Knowledge Every Muslim Should Know (Book One)

Fasting: When Does Suhoor End?

FASTING: WHEN DOES SUHOOR END?

 

It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “If one of you hears the call (to prayer) and the vessel is still in his hand, let him not put it down until he finished with it.” (Narrated by Ahmad, 10251; Abu Dawood. 2350; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood.) We will discuss its meaning according to the scholars below.

It is obligatory for the fasting person to refrain from things which break the fast from the true dawn until the sun sets.  What is means is when dawn breaks, not the adhaan. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “and eat and drink until the white thread (light) of dawn appears to you distinct from the black thread (darkness of night).” [al-Baqarah 2:187] 

So when a person becomes certain that the true dawn has come, he has to stop eating and drinking, and if there is food in his mouth he has to spit it out; if he does not do that, then he has invalidated his fast. 

But if a person is not certain that dawn has come, he may eat until he is certain. The same applies if he knows that the muedhin gives the call before the time comes, or if he is not sure whether he gives the call on time or ahead of time: he may eat until he is certain. But it is better for him to stop eating as soon as he hears the adhaan. 

With regard to the hadeeth mentioned above, the scholars interpreted it as referring to a muezzin who gives the call to prayer before dawn breaks. 

Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said in al-Majmoo’ 6/333: 

We have stated that if dawn breaks and a person has food in his mouth, he should spit it out and complete his fast. If he swallows it after knowing that dawn has come, his fast is invalidated. There is no difference of scholarly opinion on this point. The evidence for that is the hadeeth of Ibn ’Umar and ’Aa’ishah (may Allah be pleased with them both), according to which that Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Bilaal gives the call to prayer at night, so eat and drink until Ibn Umm Maktoom gives the call to prayer.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari and Muslim.) There are many ahaadeeth in al-Saheeh with similar meanings. 

With regard to the hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), according which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “If one of you hears the call (to prayer) and the vessel is still in his hand, let him not put it down until he has finished with it” – and according to another version he said: the muedhin used to give the call to prayer when dawn broke – al-Haakim Abu ’Abd-Allah narrated the first version, and said: This is saheeh according to the conditions of Muslim. Both were narrated by al-Bayhaqi, who said: If this is saheeh, it is understood by the majority of scholars as meaning that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) knew that he used to give the call to prayer before dawn came, thus the eating and drinking referred to were taking place just before dawn came.  

The phrase “when dawn broke” is understood to be the words of someone other than Abu Hurayrah, or it may be describing the second adhaan, in which case the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) – “If one of you hears the call (to prayer) and the vessel is still in his hand” – refer to the first call to prayer, so that it is in accordance with the hadeeth of Ibn ’Umar and ’Aa’ishah (may Allah be pleased with them). He said: Thus the reports are in agreement. And Allah is the Source of strength, and Allah knows best.

 End quote. 

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) stated in Tahdheeb al-Sunan that some of the salaf followed the apparent meaning of the hadeeth mentioned in the question, and they regarded it as permissible to eat and drink after hearing the adhaan of Fajr. Then he said: