How Should I Deal with Doubt about Fajr Time during Ramadan?

Answered by Ustadh Sufyan Qufi

Question

I’d just finished eating and had some water next to me that I decided to drink from, and I could hear an adhan being called in the background. I wasn’t sure if it was the main call to prayer and decided to drink my water. This was at 4:14 am. Several mosques collectively called to prayer at just a few seconds past 4:15 am.

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.

You can assume the validity of your fast because you were sure that the night was there and had mere doubts about entering the daytime.

In this situation, we return to the important fiqh principle:

“Certainty is not lifted by a doubt.” [Ibn Nujaym, al-Ashbah wa’l Nadha’ir; Majallat al-Ahkam al-‘Adiliyya]

This means that if one is certain about something, such as the validity of our worship, which is the basic assumption for all human actions, then we will keep assuming it is valid until certain that it is not. Mere possibilities and even likelihoods do not change this.

Drinking or eating after that time while thinking that the true dawn time (fajr time) was not yet there will entail you repeating the fast of that day. No expiation (kafara) is due in that case. [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.

[Ustadh] Sufyan Qufi
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani