Fast till sunset or darkness

[niaz]

Peace,

https://www.almaany.com/en/dict/ar-en/%D8%B2%D9%84%D9%81%D8%A7/

Original Text: زُلْفًا   |  Meaning: Early parts [Koran Words]

https://www.almaany.com/quran/11/114/5/

[النسخ بالإنجليزية] wazulafan [المعنى بالانجليزية] and (at) the approach

http://corpus.quran.com/translation.jsp?chapter=11&verse=114

Sahih International: .... and at the approach of the night.
Yusuf Ali: ... and at the approaches of the night:
Shakir: ... and in the first hours of the night;
Muhammad Sarwar: ... and at the beginning of the night.
Arberry: ... and nigh of the night;

Early part(s) | approach(es) | first hour(s) | beginning are all accurate translations of زُلْفًا. I get your point about Arabic plural, but an accurate translation is one that the conveys the nuance of meaning in a particular context accurately, not necessarily one that attempts to captures all parts of grammar, while failing to convey that meaning.

I am not suggesting that your translation is not "accurate", but cautioning against hair splitting.

[Wakas]

peace,

Let's test the translations you provided to see if they are accurate:

Being "near/close/proximal" to something requires a reference point, i.e. "near/close/proximal" to what?

According to the Arabic in Quran 11:114, please provide the reference point. Thanks.

[niaz]

Peace,

I did not provide the translations. These are major available translations of the Quran and the meaning from almaany (the default dictionary used for the word-by-word translation of the Quranic Arabic Corpus project).

When the night starts, there is the "early part" or "first hours" or "beginning" or "approaches" of the night, when darkness gradually "approaches" before total darkness sets in. Then the rest of the night is total darkness. This already make perfect sense, and I do not see any need to "test" these translations any further.

"Near" does not appear to be the best English word to convey this - but you can look at it as the "near" or "closer" end of the night if you wish, i.e., the first part of night you encounter at night fall.

[Wakas]

peace,

This already make perfect sense, and I do not see any need to "test" these translations any further.

Firstly, just because something makes "perfect sense" to someone it does not mean it is correct. Secondly, we should always be willing to put translations to the test.

Since you did not answer my question, I will answer it myself. According to the Arabic of 11:114 the ONLY object/reference for "near to what?" question is "tarafay al nahar" (two/both edges of the daytime), NOT the sunset edge as you and many others interpret it. Quite simply, that is a made-up reference point that does not exist in the Arabic.

Thus, a more accurate translation is:

"... two/both edges of the daytime and the proximal/adjacent/near/close parts of the night..." i.e. the proximal/adjacent/close parts of the night to BOTH edges of the daytime, not only the sunset edge.

[Iman]

what i find very odd is that both the people who believe that we must break our fast at night and those who believe we must break it at sunset   use the exact same verses / terminology of the koran to explain  two  totally different points of view.

the author of the following  post believes in taking our commandments only from the koran yet he believes that   fasting ends at sunset. i hope his argument helps u in any way. after reading mr joseph's argument ,u can then choose which u feel is more correct to ur heart.

http://www.quran-islam.org/articles/part_3/night_start_%28P1369%29.html

[Wakas]

what i find very odd is that both the people who believe that we must break our fast at night and those who believe we must break it at sunset   use the exact same verses / terminology of the koran to explain  two  totally different points of view.

I agree that one must do the research for oneself then decide for oneself but when faced with the above situation you describe I sometimes find it helpful to make a pros/cons list for each side of the argument to see how it stacks up. Then simply total up the pros/cons, the unanswered questions, the number of assumptions each argument has etc. Makes it easier.

Sometimes there can be a smoking gun, e.g. in this thread:
http://quransmessage.com/forum/index.php?topic=2545.msg13314#msg13314