Ramadan 2020 began at sunset on or about April 23 and will end on or about May 23. Muslims, ever contentious about nearly every matter, even disagree among themselves as to when Ramadan should begin.What does Ramadan really celebrate, particularly Eid ul-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan? If one understands the history of Islam and, especially, that of Ramadan, one will come to understand that such a commemoration, including iftar dinners at the White House, should be unacceptable to all those who oppose Islamic supremacism.
Ramadan involves more than prayers, fasting, and the giving of alms — all of which are part of the month long observance but which are also the outward signs of another message. By literal definition, of course, Ramadan commemorates Allah's "revealing" the Qur'an to Muhammad. But history clearly indicates that the "revelations" from Allah to Muhammad began around 610, some fourteen years earlier than 624.Those earlier passages, sometimes referred to as the Meccan verses, are the oft-quoted peaceful verses in the Koran. Contrary to what one might expect, however, the last day of Ramadan does not celebrate the actual date of the earliest peaceful "revelations" of Allah to Muhammad but rather the Battle of Badr, the first significant military victory by the forces of Muhammad.
The Battle of Badr of March 17, 624, is one of the few military conflicts specifically mentioned in the Qur'an and holds a great deal of significance in Islam. Eid ul-Fitr, the final portion of Ramadan, has as its origin the aforementioned battle. Furthermore and most importantly, this battle marked the turning point for Islam, both politically and ideologically.
Having earlier fled to Medina along with followers who accepted him as their prophet whereas most of the tribes of Mecca did not, early on that morning in 624 Muhammad got word that a rich Quraish caravan from Syria was returning to Mecca. He therefore assembled the largest army he had ever been able to muster, some 300 men, with the original intent of raiding the caravan. After his men successfully overtook the caravan and brought back the booty, Muhammad then conveniently received a new "revelation" from Allah — a "revelation" which not only included rejoicing in having captured an enemy's caravan but which also called "proved" that Muhammad had been preaching the true way all along. Fulfilling Destiny, Muhammad and his forces proceeded to trounce the Quraish as punishment for having earlier rejected the prophet's teachings. From this source:
In the name of Allah, the Beneficient, the Merciful.In other words, victory at the Battle of Badr proved to Muhammad and his adherents that Islam should from that time forth take on a militant aspect because such is the will of Allah. From the day of the Battle of Badr on, the tone of the verses in the Qur'an changed. These more recent "revelations," sometimes referred to as the Medinan verses, abrogated the earlier and peaceful Meccan ones. Because preaching and tolerance had not brought Muhammad the following which he needed in order to establish himself and Islam as political forces to be reckoned with, Allah, via a military victory, showed the prophet a more effective way to spread Islam. Therefore, Muhammad's victory at the Battle of Badr symbolizes both the way to bring about the will of Allah and the will of Allah itself.
The battle of Badr was the most important among the Islamic battles of Destiny. For the first time the followers of the new faith were put into a serious test. Had victory been the lot of the pagan army while the Islamic Forces were still at the beginning of their developments, the faith of Islam could have come to an end.
No one was aware of the importance of the outcome of the Battle as the Prophet (S.A.W.) himself. We might read the depth of his anxiety in his prayer before the beginning of the Battle when he stood up supplicating his Lord:
God this is Quraish. It has come with all its arrogance and boastfulness, trying to discredit Thy Apostle. God, I ask Thee to humiliate them tomorrow. God, if this Muslim band will perish today, Thou shall not be worshipped.[...]
This battle laid the foundation of the Islamic State...
In sum, Ramadan is, in and of itself, a statement advocating submission to Islam and to the will of Allah. Ah, the dhimmitude and submission of all Western leaders when they send Ramadan greetings to the Islamic world!
"Muslims, ever contentious about nearly every matter, even disagree among themselves as to when Ramadan should begin."
ReplyDeleteAsk an Eastern Orthodox what day Lent starts.
"the last day of Ramadan does not celebrate the actual date of the earliest peaceful "revelations" of Allah to Muhammad but rather the Battle of Badr"
AFAIK the Islamic feasts were inspired by pre-existing festivals in Medina, which Mohammed would have noticed when he arrived there prior to the battle. As for the actual date, the Eid does not coincide with the date of Badr (which was during the lunar month of Ramadan, but not near its end).
Listen, I sympathise with your instinctive distrust of Islam: I distrust all religions. Don't all proselytizing religions advocate submission to their version of the deity(s)? And don't Jews, for example, celebrate the divine intervention on behalf of King David's troops during passover? I appreciate that this is really about finding a theological explanation for Islamist terror, but I think the theology is a red herring. Not even Christianity, your favourite and mine, has succeeded in curbing our (westerners') colonial tendency towards genocide.
Whatever my or your assessment of any particular regligion, or religion in general, they're not going anywhere. We may as well try and get on with people and enjoy the liquor and the delicatessen. Happy Eid next month.
Hi Jez,
DeletePassover celebrates God delivering the ancient Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt.
I know: I was reading about Shavuot, and mistook it as a kind of coda to Passover; I now notice there's a seven-week gap between them. It is a holiday, just not the most familiar one.
DeleteOne should know history before trying to argue it. In any case, religion isn't the problem. It's what people do with it.
DeleteJez,
ReplyDeleteHave you read the Quran? The Haditha?
I have, and the contrast with Christianity, particularly the New Testament, is stark.
Not even Christianity, your favourite and mine, has succeeded in curbing our (westerners') colonial tendency towards genocide.
Generally speaking, in the 20th and 21st centuries, Christians aren't lopping off heads -- in a genocide or other atrocity -- and screaming, "I do this in the name of Jesus Christ."
Are there moderate Muslims? Yes. But as far as I can tell, there is no such thing as moderate Islam.
'Christians aren't ... screaming, "I do this in the name of Jesus Christ."'
DeleteA minor detail; count the bodies.
In my view, it is not a minor detail.
DeletePS: don't forget to count the bodies piled up by atheists -- Stalin, e.g.
How important is it to the victims and their surviving friends?
DeleteI'm not overlooking Stalin, or letting him off any kind of hook. I just think we ought to acknowledge the actions of (ostensibly) christian nations either.
What do you think of Chomsky's claims that the western media is very selective about which genocides to cover?
Jez,
DeleteIt's not just Western media that very selective about which genocides to cover. It's the nature of reporting -- and has always been as far as I've observed.
Surely you have noticed that American newspapers rarely cover in depth anything happening across The Pond. That was true in the 1930s as well.
No quibble on the actions of western nations, but they usually did it for economic gain or some such, never in the name of Christ. At most, you could criticize nominally-Christian nations of hypocrisy.
DeleteReminds me of what Norm MacDonald said about Bill Cosby. A lot of people were saying that the worst thing about the Cosby revelations was the hypocrisy, but Norm disagreed: the worst part was surely all the rapes.
DeleteI agree that we shouldn't blame the lofty ideal for the hypocrite's failings (except to note that some ideals are so lofty that failure is almost inevitable... Christianity deals with this idea quite well imo), but are we judging religions or nations?
In judging something, it is useful to ask, what has the judged thing wrought?
DeleteI suggest we do precisely that.
DeleteJez,
ReplyDeleteA little something I wrote in 2005, before I had my own blog:
Neighbor or Terrorist?
I didn't mince words.
A wonderfully written piece AOW... often something like your story that happens can shake one to the core and question forever one's perceptions. What did I miss? Did I trust too much? I had something similar with someone I had known - turned out to be a killer.....
DeleteBunkerville,
Deleteoften something like your story that happens can shake one to the core and question forever one's perceptions
That's what happened to me. I wrote that essay after 9/11, but the conversation occurred in 1998 or 1999. On 9/11, Mr. AOW and I actually wondered if our neighbor were one of the pilots. He wasn't.
Creepy about that killer you mentioned! Have you read Ann Rule's The Stranger beside Me?
o/t
ReplyDelete"Once more on Fair Schuylkill we cheerfully meet,
Our Sachems, our warriors, our (brethren to greet ;
The Great King above, has allow'd us again
To bury the hatchet, and brighten the chain,
Then your hands all my sons who for freedom have stood,
Who rescued my land at th' expense of your blood:
Such honors in history's bright annals shall shine,
And I glory to think such bold heroes are mine."
"Our hearts and hands are always free,
To brave the storm for Tammany;
When he commands, his sons obey,
Over the hills and far away.
Over the hills, like wind we fly,
To crush the foe, or bravely die;
Our Saint's commands none disobey,
Over the hills and far away."
Kawanio che Keeteru!
FJ,
DeleteSinging your song again! I always forget until you post this.
;)
DeleteIn 1777, John Adams—in Philadelphia attending the Second Continental Congress—wrote in a letter to his wife about the Tammany festival in Philadelphia:
May 1, 1777: This is King Tammany’s Day. Tammany was an Indian King, of this Part of the Continent, when Mr. Penn first came here. His Court was in this Town. He was friendly to Mr. Penn and very serviceable to him. He lived here among the first settlers for some Time and untill old Age… The People here have sainted him and keep his day.
The following May 1st, General George Washington and the Continental Army held a Tammany festival while camped at Valley Forge. These celebrations were so important that after the Revolutionary War, in 1785, George Washington appeared at the Tammany festival in Richmond, Virginia, with Virginia governor Patrick Henry. And starting in 1787, New York City had its first Tammany festival, with the chief eventually becoming known as the patron of New York’s Democratic political machine (a.k.a. “Tammany Hall”).
Kawanio che Keeteru, FJ. You beat me to he punch once again, drat!
Delete:^)
Happy St. Tammany's Day, Warren!
DeleteWhere is Poultry when you need him
ReplyDeleteHe put the ram in the rama lama ding dong
Beak,
DeleteDuck isn't around much anymore. I'm guessing health issues, but that's a guess.
And, yes, He put the ram in the rama lama ding dong. LOL!
More like he put the ding dong in the rama lama.
ReplyDelete;^)
Warren,
DeleteHahaha. That works, too!
I try to criticize another person’s religion. I don’t understand most of them, quite frankly, but I firmly believe that religion is a deeply personal thing and that each of us must find our own way in life. Christianity works for me. I believe it and try to live it (so far unsuccessfully). I must admit that I don’t respond well to most of the “Oh yeah?” arguments about the crusades, persecution of one group or another, tortures, and so forth ... it is history, long before my time, and in any case, way beyond my control. People playing those games should at least get their history right. So, I am perfectly happy to allow people to find their own way to heaven or hell ... it is their choice.
ReplyDeleteI do hear people claim that the Koran is the main problem with Moslems; it incites them to do terrible things. This may be true; it probably is true, but that speaks more to the brainless culture of Islam and of Moslems as human beings than it does to something written down 1,400 years ago. You know, there are such things as murder mysteries, and a lot of people read them ... but hardly anyone who reads them goes out and starts murdering people. For some very odd reason, one that I do not understand, western culture seems driven to give “Arab-Islamic” culture more credit than is due to them. We keep hearing about their contributions to this or that, but history tells us a different story. It tells us that Assyrians developed what we most admire about ancient poetry, science, and mathematics —all which Islamist Arabs incorporated into their culture. So, why do we give Arabs credit for these ancient contributions? And if someone wanted to become aggressive about it, they could make the argument that the Koran is no more than a plagiarized “old testament.”
In any case, I don’t care about Ramadan, any more than I give much thought to Kwanza ... another recent invention. Worship as you see fit, but don’t expect me to observe events intended to celebrate the end of western culture. I still believe that maintaining western culture is worth fighting for and I am not ready to turn my cheek, or my back, on any Moslem.
Oops . Should read ... try NOT to criticize ...
Delete@mustang: let's confine ourselves to post-ww2.
ReplyDeleteNoticed a couple of jabs up there about knowing history and getting it right - I'll indulge my paranoia for a moment and assume your referring to my mistake about Shavuot being part of the Passover festival. I admit that I made an error and that you should not confuse me for a scholar of Judaism; however I don't see how it affects my wider point about how Islam is not unique in celebrating military victories. I don't care how seriously you take my badly spelled half-thought-out internet-assembled versions of history, philosophy, politics etc, but I do wonder if you'd go any easier on my if I were president!
LOL ... well done.
Delete