Lessons

Ramadan & Fasting

A day of fasting, from suhoor to iftar

Learn how to begin, guard, and break your daily fast with confidence.

3 short lessons · about 4 min · every point has its source

1. Starting the day with suhoor and dawn

A day of fasting starts well before the sun rises. Muslims wake up early to eat a pre-dawn meal known in Arabic as suhoor. Waking up at this quiet hour gives you nourishment and strength for your worship. The Prophet ﷺ urged believers to take this meal because it contains a special blessing.¹ The Prophet ﷺ invited a companion to share a meal shortly before dawn in Ramadan, describing it as a blessed morning meal.²

It is practical to schedule this meal close to dawn rather than eating in the middle of the night. Delaying the meal before dawn is an established prophetic practice.³ The companion Zaid bin Thabit once ate suhoor with the Prophet ﷺ, and the interval between their meal and the morning prayer was only enough time to recite fifty to sixty verses of the Quran.⁴

Knowing when to stop eating is essential for a valid fast. Allah permits eating and drinking until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct from the black thread of night. Once this light of dawn emerges, you set aside all food and water to complete your fast until sunset.⁵

2. Guarding your character while fasting

Fasting is not only about setting aside food and drink during the day. Fasting is decreed for believers, just as it was decreed for those before them, so that they may become righteous.⁶ When you feel hunger, let it be a gentle reminder to turn your thoughts toward your Creator. Fasting serves as an inner school for your heart and daily intentions.

The Prophet ﷺ taught that fasting acts like a shield for the believer.⁷ Just as a shield protects you from physical harm, your fast guards you from harmful speech and sinful habits. Fasting serves as a shield, and a person who is fasting should not act in an obscene or foolish way.⁸ Holding your tongue when you feel tired or stressed is an essential way to protect your fast.

Daily life can bring stressful moments, disagreements, or unkind words from people around you. Abu Huraira reported that if anyone slanders or quarrels with a fasting person, that person should say they are fasting.⁹ Saying this aloud helps calm your own heart and reminds everyone to choose peace.

Allah Himself promises that He alone will give the reward for fasting, because it is done purely for Him.⁷ Responding to anger with patience helps soften your heart and builds good character that stays with you.

3. Completing the fast and enjoying iftar

When the sun sets, your day of fasting reaches its completion. Fasting does not need to extend into the darkness of the evening. In the Quran, Allah instructs believers to complete the fast until sunset.⁵ Once sunset arrives, you can welcome the joyful moment of iftar, which means breaking the fast.

It is a beloved practice to break your fast promptly as soon as sunset arrives. The Prophet ﷺ said that people will remain on the right path as long as they hasten the breaking of the fast.¹⁰ Aisha, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, noted that he himself hastened both to break his fast and to pray the sunset prayer.¹¹ In fact, the Prophet ﷺ advised his followers against continuous fasting without breaking the fast in the evening.¹²

With the arrival of night, what was set aside during the daylight hours becomes lawful again. Believers are permitted to eat, drink, and enjoy marital intimacy with their spouses throughout the night until the dawn begins.⁵ These peaceful night hours offer rest, wholesome nourishment, and gratitude after dedicating your day to Allah.

Sources

1. Sahih al-Bukhari 1923 Read it in full
   Narrated Anas bin Malik: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Take Suhur as there is a blessing in it
2. Sunan Abi Dawud 2344 Read it in full
   Narrated Al-Irbad ibn Sariyyah: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) invited me to a meal shortly before dawn in Ramadan saying: Come to the blessed morning mealGrading: Al-Albani: Sahih; Muhammad Muhyi Al-Din Abdul Hamid: Sahih; Zubair Ali Zai: Isnaad Hasan
3. Muwatta Malik 377
   Yahya related to me from Malik that Abd al-Karim ibn Abi'l-Mukhariq al-Basri said, "Among things the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said and did are: 'As long as you do not feel ashamed, do whatever you wish', the placing of one hand on the other in prayer (one places the right hand on the left), being quick to break the fast, and delaying the meal before dawnGrading: Salim al-Hilali: Maqtu Sahih
4. Sahih al-Bukhari 575 Read it in full
   Narrated Anas: Zaid bin Thabit said, "We took the "Suhur" (the meal taken before dawn while fasting is observed) with the Prophet (ﷺ) and then stood up for the (morning) prayer." I asked him how long the interval between the two (Suhur and prayer) was. He replied, 'The interval between the two was just sufficient to recite fifty to sixty 'Ayat
5. Quran 2:187 (Al-Baqarah)
   It has been made permissible for you the night preceding fasting to go to your wives [for sexual relations]. They are clothing for you and you are clothing for them. Allah knows that you used to deceive yourselves, so He accepted your repentance and forgave you. So now, have relations with them and seek that which Allah has decreed for you. And eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread [of night]. Then complete the fast until the sunset. And do not have relations with them as long as you are staying for worship in the mosques. These are the limits [set by] Allah, so do not approach them. Thus does Allah make clear His ordinances to the people that they may become righteous
6. Quran 2:183 (Al-Baqarah)
   O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous
7. Sahih Muslim 1151d Read it in full
   Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: Allah the Exalted and Majestic said: Every act of the son of Adam is for him, except fasting. It is (exclusively) meant for Me and I (alone) will reward it. Fasting is a shield. When any one of you is fasting on a day, he should neither indulge in obscene language, nor raise the voice; or if anyone reviles him or tries to quarrel with him he should say: I am a person fasting. By Him, in Whose Hand is the life of Muhammad, the breath of the observer of fast is sweeter to Allah on the Day of judgment than the fragrance of musk. The one who fasts has two (occasions) of joy, one when he breaks the fast he is glad with the breaking of (the fast) and one when he meets his Lord he is glad with his fast
8. Sunan Abi Dawud 2363 Read it in full
   Narrated Abu Hurairah: The Prophet (ﷺ) as saying: Fast is a shield ; when one of you is fasting, he should neither behave in an obscene manner nor foolishly. If a man fights or abuses him, he should say: I am fasting, I am fastingGrading: Al-Albani: Sahih; Muhammad Muhyi Al-Din Abdul Hamid: Sahih; Shuaib Al Arnaut: Sahih; Zubair Ali Zai: Sahih Bukhari (1894) Sahih Muslim (1151)
9. Sahih Muslim 1151a Read it in full
   Abu Huraira (Allah be pleased with him) reported: When any one of you gets up in the morning in the state of fasting, he should neither use obscene language nor do any act of ignorance. And if anyone slanders him or quarrels with him, he should say: " I am fasting, I am fasting
10. Sahih al-Bukhari 1957 Read it in full
    Narrated Sahl bin Sa`d: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "The people will remain on the right path as long as they hasten the breaking of the fast
11. Sahih Muslim 1099b Read it in full
    Abu 'Atiyya reported: I and Misruq went to 'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) and Masruq said to her: There are two persons among the Companions of Muhammad (ﷺ) none of whom abandons the good, but one of them hastens to observe sunset prayer and break the fast, and the other delays in observing the sunset prayer and in breaking the fast, whereupon she said: Who hastens to observe sunset prayer and break the fast? He said: It is 'Abdullah. Upon this she said: This is how the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to do
12. Sahih al-Bukhari 1961 Read it in full
    Narrated Anas: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Do not practice Al-Wisal (fasting continuously without breaking one's fast in the evening or eating before the following dawn)." The people said to the Prophet, "But you practice Al- Wisal?" The Prophet (ﷺ) replied, "I am not like any of you, for I am given food and drink (by Allah) during the night

Every point in this lesson rests on a verse of the Quran or a hadith, listed above. Hadith come from Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, or from other collections only where every listed scholar graded them sahih or hasan. Found a mistake? Tell us.

More on ramadan & fasting

• A practice fast before RamadanLearn how and when to try voluntary fasts to prepare your heart and body for Ramadan.
• Fasting when your family is not MuslimLearn how to uphold your fasts while showing gentle kindness and love to non-Muslim relatives.
• If you cannot fast: illness, travel and other reasonsLearn Allah's allowances for missed fasts, feeding substitutes, and how to make up days.
• The nights of Ramadan and Laylat al-QadrDiscover the blessings of Ramadan night prayers and how to seek the special Night of Decree.