Its all about the position of the qutations right now...This determines if My " theory " is that or proof...

Salaam Anthony,

There are no quotation marks in the arabic.. the verse starts with a command QUL = SAY! If we were to read this in arabic we would not be able to go by the position of the quotations( because there are none). I believe the prophet and his followers knew what to say without having the "quotations" determining where the frase begins and where it ends. They knew, just as we are able to tell from the grammatical structure of theses verses.

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Salaam,

My understanding is that this affirmation should be said because the quran tells us to say it. If we go back to the previous verse ; 17110 we can see that these two verses go together. First it tells us what tone to use in Salat then it continues and tells ut what to say... it starts off with>>> AND SAY, the word AND implies that it is a continuation of the previous verse, and therefor should be proclaimed in the salat.

17110 Say ?Call on God or call on the Almighty. Whichever it is you call on, for to Him are the best names.? And do not be too loud in making your communion, nor too quite; but seek a path in between.

17111 And say ?Praise be to God who has not taken a son, nor does He have a partner in sovereignty, nor does He have an ally out of weakness.? And glorify Him greatly.

Salamun aleikom!

Salaamun Aleikom Brothers and sisters in faith,

There seems to many enterpretations of the word night. If you ask one person when night is they might say; when it is dark outside. Then you may proceed to ask another person and they may say; night is at sunset, however in order for us to know what Allah means by night as we all know the answer is in his scripture.... lets take a look to see how he uses this word. There are two imoprtant verses concering this issue.

2187 - It has been made lawful for you during the night of fasting to approach your women sexually. They are a garment for you and you are a garment for them. God knows that you used to betray your souls so He has accepted your repentance, and forgiven you; now you may approach them and seek what God has written for you. And you may eat and drink until the white thread is distinct from the black thread of dawn then you shall complete the fast until night and do not approach them while you are devoted in the temples. These are God's boundaries, so do not transgress them. It is thus that God makes His revelations clear to the people that they may be righteous.

Clearly it says to fast until night not sunset, eventhough some have translated it and used the word sunset for the arabic word LAYL.

The following verse gives us a clear visual description of the sky at the time of NIGHT/LAYL.

676 When the night covered him, he saw a planet, and he said "This is my Lord." But when it disappeared he said "I do not like those that disappear."

This indicates that night is when you can see planets this occurs about 30 - 40 minutes after sunset

"...30 - 40 after sunset the sky becomes dark enough that the planets and bright stars become visible. The planets can be recognized by their brightness and position in the sky. Venus is the brightest planet and will be easily seen in the west as the sky becomes dark. Jupiter is the second brightest planet and will become visible in the eastern sky" http//www.mcpstars.org/node/13

The sky is still too bright to see any planets with the bare eye at sunset.

My conclusion is as follows ; When we can see planets/stars in the sky, it is a sign that we can break fast.