Ramadan in History

The Demise of Fatimah

Fatimah was the youngest daughter of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and her mother was Khadijah Bint Khuwailid. Fatimah was born five years before prophethood, i.e. before Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, was sent as Allah’s Prophet.

She was engaged to `Ali Ibn Abu Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, in the second year after Hijrah (the Prophet’s Migration to Madinah) in Ramadan, then they got married in Dhul Hijja. She gave birth to Al-Hasan, Al-Husain, Zainab, Umm Kulthum and Muhsin who died when he was a child.

She was very dear to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. `A’ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, narrated: “Fatimah, may Allah be pleased with her, was coming towards our home, walking exactly like the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. The Prophet said: ‘Welcome, my daughter!’ He seated her to his right or left. Then he told her something in secret, and she cried. I (`A’ishah) said to her: ‘The Prophet discloses his secrets to you and you cry, how come? Then the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, told her another thing in secret and she laughed. Hence I (`A’ishah) said: ‘I’ve never seen a sad mood turning in a moment to happiness as I see today’. I asked her about what the Prophet told her, but she said: ‘I am not to reveal the secrets of Allah’s Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him.’

Later on when the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, passed away, I asked her again. She answered: He (the Prophet) told me: ‘Gabriel used to reveal the Qur’an to me once a year. Yet he did it twice this year. So I think it is a sign that my days are numbered, and you will be the first one of my folk who will die after me. What a good predecessor I am to you!’ Hence, I cried. Then he told me: ‘Doesn’t it gladden you to be the master of believing women in Paradise?’ Hence, I laughed.” This incident is agreed upon.

It is said that she never laughed after the Prophet’s demise out of overwhelming sadness and eagerness to follow her father, peace and blessings be upon him.

Fatimah, may Allah be pleased with her, died on the third of Ramadan, the night of Tuesday, 11 A.H. May Allah be pleased with her.

 

Martyrdom of Imam `Ali Ibn Abu Talib

`Ali Ibn Abu Talib was the Prophet’s nephew; his father was Abu Talib Ibn Abdul Muttalib, and his mother was Fatimah bint Asad. He embraced Islam when he was just seven. He married Fatimah, the Prophet’s daughter and apple of his eye and the mistress of believing women in Paradise. Fatimah bore him Al-Hasan, Al-Husain, Zainab and Umm Kulthum.

On the Day of Khaibar, the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: “Tomorrow, I will give the banner to a man whom Allah will make victorious. That man loves Allah and His Messenger, and Allah and His Messenger love him.” On the next day, the Prophet, peace be upon him, summoned Ali and gave him the banner. Also, on the day of Tabuk, Ali was sad that the Prophet, peace be upon him, would leave him at home to take care of the household. Hence the Prophet said to him: “Aren’t you happy that you are for me exactly as Harun (Aaron) was for Musa (Moses), save that there is no Prophet after me?”

`Ali was one of the greatest heroes of Islam; he never refrained from fighting nor feared death in the cause of Allah. On the Battle of Badr, he fought along with Hamzah and `Ubaidah Ibn El-Harith against three of the enemies and the Muslim group won. On the Battle of Al-Khandaq, he fought `Amr Ibn Wudd, one of the strongest men in Quraish, and killed him. `Ali was assassinated by `Abdur-Rahman Ibn Muljam, may Allah curse him, on 17th Ramadan, 40 A.H. at the age of 58.

His Quotable Remarks:

Once he said: “The true scholar is the one who does not make the people despair of Allah’s Mercy; or make them heedless of His punishment; or gives them permission to disobey Him; or (he himself) discards the Qur’an for the sake of anything else; and there is no good in worship that is void of knowledge, and knowledge that is void of understanding, and reading that is void of contemplation. ”

  

 The Massacre in the Ibrahimi Mosque

The dawn of Friday 15 Ramadan 1414 a.h. / 25 February 1994 marked the first of three massacres perpetrated by Israeli settlers accompanied by the Israeli Army. There were more than 90 martyrs and 270 injured. The victims were performing Fajr (Dawn) Prayer at the mosque.

The main criminal was Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish settler of American origin who grew up in Brooklyn , NY in an Orthodox Jewish family. His friends say that his father was very strict with him and did not want Baruch to play with Catholic children, out of his Zionist sense that the assimilation of Jews in non-Jewish society is almost a sin. His original name was Benjamin, but in keeping with the present trend among American Jews of showing their commitment to the Jewish cause and Israel, he changed his name to the Jewish name Baruch. His friends describe him as a typical Zionist with a strong commitment to the Jewish cause and Israel.

Just like previous cases, the massacre was met with nothing more than condemnation. It was nothing new; rather, it was just a reminder of the many massacres that had happened before, including Deir Yaseen, Sabra and Shatilla, to name but a few.

After more than eight years (after 9/11 occured), comes the question: Who really cherishes terrorism and supports the killing of civilians and non-combatants?

  

The Prophet Married Sawdah

Sawdah Bint Zam`ah Ibn Qays was a noble Qurayshiete woman. She was the first woman to whom the Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, got married after the death of Khadijah, may Allah be pleased with her. She was a noble, respectful woman. She was married first to As-Sakran Ibn `Amr, brother of Suhayl Ibn `Amr Al-`Amiri. When they came back from Abyssinia, her husband died and then the Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, proposed to her.

The Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, got married to her in Ramadan, 10 years after his mission. He migrated with her from Makkah to Madinah where she died in Shawwal, 54 A.H. Some scholars say that she died during the Caliphate of `Umar Ibn Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with them all.

It is worth stressing here that she was the one who when attained old age, donated her own night with the Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, to `A’ishah, may Allah be pleased with them all, as a sign of love and kindness.

 

`Ali Ibn Abu Talib & Khalid Ibn Al-Walid in Yemen

Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, sent `Ali Ibn Abu Talib and Khalid Ibn Al-Walid to Yemen in Ramadan 10 A.H.

Al-Hafiz Al-Bayhaqi narrated on the authority of Abu Is-haq that Al-Bara’ said that Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, sent Khalid to people of Yemen to call on them to Islam.

Al-bara’ said: I was one of those who went with Khalid and we stayed amongst people there for six months propagating Islam, but nobody answered, so Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, sent us `Ali Ibn Abu Talib and asked him to send Khalid back with his group, unless someone would like to stay. Actually I opted for staying.

After `Ali came we went to the Yemenis and they gave us warm reception. `Ali then led us in a prayer. After that he organized us all in one line and started to read to us Prophet Muhammad’s letter. At hearing the letter all members of the tribe of Hamadan embraced Islam.

`Ali then sent the news of Hamadan’s embracing Islam to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. On hearing that the Prophet knelt down and prostrated for Allah, showing gratefulness to Him, and he raised his head repeating: “Peace be upon Hamadan, Peace be upon Hamadan.”

Al-Bayhaqi also said that this incident was narrated by Al-Bukhari, but in a shorter narration and from another source.

 

Hurub Ar-Riddah (The Wars of Apostasy)

Muslims were stricken by the demise of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and none could pacify them but Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, when he recited to people the Qur’anic verse, {Muhammad is but a messenger, messengers (the like of whom) have passed away before him. Will it be that, when he dieth or is slain, ye will turn back on your heels? He who turneth back doth no hurt to Allah, and Allah will reward the thankful}. (Al `Imran: 144) But some Arab tribes began to reject Islamic Law and refused to pay the due Zakat, while some others made undue claims to prophethood.

After becoming Caliph, as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, recommended before his death, Abu Bakr pursued the policy of the Prophet, peace be upon him. So he considered those who refused to pay Zakat as apostates, and said: “By Allah, if they withhold a rope of a camel they used to give its due Zakat to Allah’s Messenger, I will fight them for it.”

Abu Bakr set for preparing the Muslim armies, but, beforehand, he sent envoys to the rebel tribes to call them to return to Islam or face severe punishment.

At the beginning of Rajab, eleven Muslim armies set out to fight renegade tribes all over the Arab Peninsula. Khalid Ibn Al-Walid led three-thousand army to the tribe of Taiy whole leader Tulaihah Ibn Khwailed Al-Asdi claimed prophethood. War broke out between them in a place called Bozakhah at the beginning of Ramadan, 11 A.H. Then the Muslim fighters managed to win the war and end temptations against Islam, Tulaihah could flee. Later on he repented and pledged allegiance to `Umar and fought in the cause of Allah.

 

Badr

In the first year after the Hijrah, the Prophet (pbuh) sent Hamza ibn Abdul Muttalib with thirty Muslim riders to Saif al Bahr to investigate three hundred riders from Quraish who had camped auspiciously in that area. The Muslims were about to engage the disbelievers, but they were separated by Majdy ibn Umar al-Juhany. The Hypocrites of Al-Madinah, hoping to oppose the unity of the Muslims, built their own masjid (called Masjid al-Dhirar). The Prophet (pbuh) ordered this masjid to be destroyed in Ramadan. On the seventeenth of Ramadan, 2 A.H., Almighty Allah (SWT) separated truth from falsehood at the Great Battle of Badr. Allah (SWT) gave them a decisive victory on this day of Ramadan, that would never to be forgotten. 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.