Suḥūr Is Barakah

Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm

Our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam is the one who shows us the way and teaches us every good thing. The adāb and principles of Ramaḍān, its beautiful farḍ and sunnah, all of them have been described to us by our Holy ‎Prophet ﷺ.

One of these beautiful things is suḥūr. Our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam says that having suḥūr is barakah. Because this is especially to the nation of our Holy ‎Prophet ﷺ. Previous nations used to fast. When it was the evening, they broke their fast and had ifṭār. Then, they made the intention and fasted again until the evening of the second day. There was no other meal. Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla gave us this gift for the sake of our Holy ‎Prophet ﷺ.

You can eat and drink until the Fajr Adhan, until the time of imsāk; you can still eat and drink. But after Isha’ prayer, after praying tarāwīḥ, you go to bed then get up for suḥūr and eat something. This is a sunnah, it is barakah. Our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam says, “وَلَو بِشَرْبَةِ مَاءٍ”, “Even if a sip of water.” Even if you drink a drop of water with the intention of suḥūr, that would be barakah for you.

Most people now go to bed late. “We go to bed late. We eat then sleep so that we don’t get hungry.” You’ll be even more hungry then. It’s not important. What’s important is that you eat normally. If you’re not going to eat anything for suḥūr, get up and pray tahajjud, drink some water while praying tahajjud. By the time you finish, it will be Fajr prayer. You pray and go to bed. If you still won’t do that, get up and have a drop of water, drink a glass of water with the intention of suḥūr. You will have fulfilled the order of our Holy ‎Prophet ﷺ and it will be of benefit, health and barakah for you. It will also be barakah for your rizq, and barakah for your health, well-being and life.

Barakah is one of the secrets of Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla. Because without barakah, no matter how much one collects and strives, nothing remains in his hand. The most thing with no barakah is ḥarām wealth. We see, they deceive people and so on. Whereas, ‘وَمَا يَخْدَعُونَ إِلَّا أَنفُسَهُمْ’, ‘Wa Mā Yakhda`ūna ‘Illā ‘Anfusahum’, ‘But they deceive not except themselves.’ (Qur’ān 02:09). Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla says, they deceive themselves only. They deceive themselves so much that they are exposed and disgraced, “This man is a fraud. This man is a thief. This man is a liar.” And there is no barakah in the money he takes or the things he earns. It all goes away from him in an instant. His health also goes away. And he also goes away. May Allāh ﷻ protect us.

Therefore, wherever you hear there is barakah, you should ask for it, you should seek it. Suḥūr is one of those barakāt. Our Holy ‎Prophet ﷺ says – so that he ﷺ doesn’t burden us – even if you drink water with the intention of suḥūr it will be of barakah, in shā’a Llāh. May Allāh ﷻ accept from us. Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq.

Al-Fatiha.

• Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 

4 March 2025/ 4 Ramadhan 1446

Fajr Prayer – Akbaba Dergah, Istanbul