IFTAR TIME. It is the key time of Ramadan every day. Iftar corresponds to the evening meal and therefore the moment of breaking the fast among Muslims. A ritual governed by precise rules and a schedule that varies geographically and daily…
Ramadan 2023 began Thursday, March 23, for several million Muslims in France. Among the daily rituals of this month of fasting and spirituality of Muslims, Iftar, also called Ftour, holds a very special place. This is the name given to the evening meal, the time of breaking the fast each day. A moment sometimes eagerly awaited, after 12 to 15 hours of deprivation.
During Iftar, it is therefore again possible to eat and drink, until dawn the next day. Muslims following the rules of Ramadan are therefore particularly attentive to the time of this key sequence of the day, especially since it varies daily, depending on the time of sunset. With the timings of the five daily prayers, the Iftar schedule is set according to a specific schedule that differs from city to city.
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Iftar therefore allows Muslims who respect Ramadan to take their meal, which is also associated with the so-called “Maghreb” prayer. Like suhûr, “dawn meal” (not to be confused with sunrise), iftar is a traditional meal governed by ancestral customs. This meal must therefore remain light, unlike the meal taken in the morning before starting the fast again. It is a dinner that marks the end of a day of physical and mental asceticism.
During the month of Ramadan this year, iftar took place around 7:10 p.m. at the end of March and will be postponed until almost 9 p.m. (Paris time), around April 21, at the end of Ramadan, the time change having artificially extended the evening from the last weekend of March.
The time for breaking the fast, or “iftar”, is additionally shifted by one minute every day, depending on the sunset. In question: the days which lengthen with the approach of the summer solstice, pushing back the nightfall. This key moment of Ramadan is also different from one city to another. From Lille to Marseille via Paris, Lyon, or Toulouse, the schedules can thus vary by several minutes.
Iftar is usually “composed of fruits and sweet derivatives, as well as vegetable fats, which quickly calm hunger and fatigue of the day”, writes the specialist blogger Al-Kanz on his website. A few tens of grams of chocolate or half a bowl of almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts, can be followed by two fresh or cooked fruits, compote or even dried fruits.
During iftar, the drink, above all, must be served at will, without sugar or milk. The goal: to rehydrate and eliminate the toxins of the day.
A corollary of the iftar, the imsak takes place at the end of the night, when the resumption of the fast approaches. This term, which can be literally translated as “abstain”, designates a period during which one must prepare to fast, before the suhûr, the dawn meal. This is a kind of safety margin during which you can still eat and drink for a few minutes before stopping for the day.