Ramadan is the holy month of obligatory fasting (sawm) for Muslims. The Quran tells us its significance.
It was the month of Ramadan in which the Quran was first sent down as guidance for all people, having in it clear proofs of divine guidance and the criterion for right and wrong. So whoever among you bears witness to the month shall then fast it (Surat Al-Baqarah, 2:185).
Indeed, Muslim scholars hold that God initiated His divine revelations of every Heavenly Book before the final and culminating Revelation of the Quran in Ramadan. This makes Ramadan the host month for all the Writs of Revelation. This includes the unnamed “Scripture of Abraham” (Ṣuḥuf Ibrahîm), the Torah (Tawrah) of Moses, the Psalms (Zabûr) of David, and the Evangel (Injîl) of Jesus, on them be peace.
When is Ramadan?
Ramadan (Ramaḍân, in proper English transliteration with diacritical marks to represent the Arabic) is the ninth month of Islam’s 12-month lunar year, which is called the Hijrî Calendar (Al-Taqwîm Al-Hijrîy). God Himself set the lunar year at the time of earth’s creation.
Indeed, the ordained number of months with God is 12 lunar months, as decreed in the Preserved Heavenly Book of God on the day He created the heavens and the earth (Sûrat Al-Tawbah, 9:36).
The Hijrah Calendar began in the year 622 of the Common Era, with the day Muhammad, on him be peace, God’s final Messenger to humankind, completed his Emigration — Hijra — from the mercantile and spiritual center of Arabia, Mecca, to the city of Yathrib, also in western Arabia. Yathrib then became known as The City of the Prophet, Al-Madinah Al-Nabî, as his home and resting place, on him be peace.
Islam’s lunar calendar flows back through the solar year and seasons, as a true lunar year is naturally 10 to 11 days shorter than its solar counterpart. It takes about 33 solar years for Ramadan to make its way back through the entire solar calendar. In a typical lifespan, a Muslim will experience Ramadan through the full range of a solar year twice.
What is the fast of Ramadan?
Ramadan’s fast imposes a dawn-to-sunset abstinence from food, drink, sexual intercourse and emission for its entire 29 or 30 days, as lunar months naturally fluctuate. It does so for all Muslims not constrained by illness, travel, or inability to endure the fast due to age, pregnancy, nursing and like hardships (who can pay something called the fidyah, a redemption fee, instead of fasting. See Valid exemptions for not fasting. Those who deliberately violate its fast without cause must pay an expiation or atonement penalty called kaffârah. See also, What Acts Invalidate Fasting?).
The Quran explains the fast of Ramadan in four verses:
O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you as it has been prescribed for those who have believed before you, so that you may be ever God-fearing.
It was the month of Ramadan in which the Quran was first sent down as guidance for all people, having in it clear proofs of divine guidance and the criterion for right and wrong. So whoever among you bears witness to the month shall then fast it. Yet if one among you is sick or is on a journey, such a person shall then fast the same number of other days. God intends for you ease, and does not intend for you hardship. Rather, He wills for you to complete the number of prescribed days — and that you shall extol God for the blessing of faith to which He has guided you, so that you may give thanks to Him alone for easing its way and establishing you therein (Sûrat Al-Baqarah, 2:183-185).
It is for a specified number of days. But one among you who is sick or is on a journey shall fast the same number of other days. Yet for those who are hardly able to endure it, and do not fast, the redemption for each day is feeding an indigent person instead. And if one volunteers a good offering over and above this, it is better for him, still. However, if you fast despite difficulty, it is best for you, if only you were to know.
