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when is suhoor

Suhoor is the pre‑dawn meal Muslims eat before starting their fast in Ramadan and on other voluntary fasts. It is eaten after midnight and must finish just before Fajr (the dawn prayer) begins.

Quick Scoop: When is suhoor?

  • Suhoor happens in the last part of the night , before dawn breaks and before the Fajr prayer time enters.
  • In practical terms, that means:
    • You can eat suhoor any time after midnight.
    • You must stop eating and drinking at true dawn (Subh Sadiq) – the first light on the horizon – which is exactly when Fajr time starts.
  • Because dawn time changes with date and location, you need to:
    • Check a reliable prayer timetable, mosque calendar, or Islamic app for your city.
    • Use the Fajr start time as your cut-off, and stop a few minutes before that for safety.

A simple rule: “Suhoor ends when Fajr time begins.”

How close to Fajr should you eat?

Many scholars encourage delaying suhoor so it’s closer to Fajr, as this was the practice of the Prophet ﷺ, but without crossing into Fajr time. Some people stop 5–10 minutes before the printed Fajr time as a precaution, but the actual shar‘i end of suhoor is at the real dawn (start of Fajr).

A common, easy approach:

  1. Look up tomorrow’s Fajr time in your area.
  2. Plan to finish suhoor 5–10 minutes before that time.
  3. Use an alarm or app reminder so you don’t accidentally go past dawn.

Why the timing matters

  • The Qur’an links the start of fasting to when “the white thread of dawn appears to you distinct from its black thread” – meaning the first light of true dawn.
  • Eating past that point invalidates the fast for that day according to most scholars, so Muslims are careful to stop at or just before Fajr begins.
  • That last stretch of night before Fajr is also spiritually special: many Muslims use it for du‘a, Qur’an, and night prayer (Tahajjud/Qiyam al-Layl) around their suhoor.

What you should do tonight

  • Find your city’s prayer timetable (local mosque website, trusted Islamic site, or a well‑known app).
  • Note Fajr start time for tomorrow.
  • Plan suhoor for roughly the last 60–90 minutes before that, finishing a few minutes early.

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