14th - 17th Day: The Duration of Fast

(In The Name of Allah, The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful)

May Peace be upon you all. I start by quoting very inspirational verse from the Glorious Qur'an, as Allah's saying:
They believe in Allah and the Last Day, and enjoin the right and forbid the wrong, and compete in doing good. They are among the righteous. [Qur'an, 3:114]

Subhanallah! May we be among the righteous ones. Today's topic The Duration of Fast (In the Light of Quran and Sunnah), implies. 

".. Eat and drink during the nights (of Ramadan)*1

until you can discern the white streak of dawn

from the blackness of night.*2

Then complete your fast till night-fall.*3

[Quran, 2:187]

Explanations:

*1- In this connection, too, there was a misapprehension at first. Some thought that eating and drinking were absolutely prohibited after the performance of the 'Isha' (Night) Prayer. Others thought that one could eat and drink so long as one had not fallen asleep, but that if one had it was not permissible to eat on reawakening. These were people's own fancies and often caused great inconvenience. This verse seeks to remove all such misconceptions. It clearly lays down the duration of the fast: from dawn until sunset. Between sunset and dawn it is permissible to eat, to drink, and to indulge in the legitimate gratification of sexual desires. At the same time the Prophet introduced the pre-fasting repast, recommending a good meal just before dawn.

*2- In fixing the time of obligatory rites, Islam has been mindful that these timings should be so clear and simple that people, at all stages of development, should be able to follow them. This is why Islam bases its timing on conspicuous natural phenomena and not on the clock.

*3- 'Complete your fasting until night sets in' means that the time of fasting ends with nightfall, i.e. sunset marks the breaking of the fast. The precise time of the end of the pre-dawn repast is when a lean strip of aurora appears at the eastern end of the horizon and begins to grow. The time to break one's fast starts when the darkness of night seems to have begun to appear over the eastern horizon.

In our own time, some people have adopted an attitude of extreme caution with regard to the time of both the end and start of fasting. The Law has not fixed these schedules with rigid precision. If a person wakes up just at the crack of dawn it is proper for him to eat and drink hastily.

(The Noblest Messenger of Allah, Peace Be Upon Him)

According to a Tradition the Prophet (sal-allahu- alleihi-wasallam ) said: 'If anyone of you hears the call for [the morning] Prayer while he is eating he should not stop immediately, but should finish eating to the extent of his bare need.' (Abu Da'ud. Siyam', 14 - Ed.) Similarly, one need not wait for the light of day to disappear fully before breaking the fast. The Prophet (sal-allahu- alleihi-wasallam ), for instance, used to ask Bilal to bring him something to drink as soon as the sun had set. Bilal expressed his astonishment, pointing out that the light of day could still be observed. To this the Prophet (sal-allahu- alleihi-wasallam ) replied that the time of fasting came to an end when the darkness of night began to rise from the east. (Muslim, 'Siyam', 10; Abu Da'ud, 'Siyam', 15; etc. - Ed.)

May Allah have mercy upon us all. Ameen!

- Brother in Islam