RAMADAN! A SALVATION BONANZA TO US MUSLIMS?
Dear Muslim brethren! When we speak of fasting – the third pillar of Islam, it is impossible for us to separate the month of Ramadan from it. When our discussion centers on Ramadan, it is quite common for us to discuss Ramadan-related rituals, such as the additional prayer called ‘Taraaweeh’, prayed immediately after the usual fifth prayer ‘Ishaa’, and the mid-night prayer ‘Qiyam Al-Lail’, as well as Zakat, Fitra, Lail Al-Qadr, Itikaak, Suhur and Iftaar etc. We cannot separate the month of Ramadan from the third pillar of Islam. In fact the month ‘Ramadan’ should have declared officially the 3rd pillar of Islam. Whatever good religious deeds we do in the blessed month of Ramadan will be rewarded 700 times more by Allah. So, it is very important for us to know more about the sacred month of Ramadan.
Let us discuss the above-mentioned Ramadan-special rituals under the ‘The 3rd pillar of Islam’. The month of Ramadan has a number of special activities to benefit us, more so to benefit our beloved prophet, which can not be discussed in a single article. I humbly request my brethren to bear the burden of reading all articles under the title, ‘FASTING – THE THIRD PILLAR OF ISLAM’. I will start with introduction to the facts about the four ‘sacred’ months in Islam that are unknown to average Muslims.
FACTS ABOUT THE ‘SACRED MONTHS’ OF ISLAM UNKNOWN TO MUSLIMS
My dear Muslim brethren! If an average non-Muslim on the street asks us about which are our sacred month, we Muslims of all sects—regardless of some differences among our religious belief—will simply reply: ‘Ramadan’. And this answer, unfortunately, is completely wrong – thanks exclusively our adamancy of not to study and thoroughly understand Islam by ourselves. We are completely dependent on Mullahs, generally less educated than us, to learn about Islam.
Actually there are four sacred months in Islam. And according to the Quran, the month of Ramadan is NOT even included in them. They are Muharram, Rajab, Dhu Al-Qaada & Dhu Al-Hijja. These four months used to be considered “sacred” in the religion of the Pagans prior to the advent of Muhammad’s Islam. “In Bulugh al-’Arab fi Ahwal al-’Arab”, we read,
‘The four sacred months, Rajab, Dhu al-Qa’da, Dhu al-Hijja and Muharram, had been considered sacred during the pre-Islamic period [Jahiliya]. Raids, taking revenge, war, fighting and disputes were forbidden during them. If a man were to meet his enemy who killed his father or brother during these months, he would not quarrel with him… During the sacred months, [the people] were under restriction not to fight or make raids, and had to remove [their] spearheads as a sign that they would avoid fighting at all costs.’
Obviously, Islam borrowed the hallowing of these months from pre-Islamic Arab religious tradition and introduced nothing new into the world.
ALLAH IS ‘FOND’ OF PAGAN RITUALS – TO PLEASE PAGANS
Though power-hungry Muhammad ‘invented’ his new ‘monotheistic’ religion, Islam, he made many rituals of his ancestral Pagan religion the part of his cult, so as to attract the Pagans towards it. To sanctify his politically-motivated desires, he created suitable verses and attributed them to his slave and ‘puppet’ Allah. Though Muhammad had fabricated verses in order to copy Pagan religious customs and paste then to Islam, he did not give much importance to some of those copied rituals as days passed on. Islam’s sacred four months are one among such copied rituals that fell to disuse to Muhammad and Islam. And nothing is said in the Quran or ahadith about why these four months so sacred? Not much is said by Allah about what the Muslims must do during these four sacred months, except the months of Rajab and Dhu Al-Hijja, during which Umrah and Hajj rituals are performed, which are pre-Islamic Pagan rituals, copied and pasted by Muhammad.
About the four sacred months in Islam, Allah, the Almighty, says:
“Indeed, the number of months with Allah is Twelve (lunar) months in the register of Allah (from) the day He created the heavens and the earth; of these, Four are Sacred. That is the correct religion, so do not wrong yourselves during them……” (Quran 9:36)
Other Quranic verses that refer to these four pagan sacred months are verses 2:197 & 217, 5:2, 9:2-5, 9:37. But nothing is really said about why they are so sacred.
Muhammad has also endorses these months in the following hadith:
“The year is of twelve months, out of which four months are sacred: Three are in succession Dhul-Qa’ da, Dhul-Hijja and Muharram, and (the fourth is) Rajab of (the tribe of) Mudar which comes between Jumadi-ath-Thaniyah and Sha ban” (Sahih Al-Bukhari 4:419)
Most Muslims today attach much importance to these months and do any special deed, except once in a life-time performance of Hajj/Umrah. Dhul-Qa’da and Muharram has absolutely nothing sacred to Muslims.
The question is: Why our ‘holy’ Quran calls all these four months ‘sacred’? Whatever Allah’s reasons may be, what we know for sure is: Exactly those four months were the “sacred” months of the Pagans before Muhammad invented his Islam. They used to give very high importance to them in justification that they were truly sacred and important to them. Subsequently Allah endorsed and adopted these four months as sacred as well to please the Pagans, but down-graded their importance.
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE PAGAN’S SACRED MONTHS, AS THEIR WEAKNESS
After arriving at Medina, Muhammad hastened to attain power at any cost and means. As his followers slowly emigrated rather quietly over two months, carrying very little wealth with them and very little work available to them in Medina, his Meccan disciples soon consumed whatever they had brought along and face with starvation. So, to feed the big bunch of his band of companions, about a year after arriving in Medina, he started organizing raids to terrorize and loot the unarmed or lightly-armed Meccan caravans. The three raiding attempts failed. Then Muhammad assigned a band of 8 Muslims under the leadership of his maternal cousin Abdullah bin Jahsh in the month of Rajab, one of the four sacred months of the Pagan Arabs. Since, the Arabs strictly refrained from fighting and bloodshed during all of those four sacred months, which Muhammad knew very well, he took advantage of noble moral values and intentionally sent this team of highway robbers to a place called Nakhla to ravage a Meccan caravan. Being an Arab, who used to observe this month as sacred, Abdullah bin Jahsh was hesitant to attack the caravan of his kinsmen in the sacred month. But the other greedy companions of Muhammad in the gang did not want this rich caravan to escape their hand. So, they killed one of the caravan attendee and looted their wealth. One of the Meccan was able to escape and the other was taken prisoner.
What most horrendous and important to consider is that not to alert and scare away the caravan attendees, Abdullah’s gang shaved their heads to pretend and show to them that they were returning from observing Umrah at the Kabaa; so they were no threats to the caravan. The caravan attendees believed the trick and suffered.
Today, by taking similar advantage of the tolerance and respect for “Freedom of Expression” of unaware non-Muslims in Western countries, our Muslim brothers are undermining their democracies. Some of our oil rich Muslim brothers are taking advantage of the western ideology of “free speech” and “multiculturalism” etc. to fulfill their greedy political ambitions of establishing Islamic domination over the whole earth.
ALLAH’S SACRED LICENSE (VERSES) TO VIOLATE THE SANCITY OF SACRED MONTHS
On his return to Medina, Abdullah bin Jahsh offered to handover the loot and the captive to Muhammad. But news of the raid and the killing by Muhammad’s party, thus violating the sanctity of the sacred month, had already spread far and wide. The Quraysh said, ‘Muhammad and his companions have violated the sacred month, shed blood therein, taken booty and captured men. Muhammad claims that he is following obedience to Allah, yet he is the first to violate the holy month and to kill.' (Ibn Ishaq, p. 288)
As condemnation of the horrendous violation of sacred month poured in, Muhammad was in trouble as to how to deal with it. He pretended not to accept the booty as if to show he was not happy with the bloodshed in the sacred month. He tried to put the blame on the raiders, which broke the heart of Abdullah and his party. At the same time, Muhammad also wanted to grab the booty. So, he devised a ploy to justify everything, however horrendous, his followers committed at Nakhla. He instructed Allah to send down the following verses to justify the raid and bloodshed in holy month,
They ask thee concerning fighting in the Prohibited Month. Say: "Fighting therein is a grave (offence); but graver is it in the sight of Allah to prevent access to the path of Allah, to deny Him, to prevent access to the Sacred Mosque, and drive out its members." Tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter….. (Quran/ Sura Baqra 2:217)
Allah also revealed verses recommending him to take 1/5th part of the booty as the joint share of Allah and Muhammad. (Quran 4:94/ 8:1/ 8:41)
This verse justified Muhammad’s actions of breaking the norms of their centuries-old belief and tradition of respecting the sacred months. It is also very important to notice that Allah too recognizes and agree with the sacredness of the Pagan sacred months.
SACRED MONTHS TO BE USED FOR KILLING NON-MUSLIMS, BUT NOT TO BE KILLED BY THEM
It was Muhammad ploy and justification that he will attack and kill the non-Muslims during their sacred months, so as to protect Allah’s religion. On the other hand, if the non-Muslims come to attack his companions during his self-declared sacred month of Ramadan, Muslims should say to attacking non-Muslims: “I’m fasting”.
Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle said, "Fasting is a shield (or a screen or a shelter)….. So, if somebody fights with him or abuses him, he should tell him twice, 'I am fasting." (Sahih al-Bukhari 3:118)
ALLAH & MUHAMMAD: JOINT PARTNERS OF THE SACRED-MONTH LOOT
We Muslims never bothered to ask: How sacred are these four months? What are the obligations and duties assigned upon us during these months? What benefits we get by observing it? And what is the history behind these sacred months?
While, in verse 2:217, Allah only came to rescue Muhammad from his horrendous deed, he also helped sustain the livelihood of his beloved prophet out of the same horrendous acts by allotting 1/5th of the plunder as sacred booty as his share. Not only that, the shameless Allah too expresses His desire of taking a ‘pound of flesh’ of it.
- “And know that out of all the booty that ye may acquire (in war), a fifth share is assigned to Allah,- and to the Messenger…” (Quran/ Sura Al-Anfaal 8:41)
- …With Allah are profits and spoils abundant. (Quran Al-Nisa 4:94)
- They ask thee concerning (things taken as) spoils of war. Say: “(Such) spoils are at the disposal of Allah and the Apostle…. (Quran al-Anfaal (Booty) 8:1)
- And know that out of all the booty that ye may acquire (in war) a fifth share is assigned to Allah and to the Apostle. (Quran Al-Anfaal (booty) 8:41)
While Muhammad took hold of 1/5th part of the booty, Allah certainly never came down to Muhammad to claim His share of booty. So, the entire 1/5th was swallowed by Muhammad for sure.
CONCLUSION
We Muslims 100% believe that each letter in the Quran comes from the mouth of our ‘Almighty’ Allah, and absolutely divine and sacred truth. But my dear Muslim brethren! The verses – 2:197 & 217, 5:2, 9:2-5, 9:36-37 – are among many verses that are the living proof that we have embraced many pre-Islamic Pagan practices of Muhammad’s forefathers that Muhammad made part of Islam. Can anyone among my 1.5 billion Muslim brothers explain what makes these four months sacred, except the month of Rajab and Dhu Al-Hijja, when Umrah and Hajj is observed? Even about the month of Rajab and Dhu al-Hijja, what is the benefit of performing nonsensical rituals of Umrah and Hajj, along with cruel slaughter of innocent animals, which too were Pagan customs?
In the next part, let us discuss how Muhammad tried his best to persuade the Pagans and Jews to join his religion by adopting their rituals and fast.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4A | Part 4B | Part 4C | Part 4D | Part 4E | Part 4F | Part 4G | Part 4H | Part 5A | Part 5B | Part 5C | Part 5D | Part 5E | Part 5F | Part 5G | Part 5H | Part 5I | Part 5J | Part 5K | Part 5L | Part 5M
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