Is It Problematic to Break My Fast before the Call to Prayer?
Answered by Ustadh Sufyan Qufi
Question
Yesterday I fasted. When I was about to break the fast, I was uncertain if sunset had happened. Before I broke it, I looked at my phone, and it said that sunset had already happened. I started to eat some minutes after I looked at my phone, but I was still uncertain. Some minutes after I started to eat, the adhan was called on my electronic device. Even after I broke my fast, I looked up at which time sunset took place, and it happened several minutes before I broke my fast. Is my fast valid?
Answer
In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,
I pray this finds you in the best of states.
Your fast is valid, as you mentioned. This is because you took a reliable means to establish sunset.
Contemporary scholars are clear that reliable timetables can be used for prayer times.
We have to fast until the sun sets, not until we hear the call to prayer. [Shurunbulali, Nur al-Idah]
Allah (Most High) says: “˹You may˺ eat and drink until you see the light of dawn breaking the darkness of night, then complete the fast until nightfall.” [Quran, 2:187]
And Allah knows best.
Wassalam
[Ustadh] Sufyan Qufi
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Ustadh Sufyan Qufi is an advanced seeker of knowledge, originally from Algeria, who grew up in France. He began searching far and wide for answers to the fundamental questions of life and was disappointed at the answers he found. Then he connected with various traditional teachers and gradually connected with SeekersGuidance. He embarked on his journey of learning through the various teachers at SeekersGuidance, including his mentor Shaykh Faraz Rabbani. He studied numerous texts in Islamic Law, Theology, Hadith, and other areas with Shaykh Faraz Rabbani and other teachers, including Shaykh Abdurrahman al-Sha‘ar, Shaykh Ali Hani, and others. He is an active instructor at SeekersGuidance and answers questions through the SeekersGuidance Answers Service.
