Imsak – The Amber Light?

Assalammualaikum wr wb,

As Ramadan is approaching us, we would like to open up some discussion and topics about this. So here’s the first topic..

What do you think of the Imsak time?

We Muslims usually don’t care about this time during other Islamic months, but in Ramadan this time has become an important number.

Since young my mom would tell me, “E… Dah Imsak tau. Tak boleh makan lagi!”. For a young boy back then, we wouldn’t know what really this time signifies because I became confuse when my mom tell me that I still have 10 more minutes to eat my meal.

Well to make it simple for everyone to understand, its like the Traffic Light? IMSAK is like the AMBER LIGHT? The moment you see that yellow light while driving, it is indicating you to slow down and even stop if possible (Best to stop though).

Similarly, IMSAK is just to tell us to stop eating. You can continue to eat till Subuh but slow down the food intake and prepare to stop.

I could not find any hadiths about this, perhaps anyone out there can share a little bit of history on IMSAK and how it got started. This thread is open for discussion, however note that every comment is moderated. Please comment below.