Sep 15, 2008

Assalamu'alaikum wa Rahmatullah,

SubhanAllah! Ramadan is going by so quickly; half of it has already passed. For the remaining 15 days, I will try to update as much as possible with Ramadan-related articles. The following is an article about the History of the month:

Ramadan in History
Shaykh Abdullah Hakim Quick


All praises to Allah, Lord of the worlds. He who revealed in His Glorious Qur'an,

"O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those who came before you that you may keep your duty to your Lord (having taqwa),"
[2: 185]

And may blessings and peace of Allah be upon His last Messenger Muhammed ibn Abdullah, forever.


O you who believe, Ramadan is a sacred month wherein Almighty Allah is constantly testing His creation and giving humanity the opportunity to achieve infinite, endless bliss. Fasting is a complete purification and a means to developing the consciousness of Allah's presence. The consciousness of Allah (taqwa) is a protection against the schemes of Shaitan, and the suffering of this world. Allah has informed us that,

"whoever keeps his duty to Allah (has taqwa), He ordains a way out for him and gives him sustenance from where he imagines not. And whoever trusts in Allah, He is sufficient for him. Surely Allah attains His purpose. Allah has appointed a measure for everything"
[65: 2].

Many Muslims today have a misconception about fasting and the activities of a fasting person. They go into a state of semi-hibernation, spending most of their daylight hours in bed. If they fear Allah, they wake up for prayer, but then return to sleep immediately. This unnatural sleep makes them become lazy, dull-witted and often cranky.

Ramadan is actually a time of increased activity wherein the believer, now lightened of the burdens of constant eating and drinking, should be more willing to strive and struggle for Allah. The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) passed through approximately nine Ramadans after the Hijrah. They were filled with decisive events and left us a shining example of sacrifice and submission to Allah.

In the first year after the Hijrah, the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) sent Hamza ibn Abdul Muttalib (radiAllahu anhu) with thirty Muslim riders to Saif al-Bahr to investigate three hundred riders from Quraish who had camped suspiciously in that area. The Muslims were about to engage the disbelievers in battle, but they were separated by Majdy ibn Umar al-Juhany.

The hypocrites of Al-Madinah, hoping to oppose the unity of the Muslims, built their own masjid (called Masjid al-Dirar). The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) ordered this masjid to be destroyed in Ramadan.

On the seventeenth of Ramadan, 3 A.H., Almighty Allah separated truth from falsehood at the Great Battle of Badr. The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) and 313 of his companions set out to intercept a caravan of their own goods that had been left in Makkah. Abu Sufyan himself led it, the caravan having an estimated value of 50,000 dinars. They were met, instead, by a well-equipped army of the nobility of Quraish, intent on putting out the light of Islam. Despite being outnumbered three to one and appearing weak and unseasoned, the Muslims defended their faith with a burning desire to protect the meeting with their Lord through martyrdom. Allah gave them a decisive victory on this day of Ramadan that would never be forgotten.

In 6 A.H., Zaid ibn Haritha (radiAllahu anhu) was sent to Wadi al-Qura at the head of a detachment to confront Fatimah bint Rabiah, the queen of that area. Fatimah had previously attacked a caravan led by Zaid and had succeeded in plundering its wealth. She was known to be the most protected woman in Arabia, as she hung fifty swords of her close relatives in her home. Fatimah was equally infamous for showing open hostility to Islam. She was killed in a battle against these Muslims in the month of Ramadan.

By Ramadan of 8 A.H., the treaty of Hudaibiyya had been broken and the Muslim armies had engaged the Byzantines in the north. Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) felt the need to strike a fatal blow to disbelief in the Arabian Peninsula and conquer the city of Mecca. Allah had declared His Sanctuary a place of peace, security and religious sanctity. Now the time had come to purify the Kaabah of nakedness and abomination. The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) set out with an army having more armed men than Al-Madinah had ever seen before. People were swelling the army's ranks as it moved towards Makkah. The determination of the believers, guided by the Will of Allah, became so awesome that the city of Makkah was conquered without a battle, on the 20th of Ramadan. This was one of the most important dates in Islamic history for, after it, Islam was firmly entrenched in the Arabian Peninsula. During the same month, after smashing the idols of Makkah, detachments were sent to the other major centres of polytheism and al-Lat, Manat and Suwa, some of the greatest idols of Arabia, were destroyed.

Such was the month of Ramadan in the time of the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam). It was a time of purification, enjoining the good, forbidding evil, and striving hard with one's life and wealth. After the death of the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam), Muslims carried on this tradition and Allah used the true believers to affect the course of history. Ramadan continued to be a time of great trials and crucial events.

Ninety-two years after the Hijrah, Islam had spread across North Africa, Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen and Syria. Spain was under the tyrannical rule of King Roderic of the Visigoths. Roderic had forced his six million serfs and persecuted Jews to seek the aid of the Muslims of North Africa in order to be delivered. Musa ibn Nusair, the Umayyad governor of North Africa, responded by sending his courageous general Tariq ibn Ziyad at the head of 12,000 Berber and Arab troops. In Ramadan of that year, they were confronted with a combined Visigoth army of 90,000 Christians led by Roderic himself, who was seated on a throne of ivory, silver, and precious gems and drawn by white mules. After burning his boats, Tariq preached to the Muslims warning them that victory and paradise lay ahead of them and defeat and the sea lay to the rear. They burst forth with great enthusiasm and Allah manifested a clear victory over the forces of disbelief. Not only was Roderic killed and his forces completely annihilated, but Tariq and Musa also succeeded in liberating the whole of Spain, Sicily and parts of France. This was the beginning of the golden age of Al-Andalus where Muslims ruled for over 700 years. In the year 582 A.H., Salahuddin al-Ayyubi, after battling with the Crusaders for years, finally drove them out of Syria and the whole of their occupied lands in the month of Ramadan. The Muslim world was then destined to meet one of its most frightening challenges.

In the seventh century A.H. the Mongols were sweeping across Asia destroying everything that lay in their path. Genghis Khan called himself "the scourge of God sent to punish humanity for their sins". In 617 A.H., Samarkand, Ray and Hamdan were put to the sword causing more than 700,000 people to be killed or made captive. In 656 A.H. Hulagu, the grandson of Genghis Khan, continued this destruction. Even Baghdad, the leading city of the Muslim world, was ransacked. Some estimates say that as many as 1,800,000 Muslims were killed in this awesome carnage. The Christians were asked to eat pork and drink wine openly while the surviving Muslims were forced to participate in drinking bouts. Wine was poured in the masjids and no azan (call to prayer) was allowed. In the wake of such a horrible disaster and with the threat of the whole Muslim world and then Europe being subjected to the same fate, Allah raised up from the Mamluks of Egypt, Saifuddin Qutz, who united the Muslim army and met the Mongols at Ain Jalut on 25th Ramadan, 458 A.H. Although they were under great pressure the Muslims, with the help of Allah, cunning strategy and unflinching bravery, crushed the Mongol army and reversed this tidal wave of horror. The whole of the civilised world sighed in relief and stood in awe at the remarkable achievement of these noble sons of Islam.


This was the spirit of Ramadan that enabled our righteous forefathers to face seemingly impossible challenges. It was a time of intense activity, spending the day in the saddle and the night in prayer while calling upon Allah for His mercy and forgiveness.

Today, the Muslim world is faced with drought, military aggression, widespread corruption and tempting materialism. We are surely in need of believers who can walk in the footsteps of our beloved Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam), the illustrious Sahabah, Tariq ibn Ziyad, Qutuz, Salahuddin and the countless heroes of Islam. We are surely in need of believers who are unafraid of the threats of the disbelievers, yet kind and humble to the believing people - Muslims whose fasts are complete and not just a source of hunger and thirst.


May Allah raise up a generation of Muslims who can carry Islam to all corners of the globe in a manner that befits our age, and may He give us the strength and the success to lay the proper foundations for them. May Allah make us of those who carry out our Islam during Ramadan and after it, and may He not make us of those who say what they do not do. Surely Allah and His Angels invoke blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad. O you who believe! Send blessings and peace to him forever. Ameen.

Please remember to keep me and my family in your du'as, insha'Allah :)

Wassalamu'alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu.

1 comments:

Latife said...

Ramazan mabruk,sister. Here,in Turkey Ramazan is very nice time. In evening time everybody hurry to home with special ramazan bread for iftar.