سحری

What it means

سحری (sahari) is the meal eaten before dawn during the month of Ramadan, before the fast of the day begins. The word comes from the Arabic سحر (sahar), the time just before sunrise, the last third of the night. In Persian سحری is both the time slot and the meal eaten in it.

The ritual

During Ramadan, Muslims who fast (روزه‌دار, ruze-dâr) wake roughly 90 minutes before dawn to eat sahari. The meal must finish before اذان صبح (azân-e sobh), the dawn call to prayer, which marks the start of the fast. From that moment until sunset, the faster does not eat, drink, smoke, or have sexual relations. Typical sahari foods are warm and slow to digest: rice with stew (preferably with meat and dairy for satiety), bread with cheese and herbs, eggs, dates, water, milk, tea. Some families prepare special sahari dishes like آش (âsh, thick herb soup) or خوراک سرشیر (khorâk-e sarshir, a clotted-cream breakfast).

Some families eat together, some eat quietly alone. Children may sleep through. The fast then lasts until افطار (eftâr), the meal at sunset that breaks the fast, traditionally with a date and water before the full meal. The cycle repeats for 29 or 30 days, depending on the moon. The final sahari of Ramadan is a small ritual in itself, eaten with awareness that the next morning will be the festival of Eid al-Fitr.

Cultural context

In Iran, the rhythm of Ramadan reshapes daily life for the month. Restaurants close for daytime service, work hours often shift earlier or later, mosques and TV channels schedule special programming. The pre-dawn hour has its own atmosphere: streets quiet, kitchens lit, families speaking in low voices not to wake neighbors. Religious Iranians describe sahari as one of the most peaceful meals of the year. For non-fasting Iranians, who exist in significant numbers, the same hour is just very early.

The word also names a specific Quranic recitation hour: many people recite the Quran or pray during the sahar window even outside Ramadan, since the time is considered spiritually receptive. Mystical poetry returns to سحر as a charged symbol, the moment when the heart can hear what daylight noise drowns out. Hafez and Mowlana use it constantly.

How to use it

• سحری چی خوردی؟ (sahari chi khordi?) “What did you eat for sahari?”
• برای سحری بیدار شدم (barâ-ye sahari bidâr shodam) “I woke up for sahari”
• سحری سبک بخور (sahari sabok bokhor) “Eat a light sahari”
• وقت سحر (vaqt-e sahar) “the pre-dawn time”
• اذان صبح بلند شد (azân-e sobh boland shod) “The dawn call has sounded (sahari is over)”

Related expressions

افطار (eftâr) is the sunset meal that breaks the fast. روزه (ruze) is the fast itself. ماه رمضان (mâh-e ramazân) is the month of Ramadan. اذان (azân) is the call to prayer. شب قدر (shab-e qadr) is the Night of Power, one of the last odd nights of Ramadan, the most spiritually weighty night of the year. عید فطر (eyd-e fetr) is the festival that ends Ramadan. زکات فطره (zakât-e fetre) is the alms paid at the end of the month.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab