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Background
Background
The time before Muhammad (عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ) received the Quran is known as the time of ignorance (Jahiliyah). Much of the Arabian Peninsula is harsh desert, but it is dotted with natural springs. Many of those who lived there were nomads who moved from spring to spring, and their lives revolved around rules based on the tribe and family-ties. However, one tribe, the Quraysh, settled in the Meccan valley around the Kaaba and they began to struggle with the transition to city life. Now people began to build personal fortunes. Individuals worked and lived as individuals. As a result the family and tribal ties which had previously held people together were becoming weak. In the desert the tribe had had a common cause – that of survival. Now that survival had become easier that common cause no longer existed. This lack of tribal community meant that the weak amongst the tribe were being left to fend for themselves. Many children were orphaned and many women no longer had the protection which the tribe had, until that time, given them.
The old tribal ways no longer seemed to fit.
The Quran
The Quran
According to biographies of Muhammad (عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ), during the holy month of Ramadan in the year 610, he was on retreat in a mountain cave near Mecca (the cave of Hira). Muhammad (عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ) used to go up to the cave to think about and contemplate the state of his society. On this particular occasion, he is described as meeting the Angel Gabriel, who squeezed the breath out of him and told him to recite:
‘Recite in the name of your Lord who created,
Created man from a clot of Blood;
Recite, for your Lord is most bountiful,
Who taught by the pen,
Taught man what he did not know.’
—The Quran, 96:1-5These words that he received were the first of his revelations which would be collected together to become the Quran.
This holy book is central to the life of the Muslim. It is not just a series of prayers or pieces of guidance. It offers rules for every area of a Muslim’s life. It is also the basis of Arabic culture. The grammar of the Arabic language is based upon the Quran. Everything a Muslim writes and says has some part of its source in the holy book.
The importance of fasting
The importance of fasting
During the month of Ramadan, Muslims are instructed to fast from dawn till sunset. During that time, Muslims are not allowed to eat or drink anything - not even water.
The Muslim calendar is a lunar calendar and so doesn’t match up with the solar calendar. Ramadan is sometimes during winter months and sometimes during summer months.
Here’s what it says about fasting in the Quran.
O believers! Fasting is prescribed for you—as it was for those before you—so perhaps you will become mindful ˹of Allah˺.
˹Fast a˺ prescribed number of days. But whoever of you is ill or on a journey, then ˹let them fast˺ an equal number of days ˹after Ramaḍân˺. For those who can only fast with extreme difficulty, compensation can be made by feeding a needy person ˹for every day not fasted˺. But whoever volunteers to give more, it is better for them. And to fast is better for you, if only you knew.
Ramaḍân is the month in 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.
—The Quran, 2:183-185Discussion
Discussion
Firstly, you might notice that the instruction to fast comes across as a compassionate instruction - you don’t have to do it if you are ill or on a journey, or even if you just find it very hard.
Secondly, the purpose of fasting is given in the first verse - ‘so perhaps you will become mindful of Allah.’ How might fasting make someone mindful of God?
Lots of religions have traditions of fasting. Christians fast during lent, and traditionally abstain from meat on Fridays, Jews fast a lot: at Yom Kippur, Tisha B'av, Fast of Esther… amongst others. Fasting is a big feature of religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism which have a prominent ascetic element. (Asceticism is severe self-discipline. Avoiding all forms of indulgence.)
Fasting has been shown to have certain medical benefits in specific situations, but it can also be very detrimental.
Does this mean that fasting is specifically useful only for those who believe in God?
Tasks
Tasks
Factual questions:
Explain why the tribal ways of ordering society no longer worked in the city.
What is the Quran and why is it important?
Outline an argument in favour of fasting.
Think of an objection to that argument.
Do you think that fasting and acts of abstinence are valuable? Explain your answer.
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