Editing Ramadan (section)

== History ==
[[File:002185 Al-Baqarah UsmaniScript.png|thumb|[[Al-Baqara|Chapter 2]], Verse 185 in Arabic]]
{{blockquote|Ramadan is the month on which the Quran was revealed as a guide for humanity with clear proofs of guidance and the standard ˹to distinguish between right and wrong˺. So whoever is present this month, let them fast. But whoever is ill or on a journey, then ˹let them fast˺ an equal number of days ˹after Ramaḍân˺. Allah intends ease for you, not hardship, so that you may complete the prescribed period and proclaim the greatness of Allah for guiding you, and perhaps you will be grateful.|{{qref|2|185|c=y}}}}

Muslims hold that all [[scripture]]s were [[Revelation|revealed]] during Ramadan, the [[scrolls of Abraham]], [[Torah in Islam|Torah]], [[Zabur|Psalms]], [[Gospel in Islam|Gospel]], and [[Quran]] having been handed down during that month.<ref name="Rafig">{{Cite book |last=Aliyev |first=Rafig Y. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t6CvZJJt1PIC |title=Loud Thoughts on Religion: A Version of the System Study of Religion. Useful Lessons for Everybody |publisher=Trafford Publishing |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4907-0521-7 |page=129}}</ref> Muhammad is said to have received his first quranic revelation on ''[[Laylat al-Qadr]]'', one of five odd-numbered nights that fall during the last ten days of Ramadan.<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Magnificence of Quran|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AKmmBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT29 |publisher = Darussalam Publishers|date = 2006|first = Mahmood Bin Ahmad Bin Saaleh|last = Ad-Dausaree}}</ref>

Although Muslims were first commanded to fast in the second year of ''[[Hijri year|Hijra]]'' (624 CE),<ref name="Rafig"/> they believe that the practice of fasting is not in fact an innovation of [[tawhid|monotheism]]<ref>Quran Chapter 2, Revelation 183</ref> but rather has always been necessary for believers to attain [[fear of God]] (''[[taqwa]]'').<ref>{{Cite book|title = Explanation of the Three Fundamental Principles of Islam (Salafi): Sharh Usool ath-Thalatha of Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahaab|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EbamAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT63|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200105005313/https://books.google.com/books?id=EbamAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT63|archive-date = 5 January 2020|publisher = Salafi Books|first = Shaikh Saalih|last = al-Uthaymeen}}</ref>{{qref|2|183|s=y|b=y}} They point to the fact that the [[Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia|pre-Islamic pagans]] of Mecca fasted on the tenth day of [[Muharram]] to [[propitiation|expiate sin]] and avoid [[drought]].<ref>{{Cite book|title = Loud Thoughts on Religion: A Version of the System Study of Religion. Useful Lessons for Everybody|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=t6CvZJJt1PIC|publisher = Trafford Publishing|year=2013|isbn = 978-1-4907-0521-7|first = Rafig Y.|last = Aliyev|page = 128}}{{self-published source|date=January 2018}}</ref> [[Philip Jenkins]] argues that the observance of Ramadan fasting grew out of "the strict [[Lenten]] discipline of the [[Syriac Christianity|Syrian Churches]]", a postulation corroborated by other scholars, including theologian [[Paul-Gordon Chandler]],<ref>Jenkins, Philip (2006). ''The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South''. p. 182. Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.</ref><ref name="Chandler2008">{{cite book|last=Chandler|first=Paul-Gordon|title=Pilgrims of Christ on the Muslim Road: Exploring a New Path Between Two Faiths|date=2008|publisher=Cowley Publications|language=en |isbn=978-0-7425-6603-3|page=88}}</ref> but disputed by some Muslim academics.<ref>Muhammad Mustafa al-Azami, "The History of The Quranic Text: From Revelation to Compilation: A Comparative Study with the Old and New Testaments", 2nd Edition (2008), Azami Publishing House</ref> The Quran itself emphasizes that the fast it prescribes had already been prescribed to earlier biblical communities (2:183), even though an explicit intertext for this pre-Islamic practice does not exist.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lowry |first=Joseph |date=2024 |title=Quranic Law and Its 'Biblical' Intertexts |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/asia-2023-0017/html |journal=Asiatische Studien - Études Asiatiques |language=en |volume=78 |issue=3 |pages=448 |doi=10.1515/asia-2023-0017 |issn=2235-5871}}</ref>