Ramadan is a time during which I feel my faith in Allah (S.w.t) and my respect for Him most deeply as His slave. I am amazed by the act of fasting, which is an act of worship that has no visibility whatsoever, and the authenticity of which can thus only be known by Allah (s.w.t). Getting up from the bed in the middle of the night to prepare a meal, sometimes for an entire family, despite the exhaustion of long Ramadan days and the tarawih prayers that extend to late hours, is a moment when submission to Allah (s.w.t) emerges triumphant from the struggle with human habits and desires.
Suhoor meals prove to us that we can subjugate even our eating habits, which is one of the most instinctual human behaviors, to God’s command and the Prophet (s.a.w)’s sunnah, thereby revealing our capability to perform the rest of the commands and counsels of our religion. Men and women who rise from their beds despite all the exhaustion and sleep-deprivation to prepare the suhoor meal for their families are examples of submission, bringing to life moments in which God’s command reigns supreme over human behavior. In those blessed minutes as the night blends into early morning, houses that emanate light from their windows and the rattle of dishes from their kitchens shine as the stars of the earth to the inhabitants of the heavens.
