from these timed observations for other days. Praying isha after the red leaves the sky is a followable position in both the Hanafi and Shafi‘i schools.

We shall examine some of the evidence and texts behind this solution point by point.

The Validity of Eighteen Degrees

To the best of my knowledge and empirical observation, “astronomical twilight” occurs when the center of the sun enters within 18 degrees of the earth’s horizon, and the light of the sun thereby becomes visibly greater than the background light of the stars. It is the figure concurred upon by the astronomical observatories of the world. It coincides with the first light of dawn; and when it sinks below this after sunset, with the disappearance of the last light at night. As I wrote in 2002:

In recent years, at least one writer and a major North American Islamic organization have challenged this figure and stated that fifteen degrees below the horizon is closer to the sun’s actual first and last visible light. The disparity between the two figures has resulted in prayer-time calendars for the same city that show an up to twenty minutes’ difference on the same day between suggested times of dawn, with the obvious consequences this has for both the time of the prayer and the fast-days of Ramadan.

Aware that myriad city lights, even below the horizon, often make precise observation of the first of dawn and nightfall all but impossible, the translator [of the Maqasid, in which these words appear] travelled with other observers hundreds of kilometers into the Jordanian desert, far from human settlement, to try to empirically determine the truth about the matter. What they saw was that calculations based on the eighteen-degree figure were as precise as anything could be. That is, the observations cited by the above-mentioned writer, from England, America, India, and other heavily settled areas, do not match what may be actually seen where there are no lights. The upshot is that the older calendars based on eighteen degrees, giving the correct early time for dawn, should be relied upon, especially for fasting on the days of Ramadan; while the new calendars based on fifteen degrees, giving the later time, though adequate for dawn prayer because the time they suggest is well after the arrival of dawn, cannot be relied upon for fasting (al-Maqasid, 36–37).

This is what I and the other observers unmistakably witnessed in the desert, confirming what observatories use in their calculations of astronomical twilight. If light-pollution prevails to an almost unbelievable extent nearly everywhere today, in places where it does not, the 18-degree figure may be empirically observed as the actual true dawn, which is why it alone can serve as the basis of the Fixed True Dawn method.

The Preferability of Fixed True Dawn

The “preferred method” mentioned in this paragraph is not the solution I have previously published in both Reliance of the Traveller and Maqasid; namely, that when a place does not have the true times for the above reasons, Muslims there should adopt the times from the closest city that has the true times. This is the position of the Shafi‘i school of jurisprudence (Tuhfa al-muhtaj, 1.424–25) that was taught to me by my late teacher Sheikh Nuh ‘Ali Salman al-Qudah (Allah have mercy on him). I now realize that this is not the best solution because (i) literally followed in the modern world, it entails impossible hardship; and (ii) the Fixed True Dawn method is preferable for two other compelling reasons. Let us consider each of these three in turn.

(i) Impossible Hardship

Literally following the times of “the closest city” is not a workable method because of the continuity of the earth’s surface: the polar regions where the sun stays up all night in summertime, at one extreme; and the equator, where times change but little all year round, are connected to each other by a continuous gradient from north to south of gradual changes in the timings of the sun’s motions. That is, prayer and fasting times vary gradually as one proceeds north or south.

This means that on the summer calendar date at which the interval between true nightfall (last light) and true dawn finally diminishes to zero at one’s own northerly location, when astronomical twilight reigns between sunset and sunrise, the same interval in the “closest city” that has true nightfall and dawn will be only a few seconds or minutes. This is because today, the surface of the earth in populous lands presents a more or less unbroken continuum of successive human habitations, and the gradual diminishment of the interval between nightfall and dawn found going south means that wherever it becomes zero, to the next town south the interval will be almost zero. That is, it will not help, because the few seconds or minutes of true nightfall in “the closest town that has the true times” do not provide a workable interval to break the fast in, restore the body’s food and water, and perform the sunset (maghrib), nightfall (isha), and dawn (fajr) prayers for people fasting Ramadan just north of it.

My own repeated experiments with hunger, thirst, and work have led me to conclude that most people between puberty and old age can perform their prayers and restore their food and water enough to fast and work the next day of the thirty fast-days of Ramadan if they have approximately three hours at night to do so. I believe that less than three hours of recovery poses an impracticable hardship for the average Muslim. Such hardship is described by Professor ‘Abd al-Wahhab Khallaf in a famous textbook on Sacred Law in the following words:

From the condition that an act must be within the individual’s capacity before he can be held accountable for it, one should not jump to the conclusion that this implies there will not be any hardship whatsoever for the individual in the act. There is no contradiction between an act’s being within one’s capacity and its being hard. Nothing a person is responsible for is completely free of hardship, since moral responsibility is being obliged to do that in which there is something to bear with, and some type of difficulty.

Hardship, however, is of two types. The first is that which people are accustomed to bear, which is within the limits of their strength, and were they to continue bearing it, it would not cause them harm or damage to their persons, possessions, or other concerns. The second is that which is beyond what people are accustomed to bear and impossible for them to continually endure because they would be cut off, unable to go on, and damage and harm would affect their persons, possessions, or one of their other concerns. Examples include fasting day after day without breaking it at night, a monastic life, fasting while standing in the sun, or making the pilgrimage on foot. It is a sin for someone to refuse to take a dispensation and insist on the stricter ruling when this will probably entail harm (‘Ilm usul al-fiqh, 133).

In view of the impossible hardship of following the times of the closest city, some contemporary fatwa literature suggests following far away places with “moderate” (mu‘tadil) times, such as those of the closest Muslim country, as Tunisia is, for example, to many northern European nations, or following the times of Mecca or Medina—even if it means beginning the fast (imsak) after the sun has risen in one’s own location, or breaking one’s fast before it has set. Why is the Fixed True Dawn method preferable to such an alternative, already in practice by some northern European Muslims today?

(ii) Reasons for Preferring the Fixed True Dawn Method

(1) The first reason for preferring the Fixed True Dawn is that it acquits one of the demands of taqwa or godfearingness, since by this method one does not find oneself eating and drinking in Ramadan while the sun is above one in the sky. Allah says, “So fear Allah all that you can” (Koran 64:16). It is closer to the spirit and purpose of Ramadan if it is closer to taqwa. Allah says, “O you who believe, fasting has been prescribed for you just as it was prescribed for those but before you, that haply you may attain godfearingness” (2:183). It seems intuitively obvious that Allah has created both Ramadan itself and the extreme times at the northerly latitudes as a transitory test to imbue souls with taqwa. The word taqwa derives from ittiqa’, or “to ward off” a blow or peril. In religion, it means every measure to avert Allah’s wrath and win His good pleasure. Allah loves this in man and says so in many verses of the Koran, such as, “Truly Allah loves the godfearing” (3:76), “Know that Allah is with the godfearing” (9:36), “Verily the final issue is to the godfearing” (11:49), and others. The Fixed True Dawn method addresses one’s innate sense of taqwa by saying, “O Allah, we no longer have the true times to tell when to begin the fast, but will use those You last created until the true times return again.” It is what I would do if fasting Ramadan in northerly lands, and feel I could answer for on the Day of Judgement.

(2) The second reason is that it does not impose impossible hardship. I did not originate the Fixed True Dawn method, but rather it has already been used successfully in Norway and in the United Kingdom by adults and families breaking their fast and recovering in a period of around three hours on the nights of Ramadan. Their experience proves it is possible. The bulk of the populations in the north where the problem arises live between 48 and 60 degrees north. Major cities clustered around 60 degrees, the highest latitude, include Inverness, Scotland (57 29N), Oslo, Norway (55 59N), Stockholm, Sweden (59 20N), Helsinki, Finland (60 15N), Copenhagen, Denmark (55 41N), Leningrad, Russia (59 55N), and Anchorage, Alaska (61 13N). Using the Fixed True Dawn method in these cities would give those fasting about three hours, more or less, to eat, drink, and pray between fast-days, which is enough to sustainably fast the whole month. Not easy, perhaps, but made easier by recalling that when Ramadan returns again to the winter months, their “fast-days” will last no longer than from late morning to midafternoon. As one proceeds south of these cities to others closer to the 48th parallel, the time at night to restore one’s strength grows steadily longer than three hours.

(3) The third reason for preferring the Fixed True Dawn method is its closeness to the main evidence in the sunna for establishing exceptional times of prayer and fasting; namely, the rigorously authenticated (sahih) hadith of the Masih al-Dajjal (Antichrist) in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, and Sahih Muslim. The hadith deals with exceptional prayer times, the obvious reason why jurists have applied it by analogy to exceptional fasting times as well. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) in this lengthy hadith foretold to his Companions what would happen in the days of the Masih al-Dajjal (Antichrist). Al-Nawwas al-Sam‘ani, who related the hadith, said, in the part of the hadith about the length of the events it describes:

We asked, “O Messenger of Allah, how long will he remain on earth?” He replied, “Forty days: a day like a year [in length], a day like a month, and a day like a week, then all the rest of his days will be [of ordinary length] like your own days.” We said, “O Messenger of Allah, so that day which will be like a year: will it suffice us in it to perform the prayer of a single day and night?” He said: “No. Estimate for it [the duration of] its measure [in time]” (Ahmad, 4.181–82: 17629. S).

This hadith is also related in Sahih Muslim (4.2250–55: 2137. S), and Imam Nawawi explains in his commentary on it:

The meaning of “Estimate for it its measure” is that “when the amount of time has passed after dawn that occurs everyday between it and noontime, then pray the noon prayer (dhuhr); then later, when the amount of time has passed after that occurs [everyday] between it and midafternoon, pray the midafternoon prayer (‘asr); and when the amount of time has passed after it that is [everyday] between it and sunset, pray the sunset prayer (maghrib), and so on, until the entire day [lasting a year] has passed, and the prayers of one year have all taken place in it, all of them being obligatory prayers duly performed in their proper time” (Sharh Sahih Muslim, 18.66).

The Hanafi hadith Imam and commentator ‘Ali al-Qari also explains “Estimate for it its measure” as meaning “Estimate for the time of the prayer of a day—the day that is like a year, for example—its [usual ordinary] measure; that is, the measure it has on any [usual] days (Mirqat al-mafatih: sharh Mishkat al-masabih, 5.196).

Imam Ibn Athir related this hadith in his eleven-volume hadith commentary Jami‘ al-usul, after explaining the meaning more exactly by saying, “‘Estimate for it,’ that is: ‘Estimate the measure of a day from your own familiar days [emphasis mine], and pray in it [the five prayers] each day [of those you estimate would have taken place in that day that lasts a year] by the amount of its hours,’” (Jami‘ al-usul, 10.346).

I submit that what the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) would almost certainly have had in mind, and been understood to say by those around him, was what Ibn Athir spelled out in so many words: “Estimate the measure of a day from your own familiar days (min ayyamikum al-ma‘huda).” This is why taking the standard of the last true 18-degree time in one’s own location is more convincing and closer to the way indicated by the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) than taking it from a city far away. The “Global Village” was certainly not an idea that would occur to anyone who first heard the Prophet’s words (Allah bless him and give him peace) on this matter, nor would drawing on times from so remote a location as Mecca, Medina, or Tunisia from northern Europe today. The standard established by the last day that had true dawn in one’s own locality is simply more familiar and closer to the context of the Prophetic words and guidance in the hadith.

These are three reasons why the Fixed True Dawn method is preferable to others: (1) its taqwa, (2) its practicality in the places of the greatest populations unable to fast normally because they lack true dawn for a period of time during the summer months, and (3) its closeness to the wording of the main Prophetic hadith on what to do instead.

III. Accuracy in Finding Timetables of Eighteen Degrees

This does not require a lengthy explanation, as most educated people today sufficiently understand that they can expect far greater accuracy from the astronomical almanacs and tables of a modern sovereign state, with decades or centuries of experience behind its observing and calculating times within its own dominions, than they can from talented amateurs or even professionals from elsewhere who cannot match such experience or resources. I have dealt with the relation between empirical science and Sacred Law in chapters 9 and 10 of Port in a Storm. Muslims in northerly countries other than the United Kingdom may check similar relevant authorities in their own lands, of which we can mention a few that are current at this writing (2013).

In Oslo, Norway, the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo, publishes an almanac yearly. The institute does the calculations and revisions themselves. The almanac has been published each year since 1804. More information can be obtained from http://www.mn.uio.no/astro/tjenester/publikum/almanakken/. In Copenhagen, Denmark, the Niels Bohr Institute, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, contains the Astronomical Observatory. They also publish the Danish Almanac. More information can be found at: http://www.nbi.ku.dk/english/. In Stockholm, Sweden, the Alba Nova University Center Department of Astronomy at Stockholm University publishes an astronomical almanac yearly for selected cities in Sweden called Den Svenska Almancackan. Other timetables and special calculations are done by the Department of Astronomy at Stockholm University on a commercial basis only and have to be paid for. More information is available at http://www.astro.su.se/english/about-us. In Helsinki, Finland, the Helsinki University Development Services Ltd. University Almanac Office computes local times for sunrise and sunset for over 100 newspapers, radio stations, and airports in Finland. For further information see http://almanakka.helsinki.fi/english.html. In the United States, those interested in the Astronomical Almanac Online may see http://asa.usno.navy.mil/.

Those Unable to Fast

In any one area, a unified solution to the problem of lacking true dawn to begin the fast is preferable to the alternative of people without taqwa-training or a grasp of the relevant issues taking liberties with one of the most central pillars of Islam, the fast of Ramadan.

This is not being doctrinaire, but a mere appeal to a reasonable degree of Muslim unity and taqwa in the fast under such temporary, extraordinary circumstances. People of ordinary health and strength, who are not suffering from weakness, illness, or debilitating old age, but merely live at latitudes considerably north of the major cities clustered around the 60th parallel I have mentioned such as Inverness, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen, and Anchorage, should follow the closest major city in their own lands that, when using the Fixed True Dawn method, has an approximately three-hour nightly recovery period to pray and break their fast. This is a sensible modification of the Shafi‘i school’s mandate to follow the closest city with the true times, merely adding the proviso that it be something people can sustainably do. The mujtahid Hanafi Imam Ibn ‘Abidin found latitude for fiqh scholars choosing ways in which the problem might be solved, saying:

I have not seen anyone of our [Hanafi] school who has dealt with the ruling on their fasting in a situation when dawn appears just as the sun sets, or just after it by a period of time in which the person fasting would be unable to eat enough to sustain his bodily strength, for it is not valid to say that the person is obliged to keep fasting day after day, since that would lead to perishing. If we say that fasting is obligatory, it entails holding that one must estimate its duration. Does one estimate the amount of their night by the closest city to them, as the Shafi‘is have also said here; or rather estimate for them the amount of time it takes to eat and drink [and pray, at night; as I have estimated it above at approximately three hours]; or rather that they are only obliged to make up the missed fast, not to perform it at present?—All of these seem in principle possible to adopt, so let one consider. It is not possible to say here that they are not legally responsible to fast at all to begin with (Radd al-muhtar, 1.244).

What I have suggested here is merely to combine the first two of Ibn ‘Abidin’s three named alternatives for those living well above the 60th parallel whom the Fixed True Dawn method does not give roughly three hours at night to recover; namely, that they follow the closest major city in their country (around the 60th parallel) for whom the method does give three hours. Those unable to do so, and who cannot find another valid method of fasting Ramadan from a scholarly fatwa they can follow, whether their inability is due to weakness or illness or old age, may follow the third of Ibn ‘Abidin’s three named alternatives; that is, by merely making up their missed fast days later in the year. That is, the fatwa of Hasanayn Muhammad Makhluf mentioned above from Reliance of the Traveller defining “inability” to fast should apply equally to those using the Fixed True Dawn method or another valid fatwa alternative as it does to those who have an actual true dawn time in their area. His fatwa reads (with commentary by Sheikh Nuh al-Qudah (N:) in parentheses) as follows:

Fasting, as defined by Sacred Law, begins at the coming of dawn and ends at sunset of each day, its time span varying with the different situations of various countries. No matter how long this period is, its mere length is not considered a legitimate excuse permitting one not to fast. It is only permissible not to fast (N: a day or more of Ramadan, making up the missed fast-day by fasting a day in its place later in the year) if one believes it probable that fasting the whole day will harm one (N: for example, such that one cannot continue working), whether this belief is because of:

(1) a symptom that appears;

(2) having previously tried to fast this long (N: until unable to do so because of weakness, dizziness, etc., and then having eaten);

(3) or being informed by a competent physician.

The ruling in such a case is like that of someone who is ill and fears destruction, an increase in his ailment, or a delay in his recovery were he to fast. This is the general basis of the dispensation not to fast and of leniency for those responsible for the obligations of Sacred Law. Everyone who knows himself and is aware of the reality of his case will know whether it is lawful or unlawful for him not to fast. When one’s fasting the long period will lead to illness, debility, or exhaustion, whether these are certainly established or whether considered likely because of one of the above-mentioned means of knowledge, it is permissible for one to take the dispensation not to fast; and when fasting will not lead to this, it is unlawful for one not to fast. People differ in this respect, and for the condition of each, there is a particular ruling (Fatawa shar‘iyya, 1.271–73).

Prayer Times at Night in Exceptional Latitudes

There is little controversy about the times of sunset and sunrise, while true nightfall, the final disappearance of astronomical twilight when the sun dips farther than 18 degrees below the horizon, cannot exist under the exceptional circumstances we have been discussing.

The red leaves the sky in most places, marking the beginning of nightfall (isha) for Shafi‘is, when the center of the sun descends below the horizon by somewhere between 12 and 13 degrees. It is more variable than the 18-degree “astronomical twilight” because atmospheric factors at night such as the amount of humidity, smoke, or dust in the air may influence how long the redness in the sky remains visible to the human eye. So relying on one’s own observation may work better than a simple formula stated in degrees. What most observe is that 12 degrees (known as “nautical twilight”) plus about ten minutes’ time is usually enough to see the last redness depart, while 13 degrees is an added margin of safety, and only means an additional delay of ten minutes or so. Redness means the color people ordinarily describe as “red.” If one remains stymied, consult the tables of a local astronomical observatory for 12 degrees, add twenty minutes to it, then pray isha. It is most important when one cannot clearly observe the redness of the sky, however, to pray the sunset prayer (maghrib) as soon as the sun sets, or within forty-five minutes or so thereafter, to make sure it falls within the right time. What we have just mentioned above about the time of isha is precaution for isha, not maghrib. What I have seen time and time again in Jordan is that the time of maghrib lasts about fifty-five minutes, then isha has come, according to the Shafi‘i school.

That Hanafis and others may pray isha after the red leaves the sky under such circumstances is clear from Ibn ‘Abidin’s comments on the following words of Imam al-Haskafi:

The time of the sunset prayer (maghrib) lasts from sunset until the last redness of the horizon sinks from view, according to the two [disciples and colleagues of Imam Abu Hanifa, Imams Muhammad ibn Hasan al-Shaybani and Abu Yusuf], and this is the position held by the three [non-Hanafi schools of jurisprudence, the Maliki, Shafi‘i, and Hanbali], and to this position the Imam [Abu Hanifa] returned, as is recorded in the commentaries of al-Majma‘ [Majma‘ al-bahrayn wa multaqa al-nayyirayn, by Ibn al-Sa‘ati] and other works, so it is the [position of the Hanafi] school . . . [Ibn ‘Abidin says, after critiquing the validity of this, and giving his own summary opinion:] Their [the Imams Muhammad ibn Hasan al-Shaybani’s and Abu Yusuf’s] position is broader, while his [Imam Abu Hanifa’s true position; namely, of the later time] is more precautionary (Radd al-muhtar, 1.241).

In Jordan I have observed the disappearance of the red from the sky often enough to confidently pray isha fifty-five minutes after sunset, according with the Shafi‘i school; though if within hail of a mosque, I generally wait to pray with the group later at true nightfall, which prayer-time schedules here follow in deference to Imam Abu Hanifa.

Questions

Question: Sunset (iftar) on the first day of Ramadan is at 9:28 p.m. One breaks the fast, prays, and eats. There is not enough time to sleep. If one takes the start of isha as 11:29 p.m., then one will have finished praying tarawih and isha around 12:30 a.m. If the times calculated by Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office are followed, then fajr enters at 1:27 a.m. (or earlier, in the north of England). People will thus finish praying fajr at 2:00 a.m. Most men need to be up for work by 7:00 a.m. This will mean, first, an effect on the circadian rhythms; and second, exhaustion at some point of the month.

Answer: Some who speak about circadian rhythms are convinced that human beings must sleep in periods of forty-five minutes, ninety minutes, or three hours; and if they fail to do so they will pay for it with ill health. By the grace of Allah, I work for a living and am as healthy as the next man, and for decades, I have split my nightly sleep into two periods: one prior to getting up before fajr, and a second period after fajr, before getting up for work in the morning. In the winter months the former is longer and the latter is shorter, while vice versa in the summer months, and in the spring and autumn, they may come out about equal. Their relative length shifts with the seasons of the year. I find that as long as the total hours slept roughly meet one’s needs, say, from five and a half to seven and a half hours of sleep, the body’s homeostasis manages fine by just adding up the times, and does not seem to mind that its rhythms shift and adjust with the seasons and length of the nights. If more sleep is needed in extraordinary circumstances, one may sleep after work, or whenever one can catch a nap. The body adjusts, by Allah’s help, with or without circadian rhythms, and exhaustion need not occur, if one takes time to sleep. In the month of Ramadan, under the extraordinary circumstances being discussed, this may pose problems, especially for fasting children off to school early, or people getting up for the early Fixed True Dawn fajr who must also tend to the needs of dependent parents following a later fajr time. If such people also have early commutes to work, or young children to see to, it may indeed eventually cause exhaustion. To prevent it, they should try to get back from work by 7:30 p.m. or earlier and sleep for two hours before iftar, and also take care to catch up on sleep missed during the week by sleeping extra hours on their days off.

Question: The 12-degree isha time [based on the Shafi‘i position that isha’s time begins when the red leaves the sky] which you suggest means that around July in Keighley, in the north of England, for example, isha comes in well after midnight. It is very difficult for people to pray isha this late, and given the fact that most mosques are praying isha between 11:00 and 11:15 p.m., following the 12-degree [plus ten-minutes-of-time] methodology for praying isha would mean we would be doing something for isha that no other group or scholar suggests or does in practice. Is there an argument for praying isha earlier, as some of the Deobandi scholars suggest? One mufti has said that there is a “practical ijma‘” of U.K. scholars that one can pray isha before the time has come, due to the hardship that summer times bring. Also, one would miss tarawih at the mosque if the above times are followed. Should one pray a shorter tarawih at home?

Answer: First, the reality of isha for Imam Shafi‘i and others is one’s own actual eye-witness observation that the red is gone from the sky or has changed to some other color that people do not normally call “red.” I gave the 12-degree-plus-ten-minutes formula merely as an approximation to ensure that isha is prayed well after the red is gone from the sky. It may well be that your own actual eye-witness observation—which is what I really recommend—reveals that the red leaves the sky, and hence the time for isha enters, within an hour or less of sunset: as I mentioned, in Jordan it takes only fifty-five minutes.

Second, one should pray isha with the group at the local mosque and then pray tarawih with them. If one’s eye-witness observation of the redness after sunset leads one to conclude that the group has prayed isha before the red has left the sky or changed to some other color that people do not call “red,” one should later repeat isha and witr sometime before the Fixed True Dawn time of fajr, intending “the last isha and witr that I reached, but did not pray.” Someone in i‘tikaf at the mosque may unobtrusively do the same thing there. The larger point is that on Judgement Day the first thing we will be asked about is our prescribed prayers. They hence merit some precaution, and following the recorded position of an Imam of one of the schools, when possible, is generally more precautionary in one’s religious practice than following contemporary fatwas or local mosque practice. However, when hardship is real, muftis must deal with it, even though, as pointed out above, summertime does not last forever, and then isha begins to grow earlier. This is why I would prefer to pray isha at the mosque with the group each night, intending to follow the muftis’ position, and then repeat my isha at home again, in a group prayer with my family or others, before the Fixed True Dawn time enters, for taqwa and precaution. At the same time, whatever prevents a man from attending the group prayer at the mosque, other things being equal, is generally from the Devil. Tarawih is a major point of contact with the Divine in Ramadan, and if one’s own school of fiqh is to pray it in a group, there is no question that the greater baraka lies in doing that. Though it is a supererogatory work, every rak‘a of tarawih prayed in Ramadan is as if having prayed seventy ordinary rak‘as in any other month.

Finally, for Shafi‘is, just as tarawih is a sunna to pray in a group, it is also a sunna to pray by oneself (Reliance of the Traveller, 158), so if one does miss tarawih at the mosque with the group for some reason, praying it at home remains a valid possibility even for non-Shafi‘is, as one may without blame follow another school in performing one’s supererogatory works, if one knows how.

Question: If we are to pray isha at the mosque then repeat later, what is the status of the tarawih prayer, given that we would have prayed it in the mosque before “true” isha?

Answer: Again, under the extraordinary summer circumstances, there is no true isha, and its place is supplied by estimation. Intend adopting the estimation of other fatwas for the isha and tarawih at the mosque, and repray your isha at home out of taqwa and precaution. At the very worst, the tarawih of each night could be a valid make-up of the previous night’s tarawih. Imam Nawawi mentions the desirability of making up later any supererogatory works that one misses.

Question: Is the period between our early imsak (dawn cessation of eating) and the later imsak of the mosques a period of doubt in which it is better not to pray fajr?

Answer: No. Under the extraordinary summer circumstances being discussed, there is no true fajr, and its place is supplied by adopting the Fixed True Dawn time.

Question: With unusually high temperatures in England, and longer fasts than in the Muslim heartlands, people are suffering from moderate dehydration, including disorientation and confusion. Could you please say a word about hydration?

Answer: Ask Allah to make the fast easy, and He does. One’s iftar at sunset in hot weather should be to drink one’s fill of water first, then wait a space before eating one’s fill. A protocol I have followed in previous years is that if the temperature at maghrib is around 27 degrees, I drink three six-ounce glasses of water before praying maghrib, then two glasses afterwards, then begin eating some minutes later; while if it is higher than 27 degrees, I have four glasses before the prayer and three after. Everyone is a bit different, but it helps to keep a written note-card from year to year of things that make the fast easier. I have found a light iftar of mostly vegetables is easier at night, while a hearty suhur is better for the coming day. My own suhur, besides herbal teas, consists of quantities of whole-fat sheep, goat, and buffalo yogurt. Yogurt strengthens the fasting body, the saturated fat in it helps keep the brain functioning properly all the day, and it releases its water gradually throughout the day so one doesn’t get thirsty. However, as with other diet schemes, the only hard and fast rule seems to be “different strokes for different genetic folks,” and what suits one seldom suits all. The best food is what Allah is remembered over and is eaten to please Him, for it has baraka in it. And Allah knows best.

VII. Bibliography

al-‘Abbadi, Ahmad ibn Qasim, Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi, and ‘Abd al-Hamid al-Sharwani. Hawashi al-Shaykh ‘Abd al-Hamid al-Sharwani wa al-Shaykh Ahmad ibn Qasim al-‘Abbadi ‘ala Tuhfa al-muhtaj bi sharh al-Minhaj [Haytami’s interlineal exegesis of Nawawi’s Minhaj al-talibin, printed with it on the margins of its commentaries by Sharwani and (below him) ‘Abbadi]. 10 vols. 1315/1898. Reprint. Cairo: Dar al-Fikr, n.d.

Ibn ‘Abidin, Muhammad Amin. Radd al-muhtar ‘ala al-Durr al-mukhtar. 5 vols. Bulaq 1272/1855. Reprint. Beirut: Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-‘Arabi, 1407/1987.

Ibn al-Athir, al-Mubarak. Jami‘ al-usul fi ahadith al-Rasul. Edited by ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Arna’ut. 11 vols. Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1403/1983.

Ibn Hanbal, Ahmad. Musnad al-Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. 6 vols. Cairo 1313/1895. Reprint. Beirut: Dar Sadir, n.d. [After citing above the volume and page number of this older unnumbered edition (which is the standard), the number of the hadith and its authenticity evaluation have been supplied from a more recent edition:] Ibn Hanbal, Ahmad. Musnad al-Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. Edited with notes by Shu‘ayb al-Arna’ut et. al. 50 vols. (including five vols. 46–50 of indexes). Beirut: Mu’assasa al-Risala, 1416–1421/1995–2001.

Keller, Nuh. Port in a Storm: A Fiqh Solution to the Qibla of North America. Amman: Wakeel Books, 2001.

Makhluf, Hasanayn Muhammad. Fatawa shar‘iyya wa buhuth Islamiyya. 2 vols. Cairo: Dar al-I‘tisam, 1405/1985.

al-Misri, Ahmad ibn Naqib. Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law. Tr. Nuh Keller. Abu Dhabi, 1991. Revised Edition. Beltsville, Maryland: Amana Publications, 1999.

Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, and Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi. Sahih Muslim bi Sharh al-Nawawi. 18 vols. Cairo, 1349/1930. Reprint (18 vols. in 9). Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1401/1981.

al-Nawawi, Yahya ibn Sharaf. Al-Maqasid: Nawawi’s Manual of Islam. Tr. Nuh Keller. Evanston, Illinois, 1994. Revised Edition. Beltsville, Maryland: Amana Publications, 2002.

al-Qari, ‘Ali ibn Sultan. Mirqat al-mafatih: sharh Mishkat al-masabih. 5 vols. Cairo 1309/1892. Reprint. Beirut: Dar Ihya al-Turath al-‘Arabi, n.d.

Moonsighting

Ramadan and Fixed True Dawn (Nuh Ha Mim Kellar)

Ramadan and Fixed True Dawn

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