Dua 1: Before eating suhoor
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ
Bismillāh
In the name of Allah. (Said before eating suhoor, as before every meal.)
Sahih al-Bukhari 5376
Dua for starting the fast, and the suhoor niyyah
There is no dua for starting the fast in the hadith. What the fast needs is the intention (niyyah), and the intention is in the heart: if you wake for suhoor knowing you will fast tomorrow, you have made it. The popular wording wa bi sawmi ghadin nawaytu min shahri Ramadan is not from the Prophet ﷺ. You may say it if it helps you focus, but it is not required and is not a Sunnah dua.
Dua 2: Common wording, not hadith
وَبِصَوْمِ غَدٍ نَوَيْتُ مِنْ شَهْرِ رَمَضَانَ
Wa bi-ṣawmi ghadin nawaytu min shahri Ramaḍān
I intend to fast tomorrow in the month of Ramadan.
Not found in any hadith collection. A later wording found in some prayer books and calendars
Our teachers will check the Arabic and transliteration on this page before launch.
Guide
When and how to say it
There is no dua for starting the fast in the hadith. What the fast needs is the intention (niyyah), and the intention is in the heart: if you wake for suhoor knowing you will fast tomorrow, you have made it. The popular wording wa bi sawmi ghadin nawaytu min shahri Ramadan is not from the Prophet ﷺ. You may say it if it helps you focus, but it is not required and is not a Sunnah dua.
How to make the intention
- Know in your heart that you are fasting tomorrow for Allah. That is the niyyah.
- Getting up for suhoor in order to fast is itself an intention in the Hanafi school.
- If you want to say words, any language is fine, for example "I am fasting tomorrow for Allah". The words support the heart. They do not replace it.
- Then eat suhoor with Bismillah, and finish with the dua after eating.
Hanafi position
For the Ramadan fast, a vowed fast fixed to a day, and nafl fasts, you may make the intention from sunset the night before until just before the midpoint of the fasting day (half way between Fajr and sunset), as long as you have not eaten. Make a new intention for each day. For make-up (qada) fasts, kaffarah and a vow with no fixed day, the intention must be made before Fajr.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i, Hanbali
- For every obligatory fast, the intention must be made at night, before Fajr, for each day. A nafl fast can be intended in the morning if nothing has been eaten.
- Maliki
- The intention must be made before Fajr, and one intention at the start of Ramadan covers the whole month, unless the fast is broken.
Is saying the niyyah aloud wrong?
Saying it is not part of the Sunnah. Some later Hanafi and Shafi'i scholars said that saying the intention with the tongue helps the heart focus, while others say it should never be treated as required. All agree that words alone do not count if the heart does not intend, and that the heart's intention is enough without words.
The Sunnah of suhoor
The Prophet ﷺ said: "Eat suhoor, for in suhoor there is blessing."1 He called it the difference between our fasting and the fasting of the People of the Book.2 Delay it towards Fajr: Zayd ibn Thabit said there was about the time of fifty ayat between their suhoor and the prayer.3 More on timing and what to eat is in the suhoor guide, and the rules of the fast are in Ramadan fasting rules. For the end of the day, see the dua for breaking the fast.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 1923.
- Sahih Muslim 1096.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 1921.
- Al-Marghinani, al-Hidayah, Kitab al-Sawm, on the time of the intention. The other madhhabs' positions are summarised from their standard manuals.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 5376
- Not found in any hadith collection. A later wording found in some prayer books and calendars
The rulings on this page are pending review by the scholars on our team.
Questions
Good to know
What is the dua for starting the fast?
There is no dua for starting the fast in the hadith. Make the intention in your heart, and say Bismillah before eating suhoor.
Is wa bisawmi ghadin nawaytu from the hadith?
No. It is a later wording with no source in the hadith collections. You may say it to help you focus, but it is not a Sunnah dua and the fast does not depend on it.
Do I have to say the niyyah for fasting out loud?
No. The intention is in the heart. Saying it aloud is optional, and the fast is valid without words.
What if I forget to make the niyyah for Ramadan?
In the Hanafi school, you can still make it during the morning, before the midpoint of the day, as long as you have not eaten or drunk anything. Waking for suhoor also counts as intention.