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Calculating Isha Time

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Answered by Sidi Abu Yahya

  Calculating Isha time

Answer:
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

This is a Shafii fiqh list, and it is not appropriate to turn it into a comparative fiqh list, but to cover this particular issue we need to discuss to some extent the Hanafi positions as well. Imam Abu Hanifa considered Isha to have begun with the disappearance of the white twilight from the horizon and with the onset of complete darkness, but the two companions Abu Yusuf and Muhammad considered it to have begun with the disappearance of the red from the horizon, which occurs long before the disappearance of the white. The relied upon position in their school is the first, however, many contemporary Hanafi scholars allow people living in northern countries to take the second position since Isha begins so late in the summer months. There is a difference of opinion among modern day Hanafis as to when does the white twilight actually disappear from the horizon, some saying that it is when the sun is below the horizon by fifteen degrees, the others holding it to be eighteen degrees. The latter is the more accurate according to the scholars of Deoband. As for when the red disappears, they hold it to be when the sun descends to twelve degrees. These values (eighteen for the white twilight and twelve for the red) correspond exactly to several sightings performed by brothers living in Amman Jordan , including Sheikh Nuh Keller.

In the Shafii school, Isha begins with the disappearance of the red from the horizon after the sun has set, which occurs at twelve degrees as already stated. Most prayer time charts, however, use the Hanafi values of fifteen degrees or eighteen degrees, which corresponds to the disappearance of the white twilight.

So what are the implications of all this? First, maghrib doesn’t last as long as most of the charts say it does according to our school, so one should be careful not to delay it more than forty or forty five minutes. On the other side though, one could pray isha earlier than what most of the prayer time charts say is the beginning of isha.

Doesn’t the time of year and the region play a role? This Question was also raised recently. Time of year and where one is on the face of the earth is irrelevant with regards to the value twelve, whenever the sun descends past twelve degrees below the horizon of one’s region, the red has disappeared and Isha has begun; however, the time taken to reach that point of twelve degrees will vary according to the time of year and one’s location. I hope the distinction is clear. For instance, here in Gothernburg Sweden, during the winter months, the days are very short (zuhr only lasts one hour) and the sun descends at a rapid pace reaching twelve degrees quickly after having set. In contrast, during the spring, and fall, the sun takes a much longer period of time to reach twelve degrees, and in the summer, it never reaches twelve degrees and hangs at around nine or ten degrees for the duration of the night (meaning that we have no real isha).

Another good point that was raised concerned the whole idea of calculations. In the Sharia, importance has always been placed on that which is directly observed, regardless of what ahl-hisab or the people of calculations say. This precept is seen repeatedly throughout the different chapters of fiqh. However, we must remember that this value of twelve degrees was not the result of calculations, but was originally established by visual observation, so in the end there is no real contradiction.

And Allah Glorified and Exalted be He, knows best.

Abu Yahya

This answer was indexed from Qibla.com, which used to have a repository of Islamic Q&A answered by various scholars. The website is no longer in existence. It has now been transformed into a learning portal with paid Islamic course offering under the brand of Kiflayn.