What dawn is

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Talq bin Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Eat and drink, and do not let the light rising upward alarm you. Keep eating and drinking until the red light appears spread across the horizon." He said this while pointing with his blessed hand.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Samurah bin Jundub (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do not let the adhan of Bilal stop you from eating suhur, nor the dawn that stretches lengthwise; rather, stop eating suhur after the dawn that spreads out across the horizon."

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Thawban (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Dawn is of two kinds. The dawn that is like the tail of a wolf neither makes anything lawful nor unlawful; but the dawn that spreads out across the horizon makes eating and drinking unlawful."

Sayyiduna Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The light that spreads lengthwise is not the dawn; rather, the light that spreads across in breadth is the dawn.

Ja'far bin Nahar said: I asked al-Qasim: "Is the dawn the light that rises lengthwise, or the one that spreads across in breadth?" He said: "The dawn is the one that spreads across in breadth; the one that rises lengthwise is the false dawn."

Abu Mijlaz said: The long rising light is not the dawn; rather, the dawn is the light that spreads out on the horizon.

Muslim said: The early generations did not consider your dawn to be the dawn; rather, they considered the dawn to be the light that lights up the roads and the houses.

Adi bin Thabit said: We disagreed about the dawn, so we came to Ibrahim and he said: "Dawn is of two kinds. One is the rising dawn (al-fajr al-sati'), which spreads lengthwise; it does not make the dawn prayer lawful nor food unlawful. The other is the red dawn that spreads across in breadth; it makes the prayer lawful and makes food and drink unlawful."

Amir and Ata said: The dawn is the one that spreads across in breadth, with redness beside it.

Ja'far bin Burqan said: I asked al-Zuhri and Maymun: "I want to fast, and I see the light of dawn in the form of a column." They both said: "You may eat and drink until you see the light spread across in breadth on the horizon of the sky."

Sayyiduna Adi bin Hatim (may Allah be pleased with him) said: When this verse of the Qur'an was revealed: "Until the white thread becomes distinct to you from the black thread" [Al-Baqarah: 187], I said: "O Messenger of Allah, I placed two threads under my pillow, a black thread and a white thread, and I try to tell night and day apart." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Your pillow is very long and wide! What is meant in this verse is the darkness of the night and the whiteness of the day."