Question about Suhoor timing?

Question

I'm a little confused re the end time of suhoor.
In Quran it states:

[The Quran 2:187] Permitted for you is sexual intercourse with your wives during the nights of fasting. They are the keepers of your secrets, and you are the keepers of their secrets. GOD knew that you used to betray your souls, and He has redeemed you, and has pardoned you. Henceforth, you may have intercourse with them, seeking what GOD has permitted for you. You may eat and drink until the white thread of light becomes distinguishable from the dark thread of night at dawn. Then, you shall fast until night appears. Sexual intercourse is prohibited if you decide to retreat to the masjid (during the last ten days of Ramadan). These are GOD's laws; you shall not transgress them. GOD thus clarifies His revelations for the people, that they may attain salvation.

Nowadays we have timetables and it's surprising how the timings can vary between certain mosques. For instance the mosque I follow terminated suhoor at 1.27am when ramadhan started as did many others in my vicinity. Others terminated suhoor at 3.30am again as many others in my vicinity.

My brother said its to do with the school of thought these mosques follow and although all schools of thoughts are deemed to be correct you have to stick to one for everything rather than pick and choose different elements that suit you as an individual. In terms of suhoor the difference in timings are due to the different methods of calculation such as 15 degree calculation or 18 degree calculation.

But for the last few days I've exceeded my suhoor timing by about 5 minutes according to my mosque. I'm well within the timings of other mosques in my area. Am I wrong?
According to the Quran verse above I don't believe I was because it was definitely still very dark and night time outside.

Please advise.

Answer 1

the times are rough estimates as it really doesnt get dark in the uk these months so 5 mins shudnt really matter but try to stick within the times be precautious and follow the earlier time majority of schlors with that science of working timings are aggreeing with the earlier timings its not to do with schools its to do with a dispute weather the sky is still black or if the 1st white lights have appearwd look out yourself after early time end and the sky will be very light ie end of shuur.



oh yea end of suhoor is beggining of fajar. people close there fast a bit earlier out of precaution so u shud be ok

Answer 2

Farj last from 1am to when you see the day becoming bright. The bright day is the time when it's too late to Farj. Because it says do prayer before the sun comes out hence dawn(darkish).



So what I do is I wake up anytime during this darkish morning and go eat then I do prayer. Simple as that.



The different timings of the mosques shows that there is no specific hour that you should start doing suhoor.



Though the Qur'an says in surah 4:103 that we have our prayers in its prescribed form on fixedly hours.



It does not mean Farj begins exactly on 1:27 am or times like that. Farj always begins from 1am-sunrise. During those hours you can do Farj.



Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) only read the time by the moon and the sun. Not by a watch.



I mean some people say oh prayer begins at this time "3:30am" then if you do Farj like "3:31" you are considered late. It's too much and very extreme.



However congregational prayer timing is different. Everybody as to agree on a specific time to pray together in the mosque particularly Jumm'ah time.

Answer 3

this is a very interesting question.



Yesterday, my family and my cousins' family were all in the restaurant to break our fast. My cousins and their parents (my uncle and his wife) ate right after they heard the call of prayer (Maghrib), but the sky was not yet completely dark (dusk). Was not that before night? or to state it clearly, it was not yet night. But my uncle jokingly said my father (his younger brother) reads too much! So they started eating before we did.



When I was a child, we used to eat when we heard the Maghrib prayer until we read what you read in the Qur'an. Our neighborhood, however, sticks to what is customary. I think that's a little bit of ignorance.



Anyways, about the sohoor, I appreciate your thoughts. I too think like that. It's kinda sympathetic to those who have to end their eating very early because of the timetable. But in our case, we follow the Fajr prayer (usually after 4:00, like 4:06, 4:15, ....). So even if the sky is still dark at these times, it does not appear too hard for us. What I do is eat before 4 so I can end during or before the Fajr call. I have nothing to lose anyway.

Answer 4

I'm pretty sure fasting starts at first light, which is one hour before sunrise time..