and the other black, and placed them beneath my pillow. I kept looking at them but could not distinguish between them. In the morning, I went to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and mentioned this to him. He said, ‘Your pillow must be very wide, then! What is meant is the darkness of night as distinct from the whiteness of day.’”

It is also reported that some men, when intending to fast, would tie a white thread and a black thread around their legs and continue eating until they could distinguish the two. Allah Most High then revealed, “of dawn” [al-Baqarah: 187], and they understood that what was meant was night and day.

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There are two dawns. The first, called the false dawn, is the whiteness rising vertically on the horizon. It resembles a wolf’s tail because its light rises upwards. It neither marks the beginning of the prayer time nor makes eating unlawful. The second, the true dawn, is the sunlight spreading across the horizon, extending from the direction of the qiblah to the opposite direction. This is what determines when eating becomes unlawful and the prayer time begins.

There is disagreement over whether someone who is uncertain whether dawn has broken may eat. Mālik said, “If he is uncertain whether dawn has broken, he must not eat. If he does eat, he must make up the fast.” Ibn Habīb said that making up the fast is recommended. A number of scholars held that he may continue eating while uncertain whether dawn has broken, until it becomes clear to him. This was also the position of Ibn Abbās, may Allah be pleased with them both, in accordance with the apparent meaning of the words of Allah Most High:

“And eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread.” [al-Baqarah: 187]

As for someone who is uncertain whether the sun has set, there is agreement that he must not eat. If he does, he must both make up the fast and offer expiation, because Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says:

“Then complete the fast until nightfall.” [al-Baqarah: 187]

The underlying reasoning is that eating at night is permissible, so one need only refrain from it when there is certainty, namely, when dawn has clearly broken. Eating during the daytime in Ramadan, however, is forbidden, so it becomes permissible only with certainty, namely, when the sun has clearly set. Abū Ubayd al-Tulaytulī alone reported agreement on this issue in his abridgment.

His statement in the chapter on zihār in al-Mudawwana, concerning someone who thought that the sun had set and broke his fast, only for the sun to reappear—that he must make up the fast but owes no expiation—means that he was certain