Ramadan is a month of many things for the Muslims: it is a month of mercy, forgiveness, blessing, worship, exertion, devotion, and discipline. In addition, it has historically been a month that revived the concept of wala’ and bara’ in the conscience of the believers in one way or another.
Firstly and most famously, the 17th of Ramadan 2 AH was the day of the first decisive battle between Islam and kufr: the Battle of Badr.
On the same day (17th) of Ramadan six years later, the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه و سلم) conquered Makkah along with 10,000 Muslim soldiers. That day, he entered the Ka’bah and personally smashed each of the 360 idols he found inside. Later that same Ramadan, he sent his Companions to destroy the other idols worshipped by the Arabs: Khalid bin al-Walid was sent to destroy al-’Uzza, ‘Amr bin al-’As to destroy Suwa’, and Sa’d bin Zayd to destroy Manat.
The next year, upon his return from the expedition to Tabuk in Ramadan, the Prophet sent a group of his Companions to demolish the Masjid ad-Dirar that was built by the hypocrites.
In Ramadan of 92 AH, Tariq bin Ziyad led an army against the Gothic King Roderick in the Battle of Guadalete. This was a battle in which the Muslims defeated an army of Goths eight times their size, initiating the Islamic conquest of Andalusia, Southern Italy, and parts of France.
Ramadan of the year 584 AH marked victory for the Muslims in the Battle of Hittin, in which Salah ad-Din al-Ayyubi laid waste to the army of the Crusaders, resulting in his conquest of Jerusalem.
In Ramadan of the year 658 AH, the Mongols were dealt their first decisive defeat in history at the hands of Sayf ad-Din Qutuz in the Battle of ‘Ayn Jalut, avenging the deaths of the millions and millions of Muslims killed during the rape of their lands.
The revival of wala’ and bara’ in Ramadan was also manifested in the mosques of the Salaf during their prayers, as al-Imam Malik reported in his ‘Muwatta” (306):
al-A’raj said: “I did not find the people except that they would be cursing the kuffar in Ramadan.”
In ‘al-Istidhkar’ (2/72), Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr said:
“This shows that it is permissible to curse the kuffar whether or not they are dhimmis. This is not obligatory. Rather, it is allowed for those who do it out of hatred for them for the sake of Allah due to their denial of the truth and their enmity to the Religion and its people…They would supplicate in the Witr of their prayer in Ramadan and curse the kuffar in imitation of the Messenger of Allah when he supplicated in his Qunut against Ra’al, Dhakwan, and Bani Lahyan, who had killed his Companions at the Well of Ma’unah.And Ibn Wahb narrated from Malik that the Qunut in Ramadan should be in the last half of Ramadan, and it is the cursing of the kuffar. He curses the kuffar, and those behind him say ‘amin.’…and al-A’raj met a group of the Companions and the major Tabi’in, and this is the practice of the people of Madinah.”
Also, on p. 32 of his treatise ‘Qiyam Ramadan,’ al-Albani mentions a narration of Ibn Khuzaymah’s (2/155) in which ‘Umar would appoint someone to lead the people in prayer at night in Ramadan, and at the end of the prayer after the first half of the month, the leader would make the following supplication:
اللهم قاتل الكفرة الذين يصدون عن سبيلك ويكذبون رسلك ولا يؤمنون بوعدك وخالف بين كلمتهم وألق في
قلوبهم الرعب وألق عليهم رجزك وعذابك إله الحق
‘O Allah, fight the kuffar who lead people away from Your Path, deny your Messengers, and do not believe in Your Promise. Divide them and throw fear into their hearts, and throw Your punishment upon them, O Deity of Truth!’
The leader of the prayer would then invoke peace and blessings upon the Prophet, pray for the Muslims for what was good, and then ask Allah’s Forgiveness for the believers. After this, they would finish the supplication with the following:
اللهم إياك نعبد ولك نصلي ونسجد وإليك نسعى ونحفد ونرجو رحمتك ربنا ونخاف عذابك الجد إن عذابك لمن عاديت ملحق
‘O Allah, we worship You, and we pray to You, and we prostrate to You, and we strive and rush and hope for Your Mercy, our Lord. And we fear Your true punishment, as Your punishment is close behind Your enemies.’
After this, he would go into prostration.
So, these glimpses of the Muslims who came before us show that they treated Ramadan as a month to revive the concept of wala’ and bara’.
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.
Hey there! Looks like you're enjoying the discussion, but you're not signed up for an account.
When you create an account, we remember exactly what you've read, so you always come right back where you left off. You also get notifications, here and via email, whenever new posts are made. And you can like posts and share your thoughts. Sign Up
Hide
Looks like you're enjoying the discussion, but you're not signed up for an account.
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks