So from this ease is his, sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam, saying, "If one
of you hearsthe call to Prayer and the vessel is in the hand of oneof
you, then let him not put it down until he fulfils his need from it."
"If one of you hears the call to Prayer," and he has had his fill of
whatever he was eating, then it is not allowed for him to then have
any more, whether it be a drink, or some fruit."
But as for the one who hears the Adhaan and he has not yet taken what
he needs from the food and the drink, then the Messenger, sallAllahu
alaihiwa sallam, made that lawful for him. So he clearly said, in the
clear and eloquent Arabic language, "If one of you hears the call to
Prayer, and the vessel is in his hand, then let him not put it down
until he fulfils his need from it."
And what is meant here bythe call is the second call, the second
Adhaan . It is not the first Adhaan , which they wrongly call the
Adhaan for withholding ( al-Imsaak ). We must know that there is no
basis for calling the first Adhaan the Adhaan for withholding ( imsaak
).
The second Adhaan is when we are to withhold, and this is clearly
stated in the Quraan, since Allah, theMighty and Majestic, says: And
eat and drink until thewhite thread of dawn becomes clear to you
fromthe black thread of the night.
So eating becomes forbidden at the start of the time of the Fajr
Prayer. There is no separation between these two things.There is no
withholding from food and drink for a quarter of an hour, or less than
that, or more than that, before the start of the time for the Fajr
Prayer. Not at all. Because the Prayer becomes due when the true dawn
appears, and food becomes forbidden for the Fasting person when the
true dawn appears. So there is no separation between these two matters
at all.
So therefore there occurs in the hadeeth agreed upon by al-Bukharee
and Muslim, from the hadeeth of ¹Abdullaah ibn ¹Umar ibn al-Khattaab,
radiyAllahu ¹anhumaa , that the Prophet, sallAllahualaihi wa sallam,
said, "Let not the Adhaan of Bilaal deceive you," meaning, thefirst
Adhaan, "because he gives the Adhaan in order to awaken the person
whois sleeping, and so that theperson who wishes to eat the pre-dawn
meal can do so. So eat and drink until Ibn Umm Maktoon gives the
Adhaan."
Ibn Umm Maktoon, and hisname was 'Amr, he was a blind man, and he was
the one about whom the Saying of Allah, the Exaltedand Most High, came
down: He frowned and turned away, that the blind man came to him."
tothe end of the Aayahs .
So he used to give the second Adhaan , the Adhaan which means that
eating becomes prohibited, and that it is now time for the Fajr
Prayer.
How had he used to give the adhaan when he was blind? This is a
question which naturally occurs to some people. So 'Amr ibn Umm
Maktoom used to climb upon the roof of the mosque, and he could not
see the dawn, but he would wait until someone passing by saw the dawn.
So when someone saw that the dawn had appeared and spread across the
horizon, then they would say to him, It is morning. It is morning.
Then he would give the Adhaan .
So you will notice here that the Adhaan of 'Amr ibn Umm Maktoom was
after the Fajr had appeared, and had been seen by the people whilst
they were walking in the streets. So the when it was said to him, "It
is morning. It is morning," hewould give the Adhaan .
So therefore there is latitude in the affair, since the muadhdhin
would be delayed in giving the Adhaan until he heard the people
telling him, "It is morning, it is morning." And then Allah¹s
Messenger, sallAllahu alaihiwa sallam, said, "If one of you hears the
call to Prayer and the vessel is in his hand, then let him not put it
down until he has fulfilled his need from it."
So Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, spoke truly when He said at the end
of those Aayahs relating to Fasting: Allah desires to make things easy
for you, and Hedoes not desire to make things difficult for you.
and,
And that you should complete the number of days, and that you should
glorify Allah by mentioning takbeer for His having guided you, and
that you should be thankful.
So therefore from the Fiqh that is to be criticised, and which runs
contrary to this Sunnah , is that a person says, "If someone hears the
Adhaan and has some food in his mouth, then he must spit it out." So
this isover-strictness, and ( ghuluww ) exceeding the limits in the
Religion, and the Lord of all of the creation admonished us, and
reminded us, in His Book and in the Sunnah of His Prophet, sallAllahu
alaihi wa sallam, that we should not exceed the due limits in our
Religion. So He said, in the Noble Quraan:
O people of the Book! Do not exceed the limits in your religion, and
do not say anything about Allah except the truth.
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