Know About The Significance Of The Ninth Month Of The Islamic Calender: Ramadan

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, observed by Muslims around the world as a month of fasting, prayer, reflection and community. A commemoration of the first revelation of the Qur'an to Muhammad, the annual observance of Ramadan is considered one of the Five Pillars of Islam and lasts between twenty-nine and thirty days, from a visual sighting of the crescent moon to the next.

Fasting is mandatory for adult Muslims, except those who are sick, traveling, elderly, pregnant, breastfeeding, diabetics, chronically ill or menstruating. Although fatwas have been issued stating that Muslims living in regions with a midnight sun or a polar night must follow the Mecca calendar, the most commonly accepted opinion is that they should follow the country's calendar more close to them in which the night can be distinguished from the day.

While fasting from dawn to dusk, believers refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, having sexual intercourse and sinful behaviors that may nullify the reward of fasting, striving to purify and increase their good works and conscience. The pre-dawn meal is known as suhoor, while the night parties to break the fast are called iftar. It is believed that spiritual rewards by fasting multiply during the month of Ramadan, when believers engage in prayer, recite the Qur'an and to the performance of charity works.

The month of Ramadan is the month in which the Koran was revealed; a guide for humanity, and clear proofs of the guide, and the criterion of right and wrong. And whichever of you is present, let him fast the month, and any of you who are sick or on a trip, other days. Allah wishes for you ease; He does not want difficulties for you; and that you must complete the period, and that you should magnify Allah for having guided you, and that you may be grateful.

Muslims hold that the Koran was first revealed to Muhammad during the month of Ramadan on Laylat al-Qadr (the night of power), one of the five odd nights of the last ten days of Ramadan. According to the hadith, all the sacred scriptures were sent during Ramadan, the tables of Ibrahim, the Torah, the Psalms, the Gospel and the Qur'an were revealed the first, sixth, twelfth, thirteenth, and twentieth fourth Ramadan, respectively.

According to the Qur'an, fasting was obligatory for the previous nations as a way to achieve fear of God. God proclaimed to Muhammad that fasting for his sake was not a new innovation in monotheism, but an obligation practiced by those dedicated to the unity of God. The pagans of Mecca fasted on the tenth day of Muharram to atone for sins and avoid droughts.

The decision to observe the fast during Ramadan was rejected eighteen months after Hijra, during the month of Sha'ban in the second year of Hijra (624 CE).

Around 747 AD, Abu Zanad wrote that at least one Mandaean community in al-Jazeera (northern modern Iraq) observed Ramadan before converting to Islam.

According to the historian Philip Jenkins, Ramadan comes "from the strict discipline of Lent of the Syrian Churches", a postulate corroborated by other scholars, such as the theologian Paul-Gordon Chandler, and is based on the idea of the Qur'an Christian Syriac origins, a claim that is opposed by some Muslim scholars.

By: Preeti Narula

Content: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramadan