Ramadan 2021 prayer timetable – Day 8 dua plus suhoor, maghrib, iftar times

Ramadan means fasting from early in the morning until sunset but is being observed very differently this year.

The coronavirus pandemic has meant a lockdown including the closure of all mosques where group prayers, communal meals and itikaf (a period of retreat) all usually take place during the holy month.

This year it will all have to be done in people’s homes.

So timetables will come in handy for making sure people can structure their day and follow a good routine for prayers and fasting during the holy month.

A pre-dawn meal called sehri, suhoor or suhur is eaten before fasting begins.

At the end of the day, the fast is broken with an evening meal called iftar, iftaari or fatoor.

With Ramadan moving back by 10 or 11 days a year, the daylight hours of fasting aren’t quite as long as in recent years when Ramadan included the longest summer days.

But more than 16 hours of fasting will still be required this year between the suhoor and iftar meals.

That’s a long time without food and drink so Muslims observing the fast need to know how to fast properly according to expert advice and by following the rules of Ramadan

Dua prayers for Ramadan

There are five prayers (salat or namaz) in every day of Muslim life, including during Ramadan.

During the blessed month of Ramadan the first prayer (Fajr) after the morning meal marks the beginning of the obligatory daily fasting.

The five prayer times in Ramadan are:

1. Fajr (which means dawn)

2. Zuhr or Dhuhr (midday).

3. Asr (afternoon)

4. Maghrib (sunset)

5. Isha (night)

A form of prayer known as dua – in which a person calls upon Allah and seeks his blessing – is recited by each individual worshipper at the start and end of fasting.

The prophet Muhammad is reported to have said: “Dua is the very essence of worship.”

According to IslamiCity, the dua at the start of fasting could be something like:

‘I intend to keep the fast for tomorrow in the month of Ramadan’ or ‘I intend to do obligatory fast tomorrow in the month of Ramadan this year because of Allah’

The dua at the end of fasting could be something like:

“O Allah! I fasted for You and I believe in You and I put my trust in You and I break my fast with Your sustenance.’

As an alternative, Quran Reading has come up with 30 different daily dua prayers for each day of Ramadan and you can find those here.