The Quran did not declare the month of Ramadan as "sacred", but the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims are made to believe it as a sacred month. In fact, there was nothing sacred in the life of the ‘prophet’ of Islam. If he had stressed the month of Ramadan to be sacred, then it surely has some political or monetary motives to benefit him personally.
NECCESITY OF RAMADAN AS THE ‘SACRED’ FASTING MONTH
When Muhammad, unable to move his rather unsuccessful religious mission forward in Mecca, had to abandon his ancestral city and migrate to Medina, he gave up all the Pagan religious rituals that he had pretended to embrace to deceive the Meccan polytheists. In leaving Mecca for Medina, he not only sacrificed his birth place but also sacrificed all the Pagan religious rituals, including the fasting of Ashura, which he had borrowed and Islamized hoping to persuade the Pagans to embrace his new creed and leadership.
On his arrival at the predominantly Jewish town of Medina, Muhammad resumed his new effort to become the leader of Medina. To achieve his goal, Muhammad, like a chameleon, embraced all the Jewish religious customs, including the Jewish ritual fasting of Ashura or the ‘Yom Kippur’ fasting. Though the Jews were happy about his attraction towards their religion, it took few months for them to understand his hidden political agenda. So the Jews too started mocking Muhammad, just like the Pagans did at Mecca.
Muhammad made serious efforts to win over the Jews that lasted 17 months but it had little success. After that, he became convinced that it was impossible to woo the Jews to his religion and leadership. And just like he had dumped all the embraced Pagan rituals after his mission to win over the Meccans to his faith, he gave up most of Jewish rituals he and his community practiced for 17 months. The Jewish “Yom Kippur” fasting was one such ritual he had embraced and gave it up upon his failure to win over the Jews. And he had to substitute it with something similar. So, he introduced the month-long fasting of Ramadan, because a prophet unable to create anything new but only copying from others, he copied the Ramadan fasting from the Sabians and Christians (explained below).
MUHAMMAD’S THIRD ATTEMPT TO ‘ATTAIN’ (POWER) ALLAH, A SUCCESSFUL ONE
Having abandoned the Pagan Ashura and Jewish Ashura (Yom Kippur) fasting, pressure mounted on Muhammad to declare a sacred month for his people. And he chose the month of Ramadan from his ancestral Pagan calendar. To justify Ramadan as a special month, he claimed that the first alleged revelation from Allah came to him during this month. To keep his people active throughout his self-declared special month of Ramadan and in view of his security, Muhammad prepared a mixture of rituals copied from various religions to be observed during this month. He also copied the practice of ‘Itikaaf’ from the Pagans and the month-long fasting tradition from the Sabians and the Christian Bible.
According to various sources, Sabians used to observe month-long fasting during the month of Ramadan. Muhammad was also attracted to the forty-day fast from the New Testament.
- Matthew 4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered man.
- Luke 4:2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungry.
Muhammad made two unsuccessful attempts, first to win over the Pagans of Mecca and subsequently the Jews of Medina by copying their ‘Ashura’ and ‘Yom Kippur’ fasting and other religious rituals. When those attempts ended in failure, he abandoned those rituals. Next, he copied the 30-day of fasting in the month of Ramadan from the Sabians. Muhammad was militarily weak during his first and second attempts to obtain the status of God’s representative on earth by copying the rituals of the Pagans and Jews. He failed to persuade them on those two attempts. When he copied the 30-day Ramadan fasting from the Sabians and Christians, he was in firm footing militarily. With military might and Jihad by the sword, his religious mission started expanding fast. All communities of Arabia -- Pagans, Jews, Christians or Sabians -- were brutally forced to embrace Islam or summarily exterminated. Islam became successful. And with that, Muhammad’s third attempt at copying the fasting ritual of a religious community of Arabia, namely the Sabian ritual of 30-day fast during the month of Ramadan, became permanent in Islam, the final verdict for us Muslims, and we ignorant Muslims have continued observing the same for the past 14 centuries.
RAMADAN: A TIGHT SECURITY FOR MUHAMMAD & A MEANINGLESS BURDENFUL MONTH FOR US MUSLIMS
Muhammad had also put himself in trouble by declaring Ramadan as a sacred fasting month. If all of his Muslim followers fasted during the day hours, then surely they will get tired during nights. In this way, the routine security apparatus that he had created for himself by imposing all kinds of night-time prayers upon his follower came under threat. Also, since he had violated the centuries-old belief and sacredness of the Pagans by killing and looting them during their four sacred months, he expected similar attacks in revenge from his victim’s side during his self-proclaimed ‘sacred’ month of Ramadan. So, he wanted to be on alert during the month of Ramadan. Therefore, in view of strengthening his security during Ramadan, he invented various activities like the long Taraweeh prayer at late night hours, Qiyaam Al-Lail prayer at midnight, the eating of Suhur at the end part of the night, followed by the early morning Fajr prayer – all to keep his followers awake and vigilant throughout the night. Apart from this, he insisted on following the Pagan practice of ‘Itikaak’ that compelled his followers to stay around him in his Mosque without visiting their homes, unless there was very important need. These rituals guaranteed Muhammad’s additional security during the entire ‘sacred’ month of Ramadan than his usual routine security during the other eleven months.
Muhammad’s ancient practice of keeping the entire Muslim community awake during the nights of Ramadan can be seen even today in Saudi Arabia. During the entire month of Ramadan, the Saudis engage in different kinds of entertainments throughout the night, and they sleep throughout the day. Entire shopping malls, hotels, supermarkets, gyms etc. are kept open from the evening Asr prayer to the next day’s morning prayer. In Saudi Arabia, Ramadan is a month of entertainment—to sleep and fast all day long, and to keep on playing, shopping and eating large varieties of unlimited yummy foods throughout the entire night.
Ramadan, the special month that makes normal Muslims to wander the whole nights like ‘bats’, has become meaningless now for us, because Muhammad does not exist any more to require protection. The present rulers of Islamic countries don’t need security by common Muslims. So, the idea of Ramadan month is meaningless to us modern Muslims.
DID MUHAMMAD AND HIS FOLLOWERS RESPECT THE SACRED MONTH OF RAMADAN?
According to our Islamic sources, Ramadan fasting is allegedly ‘ordained’ on Muslims on the 25th of the month of Shabaan, 2 AH, just five days before the beginning of the month of Ramadan. Here are a few verses from the Quran that talks about the month Ramadan:
“Ramadan is the month during which the Quran was revealed, providing guidance for the people, clear teachings, and the statute book. Those of you who witness this month shall fast therein…” (Quran 2:185, 2:183-184, 22:78, 44:3-6, 49:13, 97:1-5)
It should be noted that no Quranic verse use the term ‘sacred’ while speaking about the month of Ramadan, although the same Quran address the age-old four Pagan sacred months—Muharram, Rajab, Dhul Qada and Dhul Hajj—as sacred (Quran 2:197,217, 5:2, 9:2-5, 9:36-37). This reveals the carelessness of Muhammad while fabricating his verses after he became much stronger militarily.
THE FIRST RAMADAN MASSACRE IN THE HISTORY OF ISLAM
After the revelation of the verses on Ramadan Fasting on the 25th of Shabaan (just five days before the commencement of the month of Ramadan in 2 AH), Muhammad and his 300 highway robbers planned to plunder the caravans of the Pagans on the 17th of Ramadan 2 AH, barely 23 days after the announcement of Ramadan as the month of salvation. Muhammad planned a surprise-attack on a rich Meccan’s caravan at Badr, a place near Medina, on it way back from Syria to plunder and loot it. This resulted in the legendary and glorious Islamic ‘Battle of Badr’. Muhammad killed 40 men of the Quresh, looted their wealth and made some 60 of their men captive. 19 Jihadis also died in the same encounter. His greedy companions wanted to collect ransom from those captives. But tyrant Muhammad didn’t want to show any mercy by letting them go alive. So, he ordered his ‘puppet’ Allah to send verses commanding to butcher the captives. And Allah readily complied by sending down the ‘made-to-order’ verse to kill those captives.
“It is not fitting for any prophet to have prisoners until he has made a great slaughter in the land.” (Quran 8:67)
They were accordingly butchered under the supervision of Muhammad in the ‘sacred’ month of Ramadan. This is how the special month of Islamic salvation, the month of Ramadan, was inaugurated as the sacred month in Islam.
RAMADAN: A SACRED MONTH OR TRAP TO CATCH THE PREY
Muhammad (Allah) announced the month Ramadan as ‘the special month’, just for the name-sake of confusing his prey. After few days of his (Allah’s) announcement of Ramadan as the fasting month, Muhammad perpetrated the first major bloodbath at Badr on 17th of Ramadan 2 AH, the very first fasting month observed in Islam. This was also one of Muhammad’s strategies to subjugate his so-called enemies. The god-fearing Pagans, following their own tradition of observing restraint in sacred months, might have thought that Muhammad will at least show respect toward his own sacred month, and refrain from violence and bloodshed during the month. So, they might have felt some relief from the danger of Muhammad’s raiding gang of bandits and proceeded to conduct their life-saving caravan trade with Syria during this month. And one they way, they got butchered by Muhammad’s highway robbers. Similarly, Muhammad led the campaign to conquer Mecca also in the ‘sacred’ month of Ramadan of 8 AH. On the 20th of Ramadan, he captured the city and destroyed all idols of the Kaaba. Obviously, there is no such word as ‘divinity’ or ‘sacred’ in Muhammad’s dictionary.
Like Muhammad sanctified bloodbath and looting by his Jihadi thugs during their four sacred months by taking advantage of the weakness of the god-fearing Pagans, he committed the same atrocious deeds in his own sacred month.
DID MUHAMMAD OR HIS COMPANIONS RESPECT ALLAH’S ORDER?
Finding it easier, Muhammad continued his raids of ravaging and plundering the non-Muslims during their sacred months, which his ancestors had observed as sacred over the centuries. The part of the following Quranic verse (2:217), in which Allah recognizes sacredness of those four months, had no meaning for Muhammad:
Allah says, “….Fighting therein (sacred months) is a grave offence…” (2:217)
Neither Muhammad nor his immediate companions kept the sanctity of the above Quranic verse.
SACRED MONTHS FOR MUSLIM’S KILLING NON-MUSLIMS, BUT NOT TO BE KILLED BY NON-MUSLIMS
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)
Muhammad’s teachings were similar to one-way ticket. It is OK for him, for him alone, to kill and plunder the kafers in the sacred month. It is OK for him to kill someone in the Kaaba. It is OK for him to keep more than eleven wives at the same time. It is OK for him to marry his daughter-in-law. It is OK for him to sleep with any Muslimah, who willingly ‘offer herself’ to him. But these are not allowed for anybody else, not even for his very close companions. His companions knew this doctrine of Muhammad very well. So, they never cared about his teachings. Instead, after his death, they practiced his policies of killing their own brethren to overcome the political obstacles.
Muhammad’s murders during the four sacred months: Here is a list of some of the important offences committed by Muhammad and his companions on their own brethren during the so-called four ‘sacred’ months of Islam as recorded in Islamic sources. They not only fought and killed the non-Muslims, but also killed each other to attain political ends.
1) MUHARRAM – First Arabic (sacred) month
a) Muhammad wage attack and destroyed Bani Muhaarin and Bani Tha'laba (Tribes of Bani Gatfan) in the year 4 A.H.
b) 10th of Muharram 61 AH – Murder of Hussain ibn Ali and the Grandson of Muhammad by the rival sect of Muslims.
2) RAJAB – Seventh Arabic (sacred) month
a) The battle of Tabook took place in the year 9 AH.
3) DHU AL HIJJA – Twelfth Arabic (sacred) month
a) Egypt was conquered by the Muslim army sent by Umar
b) 18th of DHU AL-HIJJA 35 AH – Murder of Uthmaan bin Afwaan by the rival group of Muslims. Uthman was Muhammad’s cousin as well as the third Caliph (King) of Islam and the son-in-law of Muhammad, who married got married two of Muhammad’s daughters. Muhammad gave him the title "Uthman – The Generous".
c) 26th of DHU AL-HIJJA 27 AH – Murder of Umar ibn Khattaab by the rival group of Muslims. He was the second Caliph (king) of Islam and the father-in-law to Muhammad. He was praised by Muhammad, as the unofficial prophet of Allah.
HOW SACRED WAS THE MONTH OF RAMADAN TO MUHAMMAD & HIS THUGS?
- The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, "When the month of Ramadan starts, the gates of the heaven are opened and the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are chained." (Sahih Al-Bukhari 4:497, 3:122-123, 251, 254-255)
- Allah's Messenger said: When there comes the month of Ramadan, the gates of mercy are opened, and the gates of Hell are locked and the devils are chained. (Sahih Muslim 6:2361)
The following few incidents prove how ‘authentic’ Muhammad’s above statements were!
‘SACRED’ MURDERS OCCURRED DURING RAMADAN
a) 3rd of Ramadan (11 AH) – Murder of Fathima bint Muhammad at the age of 29 by Muslims (just 6 months after Muhammad’s murder). She was only legitimate daughter of Muhammad according to some Islamic scriptures.
b) 17th of Ramadan (58 AH) – Murder of Aisha at the age of 66 by Muslims. The child bride of Muhammad and a powerful political figure in the early history of Islam after Muhammad’s death.
c) 17th of Ramadan (2 AH) – Raid on the Meccan caravan by Muhammad, resulting in bloody battle of Badr near Medina
d) 20th of Ramadan (8 AH) – Attack and conquest of Mecca by Muhammad
e) 21st of Ramadan (40 AH) – Murder of Ali bin Abu-Taalib by a rival group of Muslims. Muhammad’s cousin and the fourth Caliph (king) of Islam. He was also the son-in-law of Muhammad via his marriage with Muhammad’s beloved daughter Fathima.
Conclusion
My brother Muslims! If we Muslims show guts to ask our Mullahs about the murder of these close companions of Muhammad by his closest companions, we will get angry scolding. If you haven’t tested yet, please try it with your local Imam and see how they react!
In sum, Muslims, Muhammad himself and his closest companions included, had absolutely no regard for the sanctity of sacred months—whether or not the sacred months of the Pagans also acknowledged by Allah as such or Islam’s own sacred month of Ramadan. In the next part of this article on fasting, let us analyze the supremacy of Saudi Arabia on deciding the commencement and end of the fasting month, geographical knowledge of (Allah) Muhammad concerning the timing of fast and Muhammad’s dilemma between fasting and looting etc.
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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