The legally decreed call to Down prayer

Question:

Could you give us an answer, may Allah reward you, about the one who delays the call to prayer by 10 minutes after the time set by the official schedule for the dawn prayer. He also adds (20min) between the second call to the prayer and the standing for the opening of the prayer. May God bless you.

The answer:

Praise be to Allah the Lord of the worlds and peace and blessings upon him who was sent by Allah as a mercy to the worlds and upon his kins, friends and brothers up to the doomsday. Thereafter,

You should know, may Allah guide you that the dawn time is twofold, a true dawn which could be described as the one spreading out in the eastern horizon. And what is meant by the horizon is that part of the sky which can be seen as related to the earth. The second one is a false dawn and can be described ascending to the sky as a column not stretching in the horizon. And so was it expressed in the hadith as the “wolf tail”. And the real dawn which makes the prayer in conformity with the religious rules is the true and correct dawn. As for the false dawn, which is the first dawn, it occurs by night. Thus the one who enters the prayer before the latter dawn breaks must renew the prayer and do it again according to Ibn Abbes’s hadith, may Allah be pleased with him, that the prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said “Dawn time is twofold: a dawn time when having food isn’t allowed and doing the prayer is lawfully permitted", and a dawn time when the prayer is unlawful and having food is lawfully allowed”.

And the current official call to the prayer which is based on the astronomical timing doesn’t take into consideration the genuine break of the true dawn nor does it consider its specifications, and its difference can be patently obvious to the naked eye. However, the real dawn time appears but about 10 to 20 minutes after the end of the official call to the prayer depending on the year’s seasons. And that is for the observance and performance of the prayer in its legally set time and a real concern about the most practical religious pillar inducing the appropriateness and righteousness of the praying people’s deeds, and being in accordance with what the Islamic law dictates and orders.

God says:

﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَجِيْبُوا للهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُمْ لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ﴾ [الأنفال: 24].

﴾O you who believe! Obey and respond to Allah and the messenger when he calls you to that which revives you﴿ [Al-Anfâl: 24].

and He, the great and almighty, said

﴿وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانْتَهُوا﴾ [الحشر: 7].

﴾And whatever the messenger brings you, take it. And whatever he forbids you, abstain from it.﴿ [Al-Hashr: 7].

and God, may He be exalted commanded that the prayers be maintained and performed in their legal set time. God said

﴿إِنَّ الصَّلاَةَ كَانَتْ عَلَى المُؤْمِنِينَ كِتَابًا مَوْقُوْتًا﴾ [النساء: 103].

﴾Surely the prayer has been a timed prescription for the believers﴿ [An-Nissâ': 103].

which is to say, appointed and fixed time. And He, glory be to Him, said:

﴿حَافِظُوا عَلَى الصَّلَوَاتِ وَالصَّلاَةِ الْوُسْطَى﴾ [البقرة: 238].

﴾Do preserve constantly the prayers, and the middle prayer﴿ [Al-Baqarah: 238].

And He, Glory to Him and may Exalted be He, describes the believers and the All merciful bondsmen saying

﴿وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَلَى صَلَوَاتِهِمْ يُحَافِظُوْنَ﴾ [المؤمنون: 9].

﴾And those who pay heed to their prayers﴿ [Al-Mu'minûn: 9].

That’s to say they pay much attention and care to its performance in accordance to the religious rules and at the very time that Allah has prescribed for the prayer performance.

May Allah help us to perform it in the most perfect way and to be among those who preserve it and perform Allah’s orders and abstaining from all that has been forbidden by our Lord the great and Almighty.

And all science and knowledge belong to Allah may exalted be He, and our last invocation is to praise Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings of Allah be upon our prophet Muhammad and his kins, friends and brothers up to the doomsday.

Algiers, Sha`bân 24^th, 1422 (h)

Corresponding to November 4^th 2001