What does “suhoor” (السحور) mean in Ramadan?

السحور is Ramadan’s pre-dawn meal — eaten in the dark before the fast begins at first light. It comes from سَحَر, the classical word for the last stretch of night just before dawn, so the meal is literally named after its hour. Its evening partner is الإفطار, the fast-breaking meal at sunset; between the two lies the whole fasting day.

The clip is a sleepy suhoor table — greetings exchanged, بسم الله before eating, شبعت (“I’m full”), and الحمد لله to close, a complete Arabic meal ritual in miniature. Ramadan tradition even has a dedicated job title from the same root: the مسحّراتي, the drummer who walks the streets before dawn waking families in time to eat their سحور.