The Evolution of the Notion of Saḥar in Islamic Culture and the Need for Re-examining Relevant Verses and Narrations

Document Type : Research Article

Author

• Hamed Khani (Farhang Mehrvash)

Associate Professor, Department of Theology and Islamic Studies, Faculty of Civilization and Global Studies, Islamic Azad University, Gorgan Branch, Gorgan, Iran

10.22067/jquran.2025.92816.1823

Abstract

The conventional understanding among Muslims is that saḥar refers to the final portion of the night, ending with true dawn (fajr ṣādiq). Consequently, interpretations of related Qur’anic verses and narrations are based on this meaning. However, recent studies suggest that in some early Islamic usages—especially from the first century AH— saḥar may have denoted sunrise and the period thereafter, not before that. Based on these studies, it is likely that the term saḥar in the Arabic culture of the first Islamic century originally denoted ‘dawn,’ and, through an unknown process of gradual transformation, came to refer to the end of the night. However, these claims are based on limited evidence and often ignore contradictory examples. This article aims to re-evaluate the hypothesis by examining a comprehensive range of verses, narrations, and historical accounts, to determine whether such a semantic shift occurred and what factors might have contributed to it. The hypothesis of this paper is that the meaning of saḥar gradually underwent a semantic shift from the mid-first Islamic century onward. As a result of this change, the term saḥar, which previously referred to the early morning (i.e., from the false dawn to sunrise), came to denote the final part of the night (i.e., from the late night until the true dawn). The most probable primary cause of this shift was the gradual spread of Islamic fasting practices and their associated requirements.

Keywords

• Saḥar
• seeking forgiveness (istighfār)
• historical conceptions
• the peak of the pre-dawn time

Main Subjects

• Semantics of Qurʾanic/Hadith vocabulary

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