in itself becomes distinct yet remains unseen by us, and the outward wording therefore makes abstention contingent upon knowledge, whereas analogy requires that it be tied to the actual rising itself—that is, by analogy with sunset and the other legally defined time-limits such as the zenith and the like—for in all these matters the Law takes account of the event itself, not of people’s awareness of it.

The well-known view of Mālik, which is followed by the majority, is that one may continue eating right up to the moment dawn appears. Another view maintains that one must cease before the dawn rises.

The proof for the first opinion is the ḥadith recorded by al-Bukhārī—in one of its narrations, as I recall—where the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Eat and drink until Ibn Umm Maktūm gives the call to prayer, for he does not call it until dawn has broken.” This report is explicit, or virtually so, regarding the very point in dispute, and it agrees with the plain sense of the Almighty’s words, “Eat and drink…” (Q. 2:187).

Those who oblige stopping before dawn do so out of precaution and to block the means; it is the more scrupulous of the two positions, while the first is the stronger by analogy. Allah knows best.

[Section Two: Abstention]

The Second Pillar: Abstention

There is unanimous agreement that during the fast a person must refrain from food, drink, and sexual intercourse, in accordance with His statement, exalted be He: “So now lie with them and seek what Allah has decreed for you, and eat and drink until the white thread becomes distinct to you from the black thread of dawn” (Q. 2:187).

From this principle they differed on a number of issues—some unmentioned in the texts and others expressly addressed.

As for the unmentioned matters, the first concerns substances that reach the bodily cavity yet are not nutritive; the second, what enters the cavity through a passage other than the food-and-drink channel, such as injections; and the third, what penetrates the interior of other organs without reaching the stomach, for example something that reaches the brain but not the abdomen.

The cause of their divergence here lies in whether the nutritive should be analogically extended to the non-nutritive, for the explicit text speaks only of the nutritive. Whoever views fasting as serving a rational objective does not apply the ruling on the nutritive to the non-nutritive, whereas whoever regards it as a purely devotional act whose aim is merely to withhold whatever reaches the cavity treats them both alike.

The upshot of Mālik’s school is that one must abstain from anything that reaches the throat by any pathway whatsoever, whether it nourishes or not.

With regard to matters that break the fast other than eating and drinking, they all say that whoever kisses and then ejaculates has invalidated his fast, but that emission of pre-seminal fluid alone does not break it—except according to Mālik.

They also disagreed about kissing while fasting: some allowed it, and some