eat and drink until the whiteness of the day becomes distinct from the blackness of the night at dawn (al-fajr), then complete the fast till nightfall (al lail)” (2:187). Lail (night) begins when the sun sets, and hence the fast in the terminology of Islām is kept from the first appearance of dawn, which is generally about an hour and a half before sunrise, till sunset. Wiṣāl (lit. joining together) is fasting, or continuing the fast throughout the night and then the next day so that there is no break, is definitely prohibited (Bu. 30:48, 49). But one ḥadīth permits continuity of fast till daybreak (Bu. 30:50). This would mean that a man may not, if he chooses, break the fast at sunset but must take the morning meal for fasting for the next day; in other words, he must take a meal once in twenty-four hours at least. Wiṣāl was prohibited lest people should, in trying continuous fast, impair their health or make themselves unfit for worldly work, for it appears that the Holy Prophet himself sometimes kept a continuous fast (Bu. 30:48, 49); but, for how many days, is not definitely known. Only on one occasion, when some of the Companions joined with the Holy Prophet in keeping a continuous fast, it was continued for three successive days, and being the close of the month, the moon appeared on the evening of the third day, the Holy Prophet adding that if the moon had not appeared he would have continued the fast. When someone asked him, why he forbade wiṣāl to others, when he himself kept continuous fasts, he replied: “I pass the night while my Lord gives me food and makes me drink” (Bu. 30:49). He referred of course to the spiritual food which sometimes makes a man bear hunger and thirst in an extraordinary way, thus, in a sense, taking the place of food and drink. But all men had not the same spiritual sustenance, and, moreover, continuity of fast, if allowed generally, would have given rise to ascetic practices which Islām does not encourage. It should be noted in this connection that fasting, according to the Holy Qur’ān, meant abstaining from food as well as from drink, and three days’ continual suffering of hunger and thirst, in a hot country like Arabia, shows the extraordinary power of endurance which the Companions of the Holy Prophet had developed, while his own power of endurance was much greater. This endurance was no doubt due to extraordinary spiritual powers.