whereas if he hastens it, that period becomes longer in proportion to how early he takes the pre-dawn meal.

However, he should delay it unless he fears that dawn may break. If he fears that dawn is about to break, then he should take it promptly. For example, if he needs fifteen minutes for the pre-dawn meal, he should take it when fifteen minutes remain; and if he needs five minutes, he should take it when five minutes remain. That is, the interval from beginning to finishing should be equal to the interval remaining until dawn.

The evidence for this is that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would delay the pre-dawn meal so much that there would be only about fifty verses between his pre-dawn meal and the iqamah for the prayer. (1) They estimated time by verses because there were no clocks in those days. For this reason, the scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, mentioned signs in explaining how to rely on a preponderant likelihood that the prayer time has begun. Among them is that if a person customarily recites a regular portion of the Quran, and it is his habit that the time enters when he completes that portion, then he may judge that the time has entered. They likewise estimated activities by the time it takes to slaughter a camel, and the like.

The verses and the recitation used for such estimation should be of moderate length and pace, for if we were to take the longest verse together with deliberate recitation into account, the time would become too long.

His statement, “and hastening the breaking of the fast,” means that it is sunnah to hasten the breaking of the fast—that is, to do so promptly once the sun has set. What matters is the setting of the sun, not the call to prayer, especially in the present time, when people rely on calendars and then calibrate the calendars according to their watches, and their watches may