However...

However, the reformist maintains the view that the Layl (night) occurs at the sunset, and has repeatedly shown the sun-disc descending and disappearing over a seafront. And quite discretely, the reformer labels all those who do not agree with his views as the followers of Ghulat, i.e., Abu Khatab [1] (who after renegading, was cursed by the Aimmah -asws ) – as Abu Khatab innovated that the time of Maghrib enter upon the appearance of the stars in the sky.

Our rebuttal to the reformist of the video ( https://youtu.be/1eS8TXBq-7I ): The foremost is the Holy Quran and its interpretation as explained by Ahl Al-Bayt -asws , some of the main points of the reformist are refuted in Appendix I, with references to video minutes for the convenience of our readers.

Here, we will take those Ahadith which agree with the Holy Quran as per the well-established Ahadith authenticity criteria and not the man-made criterion of ilmul Rijal (the approach of the reformist in the video clip).

Allah -azwj says: وَكُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكُمُ الْخَيْطُ الْأَبْيَضُ مِنَ الْخَيْطِ الْأَسْوَدِ مِنَ الْفَجْرِ ۖ ثُمَّ أَتِمُّوا الصِّيَامَ إِلَى اللَّيْلِ And eat and drink until it is clear for you, the white thread from the black thread at dawn, then complete the Fast up to the night (2:187) Similar to the entry of the white thread to the black thread at the dawn (fast starting time), is the entry of the night into daylight where one should see a change to the daylight prior to breaking the fast.

The one who breaks fast earlier than the prescribed time of the fast-breaking, upon him is the repeating of it . Hence, a few minutes of delay, i.e., 8-10 minutes after the metrological/calculated sunset (nearer to the equator) [2] rather than the eye-observed time of sunset.

Prior to presenting some Ahadith, it’s important to clarify how sunset is reported metrological: The metrological announced sunset – the time at which most Muslims follow and open their Fast – is earlier than the observed sunset, as the light of sun is refracted. Near the horizon, atmospheric refraction causes sunlight rays to be distorted to such an extent that geometrically, the solar disk is already about one diameter below the horizon when a sunset is observed.

[3] Therefore, the sunset is not observed until at least 2-3 minutes (time varies depending on the time of year and geographical location) after the calculated sunset time.

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