Life without Alarm Clocks

[GingerPop]

How did muslims know when to wake up for Fajr prayers during the Prophet's (Peace be upon him) time ? Assuming clocks were'nt invented back then..

Surely they'd rely on moon/sun sightings for maghreb or thuhr prayers but Fajr, Asr and Ishaa aren't well defined astronomically I feel..

Also how did they know the exact time and how did they ensure that no one ever over-slept Fajr :mmhmm::think:

Just curious :rolleyes:

[Big Deal]

COKO REEEEEE KOOOO!!!

they wake up from hearin the chicken and birds :D

[Matiii]

^ ok this is interesting

i'd say they depend on the sun moon light

there's this old clock called "mozwala" wich relys on the sunlight

but, i bet their imman is the one who woke them up for fajar (i guess)


as for me
i never used my alarm, unless if i wanted to sleep for extra five minz lol
then i'd use it

[CuTe_EnGinEeR]

LOL @ BD :p

well for fajer prayers .. i think there was some1 who'd walk down in the streets of the village and wake them all up for the Fajer prayers (like in the TANG add :p) . . besides the villages were small so they probably could hear the athaan ( prayer call ) :cute:

[GingerPop]

Yes but how did the Mua2than know its time for Fajr prayers ? Is Fajr just before twilight or after ? So far I'm inclined to beleive it was the chickens :p

[Matiii]

^ probably the chickens :p

i can't think of any other way 0.o

[Big Deal]

its either the chicken .. orr

or they were super geniuses, and had a bucket of water mechanically placed over their head with wooden leavers supporting it for the amount of time left until fajr time .. soon the pressure on the leaver would be too much to hold the bucket, and thus creating it to tilt over and spilling over the imams head ..

*shrug* never know

[Em Jay]

Yes but how did the Mua2than know its time for Fajr prayers ? Is Fajr just before twilight or after ? So far I'm inclined to beleive it was the chickens :p

lol chicken theory is very interesting.. but then again our neighbours had a rooster who kept us up all night by his noise...

there's a du3a2 *prayer* that you can right before sleeping and it really helps ive tried when i had trouble waking up but i cant remember it exactly

ill try to make sure of it then post it

[Jeff]

CHICKENS are the scholars who decide when to pray? :o

[Matiii]

^ no, when they hear the chickens or roosters they will realize it's fajar time
that means it's prayer time
that's the idea
or what biggi just said :p

[Big Deal]

CHICKENS are the scholars who decide when to pray? :o

ROFL!! wow jeff... HAHA .. made my day

[Muggle]

I don't know how the mu'athin knew when it was time for fajer prayers, but didn't they have someone who'd walk around neighbourhoods calling people to wake up and pray? Or is that only the msaharaty in Ramadhan?

[cLueLess]

I think they stayed up all night doing qyam el layl, and would only go to bed after fajer prayer?
But the rooster and birds theory is true, at least in Oman. They'd be silent all night, and would only start singing shortly before the athaan.

[M!nT]

They sleep very early and wake up at around fajr prayers i guess.

[Em Jay]

But the rooster and birds theory is true, at least in Oman. They'd be silent all night, and would only start singing shortly before the athaan.

... that's not the case with all roosters
or our neighbour's rooster was abit koko..

[death rose]

interestiiiing
sometimes set a brain alarm !:P
i keep telling myself while on bed before sleeping that i wanna wake up at,maybe 7 am
so i wake up at 7.30 ! :P
and i only do that for when i Really want to wake up

so Maybe,who knows they did the same!

[GingerPop]

Yes I can rely on my brain alarm when I want to and do so most the time, but its definitely not an alarm I can rely on for long :p

My guess is they slept early and woke early, and since fajr timings are flexible (often have around 1-3 hours to pray depend on which part of the globe your at) itwouldnt really matter if they were an hour late waking up one day..etc..

[GingerPop]

Also, Roosters crow at sunrise.. and Fajr prayers ends a bit earlier than sunrise .. so I'm now having second toughts about the roosters

[Jeff]

Also, Roosters crow at sunrise.. and Fajr prayers ends a bit earlier than sunrise .. so I'm now having second toughts about the roosters

Isn't there something you do with threads...when a black thread turns white? Seems to me I read that somewhere.

All you need is to have one person staying up and measuring and then someone calling from the mosque, right?

Wikipedia says "The time period within which the Fajr daily prayer must be recited is from the beginning of dawn to sunrise."

"Dawn" means the beginning of light in the sky, which occurs before sunrise. And the rooster start crowing then too...

[Jeff]

I see the thread thing is from al-Baqara 187:

"And eat and drink until the white thread becomes distinct to you from the black thread of the dawn. Then strictly observe the fast..."

So if this is how you measure the beginning of dawn for Ramadan, maybe it's for other days too...

[Miss G]

The moon/sub theory applies I would have thought. As for how they woke up to be able to check? I'm assuming, as cLueLess mentioned, that they would make sure they were up praying at night, & the majority would make sure to pray later on during the night so that they tie this in with the time for Fajr prayers, as this was the best time to do the night prayers, & from that they would know when they needed to announce the call for prayer.

[GingerPop]

I see the thread thing is from al-Baqara 187:

"And eat and drink until the white thread becomes distinct to you from the black thread of the dawn. Then strictly observe the fast..."

So if this is how you measure the beginning of dawn for Ramadan, maybe it's for other days too...

Thank you Jeff, I'm loving the approach :) I'm guessing they heavily relied on their biological clocks to ensure they are awake to witness the "threads" .. I find it amazing that they never over-slept, and it probably was very normal at that time ..