Ruling on eating after the adhaan for Fajr because of uncertainty as to whether the timing of the adhaan is correct

Praise
be to Allah

What is required
with regard to fasting is to refrain from doing anything that breaks the
fast from the break of dawn until the sun sets, because Allah, may He be
exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And
eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from
the black thread [of night]”

[al-Baqarah
2:187].

What matters is
the break of dawn; if someone is not certain that dawn has broken, then he
may eat until he is certain.

 Similarly, if
he knows that the mu’adhdhin gives the call to prayer ahead of time, or he
is not sure whether he is giving the call to prayer on time or ahead of
time, then he may eat until he is certain. However, it is more appropriate
for him to stop (eating and drinking) as soon as he hears the adhaan, so as
to be on the safe side.

Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez
ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: What is the shar‘i ruling
on the fast of someone who hears the adhaan of Fajr but continues to eat and
drink?

He replied: What
is required of the believer is to refrain from things that break the fast,
such as eating, drinking and so on, when it becomes clear to him that dawn
has broken, if the fast is obligatory, such as the fast of Ramadan, or
fasting in fulfilment of a vow or as an act of expiation, because Allah, may
He be glorified and exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And
eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from
the black thread [of night]. Then complete the fast until the sunset”

[al-Baqarah
2:187].

So if he hears
the adhaan and knows that this is the call for Fajr, then he must stop
(eating etc.)

If the
mu’adhdhin gives the call to prayer before dawn breaks, then it is not
obligatory to stop eating etc., and it is permissible to eat and drink until
he is certain that dawn has broken.

If he does not
know whether the mu’adhdhin gives the call to prayer before dawn has broken
or after, then it is better and more prudent to stop eating etc. when he
hears the adhaan, but it does not matter if he eats or drinks something
whilst hearing the adhaan, because he does not know (for sure) whether dawn
has broken.

It is well-known
that people who live in cities where there is electric lighting cannot know
whether dawn has broken by looking at the sky at the time of dawn; but he
should err on the side of caution by paying attention to the adhaan and the
timetables which state the time of dawn, mentioning hour and minute, acting
in accordance with the words of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him): “Leave that which makes you doubt for that which does not make
you doubt”; and “Whoever is cautious with regard to ambiguous matters will
protect his religious commitment from shortcomings and will protect his
honour from slander” and Allah is the source of strength.

End quote from
Fataawa Ramadaan, compiled by Ashraf ‘Abd al-Maqsood (p. 201)

Based on that,
if your mother and your brother were following someone whom they trust, who
says that the adhaan is given ahead of the time of the true dawn, so they
ate based on that, then there is no blame on them for what they did in the
past, and their fast is valid.

But in the
future, they should stop eating when the adhaan begins, because the issue of
errors in timetables is very controversial, especially with regard to the
degree of error. So the most prudent approach with regard to fasting is to
stop eating when the adhaan begins, and the most prudent approach with
regard to the prayer is to delay it for twenty minutes or more.

For more
information, please see the answers to questions no.
26763 and 66202.

And Allah knows best.