Ramadan Article - What Time To Stop And Start Fasting

Once the entire disk of the sun has disappeared, the fasting person
shouldbreak his fast, and not pay any attention to the red glow that
remains onthe horizon, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him) said:"Once night comes from there and the day
disappears from there, and the sun has set, the fasting person should
break his fast."(Reported by al-Bukhaari, al-Fath, no. 1954; the issue
is also mentioned in Majmoo' al-Fataawa, 25/216).
The Sunnah is to hasten in breaking the fast. The Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) would not pray Maghrib until he had
broken his fast, if only with a sip of water. (Reported by al-Haakim,
1/432; al-Silsilat al-Saheehah, 2110). If a fasting person cannot find
anything with whichto break his fast, he should have the intention in
his heart to break his fast, and he should not suck his finger, as
some of the common people do. He should beware of breaking the fast
before the correct time, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him) saw some people hanging from their hamstrings with
blood pouring from the corners of their mouths, and when he asked
about them, he was told that they were people who broke their fast
before it was time to do so. (The hadeeth is in Saheeh Ibn Khuzaymah,
no. 1986, and in Saheeh al-Targheeb, 1/420). If a person is certain,
or thinks it most likely, or is not sure whether he broke the fast
before the proper time, he should make up the fast later on,because
the basic principle is that the day isstill there and has not ended.
(Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa'imah, 10/287). He should beware of relying
on the word of small children or untrustworthy sources, and he should
also beware of the time differences between different cities and
villages when he hears the adhaan on the radio and so on.
When the dawn comes – which is the white light coming across the
horizon in the East – the fasting person must stop eating and drinking
straightaway, whether he hears the adhaan or not. If he knows that the
muezzin calls the adhaan at dawn, he has to stop eating and drinking
as soon as he hears his adhaan, but if the muezzin calls the adhaan
before Fajr, he does not have to stop eating and drinking when he
hears it. If he does not know the muezzin's usual practice, or there
are differences among the muezzins, and he cannot determine the time
of dawn for himself – as is usually the case in cities because of
lighting and buildings – he should take the precaution of referring to
a printed timetable, so long as he issure that the calculations on
which it is based are not incorrect.
The idea of being on the safe side by stopping eating and drinking a
certain time before Fajr, such as ten minutes before, is bid'ah. On
some timetables you can see one heading for"imsaak" (stopping
eatingand drinking) and another for Fajr; this is something that is
contrary to Islam.
The Muslims living in cities where there is a distinct alternation of
night and day in every twenty-four hour period are obliged to fast, no
matter how long the day is, so long as that distinction between night
and day is there. In some places there is no such distinction between
night and day; Muslims inthese places should fast according to the
times in the nearest city in which there is a distinct alternation of
night and day.