to break the fast and to delay the pre-dawn meal. He ﷺ also said, “Bilal gives the call to prayer during the night, so eat and drink until Ibn Umm Maktum gives it; he does not call until daybreak.”

As for the phrase cited by the compiler—“There was nothing between the two calls except that this one descended and the other ascended”—it is an interpolation, anomalous and unsound. The Prophet’s instruction to keep eating and drinking until Ibn Umm Maktum makes the call is itself proof that there is a substantial interval sufficient for eating, drinking, and taking suhur. Hence, that clause is weak, irregular, and carries no weight.

Zayd ibn Thabit—may Allah be pleased with him—made this clear when he reported that he once took suhur with the Prophet ﷺ, then they rose for the prayer, and the gap between the two was only the time it takes to recite some fifty verses of the Quran. Fifty verses, when recited in measured tones, come to roughly ten to fifteen minutes. This shows that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would delay suhur to a considerable extent, yet still offer the Fajr prayer promptly without postponement.

A Muslim should therefore, while eating suhur, recall that he is doing so in obedience to Allah and His Messenger, in deliberate contrast to the People of the Book and out of dislike for their practice, seeking the blessing placed in this meal, and taking it as an aid to obey Allah. With such intentions the suhur he eats becomes goodness, blessing, and worship. Allah is the One who grants success.