Eating and Drinking During the Adhan

Q: Can I keep eating a drinking during the adhan?

A: The fast legally begins with the entrance of true dawn (al-fajr al-ṣādiq).

Therefore, if the adhān is called accurately at the time of true dawn, one must stop eating and drinking immediately. It is not permitted to intentionally ingest anything after that moment.

As for the hadith in which the Prophet ﷺ said that if the vessel is in one’s hand when the call is heard, he may finish from it, this is not understood to permit eating after the entrance of true dawn.

Rather, this hadith is understood in light of other clear texts, such as the verse, “Eat and drink until the white thread becomes distinct from the black thread of dawn,” and the Prophet’s ﷺ clarification that there are two dawns—the first does not prohibit food, while the second does.

Accordingly, the hadith is understood to apply when the adhān is called before the actual entrance of true dawn, as was the case with early adhāns.

Source: Sharh al-Muntaha, Kashshaf al-Qina, Tahdhib al-Sunan