Timing the Beginning and End of the Fast

Question: I live in Krakow, Poland. When last Ramadan arrived, Allah enabled us to fast—praise be to Him. Yet for both the start of the fast and the time of breaking it we relied on the timetable of our homeland, Iraq, even though Poland is ahead of Iraq, which means we should begin abstaining and break our fast earlier. We continued in that manner for four days until the time-difference became clear to us; then we switched to the timetable of the country in which we were fasting. What is the ruling on what we did first, and what is required of us?

Answer: As the questioner himself noted, they are obligated to follow the timetable of the land in which they reside. They must begin fasting at dawn and break it at sunset in that country, for Allah the Exalted says: “And eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread; then complete the fast until nightfall” (al-Baqarah 2:187).

This applies to any Muslim, wherever he happens to be, so long as dawn rises and the sun sets in that location; the fast is observed between those two points.

What they did at the start of the month—fasting according to the timetable of another country that differs from that of the country they are in—was a mistake. They must make up those days that they fasted in this manner, because their fast was invalid and not in accordance with the Sacred Law, as we have explained. If another Ramadan has passed without them making up those days, then, in addition to making them up, they must feed one needy person for every day. Allah knows best.