In the title to this post, the term threadsplitting is a play on the phrase hairsplitting and a reference to the white and black thread mentioned in 2:187. I use this term because some believers, though for different reasons, might think that any further discussion on when we stop eating and drinking during Ramadan is hairsplitting.

Some of these people simply eat when they wake up, as long as the sun has not risen, after all, what is a few extra minutes when you are fasting all day. The only problem with that is that if we eat and drink when there is no blackness to distinguish from the whiteness (2:187), then are we really fasting? Maybe, but just not the fast of Ramadan.

Anothers simply stop eating before fajr/dawn which is not a bad idea (although they often think that not doing it their way is a bad idea), unless of course if they “oversleep”, meaning (for them) they wake up during dawn/fajr. What do they do then? Deprive themselves of nourishment, or eat and drink feeling guilty?

I think a balanced approach is to simply “eat and drink until the white thread of dawn appears to you distinct from its black thread (2:187)”; for more on what this might mean click here“.

What do you think? Post a comment.