{"id":27,"date":"2007-10-08T11:33:03","date_gmt":"2007-10-08T11:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/ramadan\/2007\/10\/the-solitude-of-the-suhoor-the.html"},"modified":"2007-10-08T11:33:03","modified_gmt":"2007-10-08T11:33:03","slug":"the-solitude-of-the-suhoor-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ramadan\/2007\/10\/the-solitude-of-the-suhoor-the.html","title":{"rendered":"The Solitude of the Suhoor – The Morning Meal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"suhoor_pic.jpg\"Each morning during Ramadan is the suhoor<\/i> (the pre-dawn meal), the private antithesis to the usually congregational and public iftar<\/i> at the end of the day.\u00a0 It is the fasting Muslim’s daily opportunity<\/a> to set the tone for the day, both physically and spiritually.\u00a0 When done right, the suhoor<\/i>\u00a0 allows you to properly focus on your daily responsibilities as well as your religious ones, and when done wrong (or not at all), it just plain makes your day miserable.
\nThere are few opportunities to be truly alone with yourself (and by extension, God) than the early morning hours before the break of dawn, when the fajr<\/i> prayer normally takes place.\u00a0 The world outside is still, and having just woken up, your mind is clear and in the best shape for communication with the Divine.\u00a0 Ideally, if you can leave enough time for both prayer and eating before dawn, it is an enriching experience.\u00a0 Even those who don’t have the time to do this normally are making up for it in this last ten days of Ramadan, when extra prayers are recommended and the “Night of Power<\/a>” (said to be on one of the odd-numbered days in the last third of the month) awaits.<\/p>\n


\nWe can’t, however, forget the practical purpose of the suhoor<\/i> – to eat a balanced breakfast that can get you through the day.\u00a0 I’ve tried every variation on the meal – stuffing myself with everything I could find in the kitchen, loading up with slow-burning meat, and just simply drinking water and juice.\u00a0 But\u00a0fluids alone aren’t enough, and protein is better suited for the evening meals, where it won’t be stored as fat when you sleep.\u00a0
\nThe focus should be on the complete energy and hydration needs of the day ahead. In the end, I’ve settled on a larger-than-normal “carbo-loading” breakfast — filling oatmeal, several glasses of juice and water, and no more than two eggs (or maybe a pancake breakfast at a 24-hour IHOP).\u00a0 The large quantities of fluids are essential to reduce dehydration (and splitting headaches). Complex carbohydrates help maintain a store of energy<\/a>\u00a0that is released slowly throughout the day.\u00a0This combination seems to work the best for me in terms of how I feel towards the end of the fast.
\nThe best part of having your breakfast done well before you have to get ready for work — assuming you didn’t stay up too late the previous night — is that you have some additional time for prayer and reflection in the early morning hours.\u00a0 Sometimes I go out on the porch as the sky turns to light, and read my Qur’an by the emerging daylight.\u00a0 Other times, I extend my morning prayers with additional ones where I seek guidance for the difficult decisions in my life.\u00a0 And the rest\u00a0of the time\u00a0— well, I collapse back into my bed.\u00a0 Sometimes, you just can’t fight the sleep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each morning during Ramadan is the suhoor (the pre-dawn meal), the private antithesis to the usually congregational and public iftar at the end of the day.\u00a0 It is the fasting Muslim’s daily opportunity to set the tone for the day, both physically and spiritually.\u00a0 When done right, the suhoor\u00a0 allows you to properly focus on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-practice"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Solitude of the Suhoor - The Morning Meal - Hungry for Ramadan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ramadan\/2007\/10\/the-solitude-of-the-suhoor-the.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Solitude of the Suhoor - The Morning Meal - Hungry for Ramadan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Each morning during Ramadan is the suhoor (the pre-dawn meal), the private antithesis to the usually congregational and public iftar at the end of the day.\u00a0 It is the fasting Muslim’s daily opportunity to set the tone for the day, both physically and spiritually.\u00a0 When done right, the suhoor\u00a0 allows you to properly focus on…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ramadan\/2007\/10\/the-solitude-of-the-suhoor-the.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hungry for Ramadan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-10-08T11:33:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/ramadan\/files\/import\/suhoor_pic.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shahed Amanullah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Solitude of the Suhoor - 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Named one of ten \"Muslim visionaries\" by Islamica Magazine, Shahed's work and writings have been featured in magazines (Newsweek), newspapers (New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune), radio shows (BBC News, National Public Radio, and major websites (BeliefNet.com). Television appearances include \"Nightline with Ted Koppel\", CNN Headline News, the \"Today Show\", and \"Hannity & Colmes\". Shahed is the founder of Halalfire Media, a network of Islamic-themed websites with nearly 6 million visitors annually. Along with altmuslim.com, signature properties include zabihah.com, salatomatic.com, halalapalooza.com, and unitedmuslims.org. He has also served as a board member for the United Muslims of America, the Muslim Public Service Network, and the Muslim Youth Camp of California. 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