The du‘ā for breaking the fast (ifṭār)

The fast ends at nightfall, which the library’s card gives as sunset, and the narrations give the moment its words: a short du‘ā that the thirst has gone and the reward is certain, if Allah wills. This page explains that du‘ā and where the Sabīl library has it, what the library says the fast is broken with, and what the Qur’ān says about the fast and about supplication. Each entry is shown from the library with its Arabic, its meaning and the source and grade the library gives; the narrations are listed by number at the end. Under some verses the page also shows the notes of that edition; they are the edition’s words, not this page’s, and this page has not checked them. It does not say what breaks a fast or when exactly the fast ends at your place: those are rulings and local questions, and are for a scholar and your masjid.

The fast in the Qur’ān

The Qur’ān prescribes the fast as it was prescribed for those before, so that the believers may become righteous.

It sets the day of the fast between two edges: eating and drinking are allowed until the light of dawn is distinct from the darkness of night, and the fast is completed until nightfall.

And in the middle of the verses on fasting it says that Allah is near and answers the call of the one who calls on Him.

The du‘ā on the Pocket Companion’s Ramaḍān card

The Hijri Companion set of the Pocket Companion has a card headed “Ramaḍān”, in three parts.

The first part, “The month”, gives the month in one line: the fast, tarāwīḥ, seeking Laylat al-Qadr, iʿtikāf and Zakāt al-Fiṭr, each with the time the card gives it. The library cites the line to al-Bukhārī and Muslim with the grade ṣaḥīḥ.

The second, “Breaking the fast”, is the du‘ā of ifṭār: one short sentence saying that the thirst has gone, the veins are moistened, and the reward is certain, if Allah wills. The library cites it to Abū Dāwūd with the grade ḥasan. In that narration Ibn ʿUmar reports that the Prophet ﷺ said it when he broke his fast. The source line ends with the words “break on dates, or water”.

The third, “Laylat al-Qadr”, is a du‘ā that calls on Allah as Most Forgiving, who loves forgiveness, and asks for forgiveness. The library cites it to at-Tirmidhī and Ibn Mājah with the grade ṣaḥīḥ. At-Tirmidhī calls his narration ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ; of the later scholars the app’s ḥadīth dataset names, three grade each narration ṣaḥīḥ or ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ and one, Zubayr ʿAlī Zaʾī, grades both weak. In both, ʿĀ’ishah asks the Prophet ﷺ what she should say on that night if she knew it or came upon it, and is taught the du‘ā; Ibn Mājah’s wording is the card’s, and at-Tirmidhī’s has one word more. The night itself has an article of its own.

The Maghrib row of the Ramaḍān poster

The Ramaḍān poster sets the fasting day out in numbered rows. Row 04 is headed “Maghrib — break the fast at once”, and has the same du‘ā with its meaning, then two more sentences: what the fast is broken with, fresh dates, or dried, or water; and a sentence on the supplication of the one who is fasting, shown with the row below.

The row’s source line gives Abū Dāwūd and at-Tirmidhī, each with the grade ḥasan. The narration of Anas in both books says that the Prophet ﷺ broke his fast before praying with fresh dates, and if there were none with dried dates, and if there were none with a few sips of water. At-Tirmidhī has a narration of three whose supplication is not turned back, the fasting person among them. In its Arabic it is the fasting person until he breaks his fast; the English on sunnah.com has it at the time he breaks it, which is the wording of another narration of at-Tirmidhī’s, whose chain he calls not strong. At-Tirmidhī calls the first ḥasan, which is the grade the poster gives; later scholars differ on it, and some of them grade it weak.

The heading’s “at once” is the poster’s own. The narration of Sahl ibn Saʿd in al-Bukhārī and Muslim says that people remain on the right path as long as they hasten the breaking of the fast. How the moment of sunset is fixed where you are is a question of the local timetable: see the Ramaḍān screen, below.

The row before it: guarding the tongue

The poster’s row 03 is headed “Through the day — guard the tongue”. It says what to say to someone who abuses you or picks a quarrel, a short phrase saying that one is fasting, and ends with a sentence about false speech. The library cites the row to al-Bukhārī with the grade ṣaḥīḥ. In al-Bukhārī, Abū Hurayrah reports both: that the one fasting, if someone fights him or abuses him, should say twice that he is fasting; and that Allah has no need of the food and drink given up by one who does not give up false speech and acting on it.

What this page does not quote

The library’s Ramaḍān cards also have a card headed “Suḥūr & ifṭār”. The library’s own checking has not settled a question about one of its lines, so it is linked here and not quoted.

References

Verses of the Qur’ān, by sūrah and verse, shown above: 2:183; 2:186; 2:187.

Narrations, by collection and number as sunnah.com numbers them: al-Bukhārī by the numbering of Fatḥ al-Bārī; Muslim by Muḥammad Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī’s numbers, with the letter sunnah.com adds where it divides one; Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī and Ibn Mājah by sunnah.com’s numbering. The library names the collection under each entry; the numbers are the narrations described above.

• The du‘ā of ifṭār: Sunan Abī Dāwūd 2357.
• Breaking the fast with fresh dates, dried dates or water: Sunan Abī Dāwūd 2356; Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 696.
• Three whose supplication is not turned back, the fasting person among them: Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 3598 (at-Tirmidhī: ḥasan; graded weak by others); the wording at the time he breaks his fast: Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 2526 (at-Tirmidhī: its chain is not strong).
• Hastening the breaking of the fast: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1957; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1098a.
• Saying that one is fasting to one who quarrels: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1894.
• False speech and the fast: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1903.
• The du‘ā for Laylat al-Qadr: Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī 3513 (at-Tirmidhī: ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ); Sunan Ibn Mājah 3850; one later grader calls both weak.

From the Sabīl library: the Pocket Companion, the card “Ramaḍān”; the Ramaḍān poster, rows 03 and 04; the Ramaḍān cards, the card “Suḥūr & ifṭār”, linked, not quoted.

Where to go next

• Ramaḍān, the app’s Ramaḍān screen, lists each day of the month at your place with a time under “Ifṭār”. The time is worked out on your device; in the words of the screen’s own note, it is “the start of Maghrib as calculated for your place, with no margin added”. The note ends: “Where your masjid announces its own times, follow those.”
• Prayer times by city has today’s prayer times and this month’s timetable for the cities the app knows by name.
• The Pocket Companion can be printed as cards, and the Ramaḍān poster as a poster. The Ramaḍān cards are the library’s title on the month.
• The last ten nights and Laylat al-Qadr and Ramaḍān 2027 are two more articles on the month.