Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) quoted the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) as saying, "(Make sure to) have your sahur meal, for sahur is blessed." (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
`Amr ibn Al-`Aas quoted the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) as saying, "The difference between our fasting and that of the People of the Book is the sahur meal." (Muslim)
In the beginning, fasting started when one went to sleep after praying `Isha' on any night of Ramadan. He continued fasting until sunset of the following day, which meant that fasting extended for 20 or 21 hours each day. Should he sleep before eating after sunset, he would have to continue fasting until the evening of the following day. This was changed when the Qur'anic verse that made dawn the start of fasting was revealed. The hadith clarifies the meaning of this verse, leaving no doubt whatsoever that we begin fasting with the first rays of dawn.
When this relaxation had been given, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught his Companions to exercise it to the full, making sure to have a meal shortly before the beginning of the day of fasting.
At the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), two of his Companions, Bilal and Ibn Umm Maktum, made the call to prayer at dawn. Both were among the early Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Bilal was a former Abyssinian slave with a very melodious voice. Ibn Umm Maktum was a blind man whose incident with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is the subject of Surah 80 of the Qur'an. Each one of them made the call to prayer at dawn time, with Bilal making it first, then Ibn Umm Maktum.
In order not to leave any room for confusion, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned to his Companions that they should consider the call made by Ibn Umm Maktum as the signal for starting the fasting. `A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), the Prophet's wife, mentioned that Bilal made his call to prayer when it was still night time. She further quoted the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) as saying, "Eat and drink until Ibn Umm Maktum makes his call to prayer. He does not make it until the break of dawn" (Al-Bukhari). This hadith is related by Al-Bukhari, and more than one version of it is related by Muslim. Al-Bukhari further quotes a statement added by one of the reporters of this hadith, which states, "The gap between the two calls to prayers made by them was no more than what it took the one to come down and the other to go up."
We note that the gap between the two calls to prayer was not more than a few minutes. Yet the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was keen to tell his Companions and the Muslims in every generation that they need not start fasting before they are absolutely certain that it is due. Some people in later generations began to advise people to leave a gap of time between finishing their meal and the time for Fajr prayer. They did this as a precaution against error. This hadith and similar ones are clear that no such time gap is required for any reason. Indeed, the Prophet taught us to leave our meal of sahur (the meal we eat before we begin fasting) as late as possible. Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) quoted the Prophet as saying, "(Make sure to) have your sahur meal, for sahur is blessed" (Al-Bukhari and Muslim). Another hadith related by Muslim on the authority of `Amr ibn Al-`Aas quotes the Prophet as saying, "The difference between our fasting and that of the People of the Book is the sahur meal."
These two hadiths stress the importance of making good preparations for a day of fasting by having a meal immediately before it is time to begin the fast. This meal is given a distinctive name- sahur, which is derived from the word sahar that denotes the night time immediately before dawn. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explains to us that it is this meal that distinguishes our fasting from that of people of earlier religions. It is therefore a concession given to us by Allah so that we are better able to undertake the task of fasting throughout the day. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) indicates that something has become a distinctive mark to the Muslim nation, that indication enhances its significance and makes it highly important for everyone to act upon it. When the Prophet adds in the first of the last two hadiths that this meal in the early hours of the morning is blessed, he leaves us in no doubt that we should always make sure to have it.
Some people find it difficult to wake up at that early time in order to have a meal. They say that they prefer to go without it rather than interrupt their sleep. Be that as it may, they lose a great many blessings by sleeping through that time. They will have to wake up shortly afterwards anyway in order to offer their Fajr prayers. If they wake up for sahur, they make sure of praying Fajr at the beginning of its time, which is far more preferable. Moreover, if they allow themselves half an hour extra, they can have a short stint of night worship, which is always one of the best rewarded acts of worship. It is far more so in Ramadan when every good action is rewarded much more amply by Allah. The best schedule any Muslim can have in the nights of Ramadan is to wake up, say an hour before dawn and have half an hour or forty minutes of night worship before having his sahur meal, then going to pray Fajr and perhaps recite some passages of the Qur'an before going back to sleep, if he wishes to do so. That makes his day and night very blessed indeed.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) himself used to have sahur. At times, some of his Companions joined him for his sahur meal. Zaid ibn Thabit, a young Companion of the Prophet reported: We had sahur with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) before he stood up to pray.
Anas, who transmitted this report, asked Zaid, "How much time was there between the call to prayer and your sahur?" He answered, "About fifty verses of the Qur'an." This means that the Prophet started his sahur something like 15 or 20 minutes before it was time for Fajr. The recitation of 50 medium verses of the Qur'an in a mode which is neither fast nor slow does not take more than that.
We note here that Zaid, who was to become one of the most renowned reciters of the Qur'an and the person to be entrusted with compiling its complete and standard version at the time of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), estimated the time of sahur by reciting 50 verses. The Arabs at that time used to estimate time by certain familiar actions. They used to say that a certain action is done "over the time it takes to milk a sheep, or to slaughter a camel," etc. Zaid, however, chose a different sort of action, which is the recitation of the Qur'an. This serves as an indication that the particular time should be devoted for worship. Moreover, the Qur'an was the most important thing in the life of that Muslim community. Its recitation was the most familiar of actions to them. Zaid suggested that their sahur took place earlier than Fajr by the short time which it takes to recite 50 verses.
That was a sahur taken with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). We note here that the Prophet chose the course that he knew was easiest for his Companions. He realized that if he had his meal long before Fajr, his Companions would have done the same. Since that is not required by our faith, he left his meal to the latest time possible. His Companions realized that and followed his guidance. Sahl ibn Sa`d, a Companion of the Prophet, reported: I used to have sahur with my family before going to Fajr prayers. My speed would be such that I managed to catch up with Allah's Messenger.
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