✅Answer:

1 عَن أَبِي عَبْد اللَّه قَالَ: وَقْتُ سُقُوطِ الْقُرْصِ وَ وُجُوبِ الْإِفْطَارِ مِنَ الصِّيَامِ أَنْ تَقُومَ بِحِذَاءِ الْقِبْلَةِ و تَتَفَقَّدَ الْحُمْرَةَ الَّتِي تَرْتَفِعُ مِنَ الْمَشْرِقِ فَإِذَا جَازَتْ قِمَّةَ الرَّأْسِ إِلَى نَاحِيَةِ الْمَغْرِبِ فَقَدْ وَجَبَ الْإِفْطَارُ وَ سَقَطَ الْقُرْصُ

📚Al-Kafi, Vol. 4, p. 100

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: The time for the sunset and the obligation to break the fast is that you stand facing the qibla and search for and track that redness (humra) that rises from the east, and when that redness passes over your head towards the west, breaking the fast becomes obligatory and the sun has set.

2 عَبْد اللَّه بن وَضَّاح قَالَ: كَتَبْتُ إِلَى الْعَبْدِ الصَّالِحِ يَتَوَارَى الْقُرْصُ وَ يُقْبِلُ اللَّيْلُ ثُمَّ يَزِيدُ اللَّيْلُ ارْتِفَاعاً وَ تَسْتَتِرُ عَنَّا الشَّمْسُ وَ تَرْتَفِعُ فَوْقَ الجبل حُمْرَةٌ وَ يُؤَذِّنُ عِنْدَنَا الْمُؤَذِّنُونَ فَأُصَلِّي حِينَئِذٍ وَ أُفْطِرُ إِنْ كُنْتُ صَائِماً أَوِ أَنْتَظِرُ حَتَّى تَذْهَبَ الْحُمْرَةُ الَّتِي فَوْقَ الجبل فَكَتَبَ إِلَيَّ أَرَى لَكَ أَنْ تَنْتَظِرَ حَتَّى تَذْهَبَ الْحُمْرَةُ وَ تَأْخُذَ بِالْحَائِطَةِ لِدِينِكَ

📚Al-Tahdhib, Vol. 2, p. 259

Abdullah said: I wrote a letter to Imam Kadhim (peace be upon him): The sun disappears and the night approaches, then the night increases and the sun disappears from us, and the redness and humra comes over the mountain and the muezzins near us call the adhan, should I pray (Maghrib) at this time and break my fast if I am fasting, or should I wait until the redness over the mountain disappears? The Imam wrote in reply: I see it as better for you to wait until the humra and redness (of the east) goes away and to act with caution in your religion!

3 عَنْ أَبِي عَبْداللَّه فِي قَوْلِ اللَّهِ عَزَّوَجَلَّ أَتِمُّوا الصِّيامَ إِلَى اللَّيْلِ قَالَ سُقُوطُ الشَّفَق

📚Mustadrakat al-Sara'ir, p. 51

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said regarding the verse (Al-Baqarah, verse 187) 'Complete the fast until the night': (Meaning) until the fall and disappearance of the humra and redness (of the east).

4 عَنْ أَبِي جَعْفَر قَالَ: إِذَا غَابَتِ الْحُمْرَةُ مِنْ هَذَا الْجَانِبِ يَعْنِي مِنَ الْمَشْرِقِ فَقَدْ غَابَتِ الشَّمْسُ مِنْ شَرْقِ الْأَرْضِ وَ غَرْبِهَا

📚Al-Kafi, Vol. 3, p. 278

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) said: When the redness disappears from this side, meaning the east, the sun has set from the east and the west of the world.

5 بعض أَصحابناعَنْ أَبِي عَبْداللَّهِ قَالَ سَمِعْتُهُ يَقُولُ وَقْتُ الْمَغْرِب إِذَا ذَهَبَتِ الْحُمْرَةُ مِنَ الْمَشْرِق و تَدْرِي كَيْفَ ذَلِكَ قُلْتُ لَا قَال لِأَنَّ الْمَشْرِقَ مُطِلٌّ عَلَى الْمَغْرِب هَكَذَا و رَفَعَ يَمِينَهُ فَوْقَ يَسَارِهِ فَإِذَا غَابَتْ هاهُنَا ذَهَبَتِ الْحُمْرَةُ مِنْ هَاهُنَا

📚Al-Kafi, Vol. 3, p. 278

The narrator said: I heard Imam Sadiq say: The time of Maghrib is when the humra and redness from the east goes away, and do you know how this is? I said: No, he said: Because the east is overlooking the west like this and he put his right hand over his left, so when the sun disappears from here (i.e., the west), the humra and redness disappears from this side (i.e., the east).

6 محمدبن شريح عن أَبِي عَبداللَّه قَال: سَأَلْتُهُ عن وَقْت الْمَغْرِب فقال إِذَا تَغَيَّرَتِ الْحُمْرَةُ في الْأُفُق و ذَهَبَتِ الصُّفْرَةُ وَ قَبْلَ أَنْ تَشْتَبِكَ النُّجُومُ

📚Al-Tahdhib, Vol. 2, p. 257

Muhammad said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about the time of Maghrib; he said: When the humra in the horizon (of the east) changes and the yellowness goes away and before the stars become entangled.

7 يعقوب بن شعيب عن أبي عبد اللَّه قال:قال لي مَسُّوا بِالْمغرب قَليلًا فَإِنَّ الشَّمس تَغِيبُ مِنْ عِنْدكُمْ قَبْلَ أَنْ تَغِيبَ مِنْ عِنْدنا

📚Tahdhib, Vol. 2, p. 258

Yaqub said: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said to me: Delay the Maghrib prayer a little so that you enter into the night, because the sun disappears from you before it has disappeared from us.

✅In the narrations, the time of the Maghrib prayer and the start of the time for breaking the fast are the same, and its time is the disappearance of the eastern redness (humra al-mashriqiyya).

✅Some people, according to a few narrations whose apparent meaning introduces the apparent sunset as the time for the Maghrib prayer, pray about 17 to 20 minutes before the disappearance of the eastern redness, but these narrations are brief and the true sign of sunset in the firm narrations is the disappearance of the eastern redness, not the apparent disappearance of the sun's disk!

And also, the narrations they rely on, with that meaning, are against caution and in agreement with the general populace, and the criterion for sunset according to the firm narrations is the disappearance of the eastern redness and the passing of the redness from over the head.

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

✅ In the previous section, some of the narrations about the start of the time for the Maghrib prayer, which coincides with the start time for breaking the fast, were mentioned.

✅According to these narrations, although the sunset is the criterion for the entry of the Maghrib prayer time, the important issue is how do we know that the sun has set?

Is it when we apparently see that the sun's disk is not visible, or does the sunset have another criterion and sign?

Today, the apparent disappearance of the sun's disk is called 'sunset', which has a gap of about 17 to 20 minutes with the time of the Maghrib prayer.

But the narrative criterion for the time of the Maghrib prayer, as was explained in the narrations of the previous section, is the disappearance of the humra and redness on the eastern side.

A further explanation is that after the sun's disk disappears, humra and redness covers the sky, which is called 'shafaq' (twilight), and after a few minutes, this redness first gathers from the eastern side, and this gathering of redness and its transformation into the initial darkness of the night moves towards the western side of the sky.

When this gathering of redness has reached the middle of the sky and passed over a person's head, according to the narration of Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), the time of the Maghrib prayer has entered, and it is at this time and with this sign that the sun has truly set, which is almost the same as the adhan that is officially called today.

The opponents of the Shia, due to their distance from the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them), break their fast and pray their Maghrib prayer as soon as the sun apparently disappears, and those who have been to Hajj and Umrah have seen this practice from them, but the Shia of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them), according to the criterion for the sunset that has been explained to them by the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them), wait until the eastern redness disappears and then they pray the Maghrib prayer and break their fast, which is about 20 minutes after the apparent sunset.

So the customary adhan in Shia countries is usually called on time and of course sometimes it is called a minute or two later or a minute or two earlier which is not significant, and of course the religious criterion is the gathering of the humra and redness from the eastern side because the humra and redness of the western side remains for a while, and in the narrations, the disappearance of the western redness has been set as the end of the main time for the Maghrib prayer.

✅This approximately 20-minute gap between sunset and the time of the Maghrib prayer has also been mentioned in the narrations. Please pay attention to the following narration:

8 عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ يَحْيَى عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ الْحُسَيْنِ عَنِ ابْنِ أَبِي عُمَيْرٍ عَنْ إِسْمَاعِيلَ بْنِ أَبِي سَارَةَ عَنْ أَبَانِ بْنِ تَغْلِبَ قَالَ: قُلْتُ لِأَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ أَيَّةُ سَاعَةٍ كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ يُوتِرُ فَقَالَ عَلَى مِثْلِ مَغِيبِ الشَّمْسِ إِلَى صَلَاةِ الْمَغْرِبِ.

📚Al-Kafi, Vol. 3, p. 448

Aban ibn Taghlib said: I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): At what time did the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) pray his Witr prayer? He said:

A time like the one between the disappearance of the sun and the time of the Maghrib prayer!

✅In the above narration, in addition to the time of the Witr prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) being stated, the existence of a gap between the apparent disappearance of the sun and the Maghrib prayer is also mentioned.

Meaning, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) would pray his Witr prayer when there was as much time remaining until the time of the Fajr (dawn) and the time of the Fajr prayer as there is a gap between sunset and the Maghrib prayer, which is about 20 minutes before dawn, and similarly, there is a gap of about 20 minutes between the sunset and the true time of the Maghrib prayer.

✅But unfortunately, some of the lovers of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) have not paid attention to these points and according to the apparent meaning of a few brief narrations, they break their fast as soon as the sun sets and pray the Maghrib prayer, and in this way, they put their prayer and fast at great risk and do not pay attention to the caution and the interpreting and firm narrations of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) which were mentioned in the previous section.

It is recommended that the narrations of the previous section be read once again with great care so that they can see the specific recommendation of Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) to wait until the eastern redness goes away and to take caution in religion in narrations 2 and others, and not to put their prayer and fast at great risk.

✅The above explanations were stated because the matter had become confusing for some users because they had the illusion that there is a gap between the religious adhan of Maghrib and the official adhan of today, but with the above explanations, it became clear that, praise be to Allah, the official adhan is called almost on time and is correct, although the criterion is what is mentioned in the narrations.

https://feghh14.com/en/657