On the Postponing Taking the Pre-Dawn Meal (sahoor) in Ramadan by Shaykh Muhammad Shreef bin Farid (May Allah preserve him) Shehu Uthman Dan Fuduye’ said in his Ihya: “From the path of the sunna of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, during Ramadan is it being highly recommended of postponing the dawn meal (takheer s-sahuur). It is related in the Saheeh of al-Bukhari on the authority of Sahl ibn Sa`d who said, I used to take the dawn meal with my family. I would then rush to catch the prostration with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Qadi `Iyad said: “Sahl ibn Sa`d intends in this statement to say that the furthest extent of his hurrying was because his dawn meal was near to the appearance of dawn, to the extent that he almost failed to catch subh prayer with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.†Ibn Muneer said: This tradition means that the Companions used to take the dawn meal very close to the time of dawn to the point of shortening it and rushing out of fear of missing the prayer.†It is also related in the Saheeh of al-Bukhari on the authority of Anas on the authority of Zayd ibn Thaabit who said, We took the dawn meal with the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace and he then stood to establish the prayerâ€. I then said, How long should it be between the call to prayer and the pre-dawn meal? He said, The space of (time it takes to recite) fifty versesâ€. Ibn Hajr said: “This tradition proves that gathering in congregation to take the pre-dawn meal is a sunna. This also establishes that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace used to postpone the pre-dawn meal out of compassion to his Umma. He would do so because if he had not taken the pre-dawn meal they would have followed him in that, causing the fast to be difficult for some of them. If he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace had taken the pre-dawn meal in the middle of the night, this would also have been difficult for those who would perhaps be overcome by sleep to the point where they would end up missing the subh prayer, or they would be in need to make spiritual struggle by means of staying awake all night (sahr).†Sahl ibn Sa`d determined the time between the pre-dawn meal and the subh prayer by means of recitation (qira’at). This is an indication that this time was normally a time of superogatory worship, which was filled with the recitation of the Qur’an by the Companions of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. For if they were occupied with any other action at that time, he would have measured and determined that time using another means of measurement. However, he measured the time based upon a particular act of worship, which was a specific measurement of recitation of Qur’an. This is a proof that this time was normally a time of recitation
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 06:37:25 +0000