KNOW YOUR RAMADAN
Fasting Times and Calendars
Q2: Should the fasting be based on appearance of dawn and sunset, or is the calendar sufficient?
Ans: It should be based on observation and calendar.
Fasting begins at Al-Fajr time and ends at sunset.
Contemporary scholars all agree on the permission to use the calendar times for prayer and fasting if two conditions are met:
1. That the organization that issues a timetable should be people of knowledge and experience.
2. That the time for beginning the fast should be specific to the town for which the timetable is issued. It is not permissible for someone who is living far away from a town to rely on its timetable, because of the differences in timings between the two towns.
However, if we doubt its authenticity, it requires us to check the time in another way to have certainty or quasi-certainty, an obligatory condition for the validity of the prayer and the fast as explained by scholars.
This doubt exists today due to the differences between the calendars for the times of Al-Fajr and Al-Isha. The Muslim should return to the observation of celestial signs, if possible, or to the information of a trusted person who knows and distinguishes the signs and can attest to the conformity of one of the calendars to reality,
Ibn Qudāmah said in Al-Kāfī: “Anyone who doubts concerning the entry of the hour, should not pray before having a certainty or quasi-certainty, and this, is based on a proof. If a trusted person informs him via secure information, then he follows him. If he informs him based on an intellectual effort, he does not follow and carries out his research until he is almost certain of the time entry time.”
It should be noted, however, that what counts concerning confirming the beginning of the month of Ramadān is the sighting of the new moon or the completion of 30 days of Sha’bān if the moon is not sighted. This is what is indicated by the saheeh Sunnah, and the scholars unanimously agreed on it.
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