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Sahoor is not obligatory, but it brings forth blessing and reward

Question

Sallam..; I will like to know if someone can fast on Monday and Thursday without eating at the midnight because i am a muslim but i am living with a christian which i dont have chance to wake up at night to eat because is there house and if i wake up to eat or prayer, they we complain. Waiting for your reply. Thanks Awwal

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

It is not obligatory to eat Sahoor (pre-dawn meal); rather, it is an act of Sunnah as clarified in Fatwa 86920. It is not a condition for the validity of the fast. If someone fasts without eating the Sahoor meal, his fast is valid and he will be rewarded for it; however, he will lose the rewards and blessings of Sahoor. The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: "Eat Sahoor for in Sahoor there is blessing." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim] Accordingly, there is no harm in fasting without eating Sahoor. However, we would like to point out two matters to be taken into consideration:

First, you should perform Fajr prayer in its due time and it is impermissible to delay performing it from its due time under the pretext that waking up at that early time disturbs the people with whom you are living.

Second, you should not live with a Christian woman in the same house with no pressing need. The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: "He who joins the polytheists and lives with them, then he is like them." [Abu Daawood] Ash-Shawkaani  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "The statement of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, "...then he is like them," indicates that it is forbidden to live with disbelievers and obligatory to part with them."

Moreover, Al-Haakim  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him reported in his book Al-Mustadrak, a Marfoo‘ (attributed to the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) Hadeeth that reads, "Do not live with the idolaters, and do not assemble with them, for whoever lives with them or assembles with them then he is similar to them." [Al-Haakim]

The prohibition is emphasized if there are men who you mix with in this Christian woman's house, because this would lead to impermissible intermingling with non-Mahram men and expose you to Fitnah (temptation) and evils. A Fatwa from the Standing Committee for Academic Research and Issuing Fatwas reads, "It is impermissible for a Muslim to live with non-Muslim families consisting of men and women because intermingling between the sexes, impermissible exposure of women's nudity and indifference in guarding the honor are customary among such families. This constitutes a grave Fitnah and a path to immorality and corruption of moral and ethical values." [Excerpted with slight modification]

Allaah Knows best.

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