For obvious reasons, most Moslems are much more familiar with the history of the five daily prayers than the history of the most sacred of months on the Moslem calendar.

Who amongst us does not know that these five daily prayers were originally fifty but subsequently reduced to only five after a series of  tough negotiations by our Holy Prophet (pbuh) at the end of his seminal trip to the seventh heaven at the Sidratul Muntaha, the virtual head office of the Divine himself ?

The History of Ramadan is no less important though. For it was in Ramadan that the Holy Prophet was first informed of his prophethood; and it was in Ramadan that the holiest of scriptures, the Qu’ran, the primary source of law in Islam was first revealed to the Holy Prophet; and it was in Ramadan that the first formal military confrontation took place between the idol worshipers of Mecca and the Moslems in Medina; and, last but not the least, it is only in Ramadan that you could find the most powerful night of the Moslem year, the Night of Power, a night more important than one thousand other nights combined. All of the above make it all the more compelling for the average Moslem to understand the historical development of this most important month in Islam.

The word Ramadan comes from the Arabic root Ar-ramad which means extreme heat or dryness. But over the years the word came to signify a burning desire to drink water or consume food. That is at the physical level. But at the spiritual level, it’s the process of burning away ones sins by being hungry and thirsty for the sake of God, or that observing the fast of this month with absolute faith and unpolluted intentions will confer remittance of all the earlier sins of the faithful. Fasting is also, according to some prophetic traditions, a powerful tool of defeating Satan’s schemes of tempting the believers to sin.

 Before the Hegira (flight to medina) and throughout the Meccan period, there was no such thing as Ramadan. The only kind of fasting that the Holy Prophet and his Meccan companions performed during that period was the ancient form of fasting that had been enjoined upon all the prophets that had come before him namely, to fast three days in each of the twelve months of the year. Says the Qu’ran (2:183):( ….Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those who came before you that you may learn self-restraint).

And immediately after the Hegira and settlement in Medina, the Holy Prophet added Ashura (Tamharit), the 10th day of Muharram, the equivalent of January on the Moslem calendar, to the list of days that Moslems must fast in the course of the year. The significance of this day is that it was the day the prophet, Moses (pbuh), and his people were delivered by God from their tormentors, the Egyptian pharoah and his military henchmen.

Ramadan proper, however, was formally prescribed as a pillar of Islam in the Qu’ran during the second year of Hegira, thus rendering all the other forms of fasting that preceded it optional. And like all lifestyle changing legislations in the Quran, Ramadan passed through a number of stages before it became absolutely obligatory on every able bodied Moslem adult. Most doctors of Islam agree that the monthly three days fasting done by the prophet and his companions throughout the Meccan period and in the first year of the Medinan period is considered as the introductory phase of Ramadan for the Moslems.

This initial stage, whilst not mentioned in the Qu’ran, is evidenced by prophetic  practice and example. And even when fasting was first prescribed in the Qu’ran (2:183), it was obligatory upon only those who thought they  were physically and mentally strong enough to do it.

Says the Quran (2:184): (……..For those who cannot do it, it is a ransom,the feeding of someone who is indigent). And this, the doctors agree, was clearly the second stage in the Ramadan legislation. This phase also included permission for the aged, the traveller and expecting women and women with tiny babies not to keep fast until their situations change. The situation of the aged, of course, will never change, so they will always have to feed the indigent in lieu of eating during Ramadan. As for the women and the traveller, they will pay the number of days they eat at a later date.

The third stage came when the Qu’ran made fasting obligatory upon any Moslem adult who has seen the crescent at the end of Shaaban, the month that comes before Ramadan. Says the Qu’ran (2:185):(… .So everyone of you who is present in his home during that month should spend it in fasting).

It was from this day on that fasting in the month of Ramadan transitioned from being an optional pillar of Islam, just like the Hajj, to being obligatory on all able-bodied Moslems. The permissions granted to the aged, excepting women and travelers still stand, however. The Qu’ranic verse that was sent down to finalise legislation on Ramadan came to correct a specific problem that many of the Companions of the Prophet found especially difficult to deal with, namely the amount of time available for eating and enjoyment between breaking your fast for the day that has just ended and beginning your fasting of the next day.

This may sound strange today, but it is a fact that during the initial Ramadan, fasting began everyday immediately after the last prayer at night, the Ashaa prayer. And this means not only that people had less than three hours to eat and replenish the energies they had lost in the course of the day, but also that people went to bed fasting.

 And understandably, there were countless instances in which some of the companions accidentally slept with their wives or that some would collapse as a result of dehydration the following day simply because they had not had enough time to replenish the liquids they had lost the previous day. Says the Qu’ran (2:187) : (Permitted to you, on nights of fasts, is the approach of your wives.

They are your garments and you are their garments. Allah knoweth what ye used to do secretly amongst yourselves; but He turned to you and forgave you; so now associate with them and seek what Allah hath ordained for you; and eat and drink until the white thread of dawn appear to you distinct from its black thread; then complete your fast until the night appears…). And with this verse came the culmination of not only of Quranic legislative process on fasting in Islam, but also of a unique fasting format now known universally as Ramadan.

So, in a nutshell, just like the prohibition of alcohol went through a number of progressive stages before it was completely prohibited to all Moslems, fasting the month of Ramadan also went through a series of stages, four to be specific, before it became an obligatory pillar of Islam on all able-bodied Moslems. All the doctors of Islam agree that it is a sign of Allah's infinite mercy on this Ummah that anytime He legislates on complex lifestyle issues that would be difficult to change or abandon, He does it gradually and incrementally until the vast majority of the believers have gotten used to the changes, then He would finalise it, and that was precisely what happened to the history of Ramadan in Islam.

Bassirou Drammeh
Deputy Imam
Latri Kunda German