Allah, the Most
High, says:
" ... Eat and drink until the white thread
becomes distinct to you from the black thread of the dawn. Then
resume the fast till nightfall ... " [Al-Qur'ân
2:187]
It was narrated that
Adi bin Hâtim, may Allah be pleased with him, said when the
following verses were revealed:
" ... until the white thread becomes distinct
to you from the black thread," that he took two strands
of hair, one black and the other white, and kept them under his
pillow and went on looking at them throughout the night but could
not make anything out of it. So, the next morning he went to Allah's
Messenger, peace be upon him, and told him the whole story.
He explained, "that verse means the
darkness of night and the whiteness of dawn." [Recorded
by al-Bukhârî]
It was also narrated
by Sahl bin Saud, may Allah be pleased with him, that when the
following verse was revealed:
" ... Eat and drink until the white thread
becomes distinct to you from the black thread ... " and
"of the dawn" was not revealed,
some people who intended to fast, tied black and white threads to
their legs and went on eating till they differentiated between the
two. Allah then revealed the words, "of the
dawn", and it became clear that meant night and day.
[Recorded by al-Bukhârî]
What is the interval
between the end of THE SUhÛr and the DAWN PRAYER?
Zayd bin Thâbit, may Allah be pleased
with him, said:
"We took the
suhûr with the Prophet, peace be upon him. Then he stood
for the prayer. I asked: What is the interval between the suhûr
and the call to prayer? He replied:
'The
interval is sufficient to recite fifty verses of the Qur'ân.'
" [Recorded by al-Bukhârî]
The
SUhÛr
is a blessing
but it is not compulsory
For the Prophet, peace be upon him, and his Companions observed
fasting continuously for more than one day and (of course) no suhûr
was taken (during that prolonged fast).
Abdullâh, may Allah be pleased with
him, reported that the Prophet, upon whom be peace, observed
fasting for days continuously and the people also did the same but it
was difficult for them. So, the Prophet forbade them from doing this.
They said, "But you observe fast without break (no food was taken in the
evening or in the morning)." The Prophet, peace be upon him,
replied:
"I am not like you, for I am provided with
food and drink (by Allah)." [Recorded by al-Bukhârî]
The Prophet, peace
be upon him, also said:
"Take suhûr as there is a blessing in it."
[Recorded by al-Bukhârî]
tHE SUhÛr
is a
distinctive mark with which Allah has blessed the Muslim Ummah
The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon
him, said:
"The difference between our observance of
fasting and that of the people of the Scriptures is the suhûr."
[Sahîh Muslim]
There are
blessings in THE
SUhÛr
The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon
him, said:
"Indeed Allah placed blessing in the suhûr
and in the weighing of grain." [This statement is graded
hasan as recorded in al-Jami' as-Saghîr]
He, peace be upon
him, also said:
"Eat suhûr, for there are blessings in it."
[Recorded by al-Bukhârî and Muslim]
The Prophet, peace
be upon him, also said:
"There is blessing in three: The jama'ah
[the congregation of the Muslims], the tharîd [a broth of crumbled
bread and meat] and the suhûr." [Recorded by at-Tabarânî
and Abu Nu'aym]
A Companion reported
that he entered upon the Prophet, peace be upon him, whilst he
was taking the suhûr and he said:
"It is a blessing which Allah has given to
you, so do not leave it." [Ahmad and an-Nisâ'î]
The Prophet, peace
be upon him, further said:
"Come to the blessed morning meal."
[Ahmad, an-Nisâ'î and Abi Dâwûd]
Perhaps the greatest
blessing of this meal is that Allah, the Most High, covers the
people eating it with His forgiveness and sends His Mercy upon them. The
angels ask for forgiveness for them and supplicate to Allah to pardon
them, so that they may be granted freedom from the Fire by the Most
Merciful in the month of the Qur'ân.
Allah and His
angels send blessing for those who take THE
SUhÛr
Allah's Messenger, peace be upon him,
said:
"Taking the pre-dawn meal in Ramadhân is a
blessing, so do not leave it, even by drinking a mouthful of water.
For Allah, the Noble and the Mighty, and His angels send blessing
over those who have taken the pre-dawn meal." [Ahmad]
Taking the
SUhÛr
hurriedly
It was narrated that Sahl bin Saud, may Allah be pleased with him,
used to take suhûr meals with his
family and then hurry to present himself at the dawn prayer with Allah's
Messenger, peace be upon him. [Recorded by al-Bukhârî]
The call to
prayer should not stop you from taking
SUhÛr
'Âishah, may Allah be pleased with her, reported that Bilâl used to pronounce the
call to prayer at night, so Allah's Messenger, peace
be upon him, said:
"Carry on taking your meals till Ibn
Umm Maktûm prnounces the call to prayer, for he does not pronounce it till it is dawn."
[Recorded by al-Bukhârî]
Ibn 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, reported
that the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, had two mu'adhdhîn: Bilâl
and Ibn Umm Maktûm. The Messenger of
Allah, peace be upon him, said:
"Bilâl proclaims
the call to prayer at the end of the night, so eat and drink till Ibn Umm Maktum
pronounces it.''
Ibn 'Umar added:
"And the gap between their calls to prayer was not more than the time spent in
one's getting down and the other's climbing (the minaret)."
[Recorded by al-Bukhârî and Muslim]
We learn from this tradition that in the days of the Prophet,
peace be upon him, there used to be two call to prayers in the
morning. The first was meant to warn the people who were taking
the suhûr
meals that the time for the suhûr
was about to finish and they
should make preparation for fajr prayer. Soon after that there was a
second by another, which signified that the time for
food was finished and people should attend to the prayer.
So far, the question of time between the two
calls is concerned, the scholars
have stated that after announcing the call, Bilâl used to be engaged in
prayer, etc., and waited for the daybreak. When the time for the
daybreak drew near, he would then come down and inform Ibn Umm Maktûm
who would then make ablutions, and proceed the call at the
beginning of the daybreak.
When any of you hears the summons to prayer while he has a vessel in his
hand
The Prophet, peace be upon him, said:
"When any of you hears the summons
to prayer while he has a vessel in his hand, he should not lay it down
till he fulfils his need." [Reported in the Sunan of
Abû Dâwûd]
Shaykh Muhammad Nâsir ud-Dîn al-Albânî explained:
Indeed
there is an authentic statement reported from the Prophet, peace be
upon him, which
shows the ease afforded by Islam, to be counted as one of the
principles of Islam, which the Muslims are proud of, especially with
regard to the matter of fasting, since Allah, the Mighty and Majestic,
concluded the verses concerning fasting with His Saying:
"Allah desires ease for you, and He does not desire to make things
difficult for you."
So from this ease
is the Prophet's saying:
"If one of you hears the call to
prayer and the vessel is in the hand of one of you, then let him not put
it down until he fulfils his need from it."
The vessel
containing food, whether it be milk, some drink, water, anything which a
person may take as suhûr, and he hears the call to prayer, then he should not
say that the food is forbidden due to the call being heard. The person
who has had enough, it is not allowed for him to then have anymore,
whether it be a drink, or some fruit, when he has had his fill of
whatever he was eating.
But as for the one who hears the call and he has not yet taken what he
needs from the food and the drink, then the Messenger, peace be upon
him, made that
lawful for him. So he clearly said, in the clear and eloquent Arabic
language:
"If one of you hears the call to
prayer and the vessel is in the hand of one of you, then let him not put
it down until he fulfils his need from it."
And what is meant here by the call is the second call.
It is not the first, which they wrongly call that of imsâk
(i.e. withholding). We must know that there is no basis for calling the
first call, the call for withholding (imsâk).
The second call is when we are to withhold, and this is clearly stated
in the Qur'ân, since Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, says:
"And eat and
drink until the white thread of dawn becomes clear to you from
the black thread of the night."
So eating becomes forbidden at the start of the time of the
fajr prayer.
There is no separation between these two things. There is no withholding
from food and drink for a quarter of an hour, or less than that, or more
than that, before the start of the time for the fajr prayer. Not at all
because the prayer becomes due when the true dawn appears, and food
becomes forbidden for the fasting person when the true dawn appears. So
there is no separation between these two matters at all.
So therefore there occurs in the
tradition agreed upon by al-Bukhârî and
Muslim, from the statement of Ibn 'Umar,
that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:
"Let not the
call of Bilâl deceive
you because he gives it in
order to awaken the person who is sleeping, and so that the person who
wishes to eat the pre-dawn meal can do so. So eat and drink until Ibn
Umm Maktûn gives his call."
Ibn Umm Maktûn, whose name was 'Amr, was a blind man, and he was the
one about whom the saying of Allah, the Exalted and Most High, came
down:
"He frowned and turned away, that a blind man had come to him
... "
So he used to give the second
call, the call which means that eating
becomes prohibited and that it is now time for the fajr prayer.
How did he used to give the call to
prayer when he was blind? This is a question, which naturally occurs
to some people. He
used to climb on the roof of the mosque, but he could not see the dawn,
so he would wait until someone passing by saw the dawn. So when someone
saw that the dawn had appeared and spread across the horizon, they would
say to him, It is morning. It is morning. Then he would give the call.
So you will notice here that the call
to prayer of 'Amr was
after the fajr had appeared, and had been seen by the people whilst they
were walking in the streets. So when it was said to him, "It is morning.
It is morning," he would give the call.
So therefore there is latitude in the affair, since the
one who calls to prayer would be delayed in giving the call until he
heard the people telling him, "It is morning, it is morning." And then
Allah's Messenger, peace be upon him, said:
"If one of you hears the call to
prayer and the vessel is in the hand of one of you, then let him not put
it down until he fulfils his need from it."
So Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, spoke truly when He said at the end
of those verses related to fasting:
"Allah desires ease for you, and He does not desire to make things
difficult for you."
and:
" ... that you should complete the number of days, and that you should
glorify Allah by mentioning takbîr for His having guided you, and
that you should be thankful."
So therefore from the
fiqh that is to be criticised, and which runs
contrary to this sunnah, is that a person says, "If someone hears the
call to prayer and has some food in his mouth, then he must spit it
out." So this is over strictness, and exceeding the limits in the
religion (ghulû), and the Lord of all of the creation admonished us, and
reminded us in His Book and in the sunnah of His Prophet,
peace be upon him, that we
should not exceed the due limits in our religion. So He said, in the
Noble Qur'ân:
"O People of the Book! Do not exceed the limits in your religion, and do
not say anything about Allah except the truth."
And our Messenger said to us:
"Beware of
exceeding the limits in the religion because those who came before you
were destroyed by their exceeding the limits in their religion."
So Allah's Messenger,
peace be upon him, has made it clear to us that there is
latitude and a margin of ease in the matter of a person's taking suhûr,
to the extent that he said:
"If one of you hears the call to
prayer and the vessel is in the hand of one of you, then let him not put
it down until he fulfils his need from it."
Source: SunnahOnline