in His saying, “the white thread” (1), for what is meant—Allah knows best—is a whiteness tinged with red, or it may at times be white and at other times red. This varies according to the seasons and the points at which it rises.

I have personally observed this repeatedly from my home on Mount Hamlan, southeast of Amman. This enabled me to verify the correctness of what some who are keen to rectify the worship of Muslims have stated: namely, that the Fajr call to prayer in some Arab countries is given between twenty and thirty minutes before the true dawn—indeed, even before the false dawn!

I have often heard the commencement of the Fajr prayer in some mosques coincide with the rising of the true dawn, although they had given the call to prayer about half an hour earlier. Accordingly, they performed the Sunnah prayer of Fajr before its time. They may likewise hasten to perform the obligatory prayer before its time in Ramadan, as I heard on Damascus Radio while I was taking the pre-dawn meal last Ramadan (1406 AH). This imposes hardship on people by making them stop eating prematurely and exposes the Fajr prayer to invalidity. This is only because they rely on astronomical calculations and disregard the prescribed religious timing:

“And eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread.”

“So eat and drink until the red light spreads horizontally before you.”

This is a reminder, and reminders benefit the believers.

2032 — “Eat it, but whoever among you eats it should not approach this mosque until its smell has gone.”

It was narrated by Abū Dāwūd (2/147), Ibn Khuzaymah (1669), and Ibn Ḥibbān (318), through Bakr ibn Sawādah, who said that Abū al-Najīb, the freedman of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd, told him that Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī related:

“Garlic and onions were mentioned in the presence of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. It was said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, garlic is the strongest of all of them. Will you prohibit it?’ The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, then said the above.”

This chain of transmission is weak. No one declared Abū al-Najīb trustworthy besides Ibn Ḥibbān, and they mentioned no narrator from him other than