Grand Ayatollah Shirazi remarks on Maghrib time for Praying, breaking fast

The daily scholarly meeting of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Sadegh al-Hosseini al-Shirazi was held on Monday, the 24th of Rajab. In this session, like the previous meetings, the Marja answered the questions of the attendees about various jurisprudence issues.

Grand Ayatollah Shirazi discussed the Sharia-based Prayer time of Maghrib and breaking the fast in the holy month of Ramadan, and said: There is a famous debate among Shia jurists in this regard. Accordingly, the Sharia-based time of the Maghrib call to prayer and breaking the fast of the holy month Ramadan is when the red glow disappears in the east, after sunset, from the highest point of the sky, the Maghrib Prayer can be performed and the fast can be broken.

His Eminence quoted a narration from Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him) in this regard and said: Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, has said: At the time of Maghrib, be patient and wait for a while. What Imam (peace be upon him) meant is that you should not immediately perform the Maghrib Prayer right after the sunset, and should not break your fast immediately, but should wait a little until it gets dark.

Grand Ayatollah Shirazi went on to emphasize: This is the predominant opinion among Shia jurists, but among jurists, very few, perhaps one or two out of a hundred people, have said that the time of Maghrib Prayer is when the sun sets. But this goes against the majority verdict.