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Ramadan in History |
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
Muhammad 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 bad. 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, sallallahu `alaihi wa
sallam, 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, sallallahu `alaihi wa
sallam, sent Hamza ibn Abdul
Muttalib 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, but they were
separated byMajdy ibn Umar al-Juhany.
The Hypocrites of Madinah, hoping to
oppose the unity of the Muslims,
built their own masjid (called
Masjid ad-Dirar). The Prophet,
sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam,
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, sallallahu `alaihi
wa sallam, and 313 of his companions
set out to intercept a caravan of
their own goods that had been left
in Makkah. It was led by Abu Sufyan
himself, and estimated at 50,000
dinars. They were met, instead, by a
well-equipped army of the nobility
of Quraish, intend 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
Prophet and meet 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 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 renowned 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,
sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam, felt
the need to strike a fatal blow to
disbelief in the Arabian Peninsula
and conquer the city of Mecca. Allah
has declared His Sanctuary a place
of peace, security and religious
sanctity. Now the time had come to
purify the Ka`bah of nakedness and
abomination. The Prophet, sallallahu
`alaihi wa sallam 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 toward 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
20 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 and year,
after smashing the idols of Makkah,
detachments were sent to the other
major centers 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, sallallahu `alaihi
wa sallam. It was a time of
purification, enjoining the good,
forbidding the evil, and striving
hard with one's life and wealth.
After the death of the Prophet,
sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam,
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 millions serfs and
persecuted Jews to seek the aid of
the Muslims of North Africa in order
to be delivered. Musa ibn Husair,
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 also Tariq and Musa
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 sacked. 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
sprinkled 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 of 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
civilized 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. Surely we are in need
or believers who can walk in the
footsteps of our beloved Prophet,
sallallahu `alaihi wa sallam, the
illustrious Sahabah, Tariq ibn Ziyad,
Qutuz, Salahuddin and the countless
heroes of Islam. Surely we are in
need of believers who are unafraid
of the threats of the disbelievers,
yet kind and humble to the believing
people; Muslims whose fast is
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. |
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