“…Eat and drink until the white thread of dawn appears to you distinct from its black thread. Then complete your fast when the night appears…” 2:187

If God did not want us to think deeply about this verse He could have revealed something like, “Stop eating and drinking before fajr/dawn”. Instead, by revealing, “eat and drink until the white thread of dawn appears to you distinct from its black thread”, He made the verse thought-provoking and enigmatic.

So contrary to popular belief, God does not want us to simply stop eating and drinking before fajr/dawn. He did not reveal, “eat and drink before dawn”, or “eat and drink until just before dawn”, God revealed, “eat and drink until the white thread of dawn appears to you distinct from its black thread”, meaning, eat and drink until we personally see some light with our own eyes. And if we are seeing light, then it is time. And if we were eating during this fajr/dawn time, it is halal, permissible, and okay.

I hear someone saying, “But what if there is an overcast and we cannot see the sky”? Good question, I think that is when we should rely on predictions, when we can only rely solely on predictions, even of the prediction is no more sophisticated than basing it on yesterday’s observation.

Finally, the real question is not how early before fajr/dawn we should stop eating and drinking, it is when during fajr/dawn should we stop eating and drinking”? And of course God anticipated this question with the answer, “eat and drink until the white thread of dawn appears to you distinct from its black thread”.

What do you think? Post a comment.