For a free PDF tract of this page please click on this link, or find it along with instructions on our dedicated tract page at this link.
Ramadan or ramazan is the month throughout which Muslims "fast" during daylight hours. The term "fast" is in quotation marks because many Muslims spend more money on foodduring the month during which they "fast" than any other month of the year, because they feast on more sumptuous fare in greater quantities than normal, before sunrise and after sunset.
From Arab News: "Religious scholars, through their sermons, have advised Muslims in the Kingdom not to waste food during the holy month of Ramadan, when food is prepared in large quantities and the leftovers go waste.
Abdulrahman Bakri, an Islamic scholar said: “During Ramadan, there is always a major increase in food wastage not only in the Kingdom but also other countries across the Gulf. At iftar parties or banquets during Ramadan, the leftover food usually goes waste and wealthy hosts have no qualms about throwing them away."
Matthew 6:16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
Rarely will we find such a large group of people so committed to engaging in an activity, about which they know so little. The same can be said about their knowledge of the origins of other Islamic rituals, like the Hajj and Umrah, even though much can be learned through Islam's own books. For example Muhammad's followers and the Arabian pagans performed the Hajj shoulder to shoulder right up until the year before Muhammad's last Hajj, when Muhammad kicked the pagans out of the ritual that they had developed and practiced in Mecca before Muhammad was even born:
Sahih Bukhari Volume 2, Book 26, Number 689: Narrated Abu Huraira: In the year prior to the last Hajj of the Prophet when Allahs Apostle made Abu Bakr the leader of the pilgrims, the latter (Abu Bakr) sent me in the company of a group of people to make a public announcement: 'No pagan is allowed to perform Hajj after this year, and no naked person is allowed to perform Tawaf of the Kaba.'
Some of Muhammad's closest followers didn't like to perform the Saee of al-Safa and al-Marwah, for example, because they knew it had been a ritual of Arabian jinn-devil worship:
Sahih al-Bukhari 2 Book 26 710 Narrated 'Asim: I asked Anas bin Malik: "Did you use to dislike to perform Tawaf between Safa and Marwa?" He said, "Yes, as it was of the ceremonies of the days of the Pre-lslamic period of ignorance, till Allah revealed: 'Verily! (The two mountains) As-Safa and Al-Marwa are among the symbols of Allah. It is therefore no sin for him who performs the pilgrimage to the Ka'ba, or performs 'Umra, to perform Tawaf between them.'" (2.158)
The vast majority of Muhammad's followers have not bothered to investigate where the tradition of Ramadan came from other than to believe that, like everything else in Islam, Muhammad engaged in it and/or instructed his followers to. The excerpts that follow are from the 20-year full-time study of Dr. Rafat Amari, and his resulting book "Islam: In Light of History", as also reported in his website paper "Ramadan and its Roots" at the Religion Research Institute:
"Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and the rigid observance of thirty days of fasting during the daylight hours, has pagan roots developed in India and the Middle East. The observance of fasting to honor the moon, and ending the fast when the moon’s crescent appears, was practiced with the rituals of the Eastern worshippers of the moon. Both Ibn al-Nadim and the Shahrastani tell us about al-Jandrikinieh, an Indian sect which began to fast when the moon disappeared and ended the fast with a great feast when the crescent reappeared[i][1]"
"The Sabians, who were pagans in the Middle East, were identified with two groups, the Mandaeans and the Harranians." (the paper goes on to detail the Mandaeans)
"The other group, considered as Sabians, were the Harranians. They worshipped Sin, the moon, as their main deity, but they also worshipped planets and other deities. The Sabians were in contact with Ahnaf, an Arabian group which Mohammed joined before claiming to be a prophet."
"In Mecca, the Ahnaf were called Sabians because of the doctrines they embraced. Later, when Mohammed claimed to be a prophet, he was called a Sabian by the inhabitants of Mecca because they saw him performing many Sabian rites which included praying five times a day; performing several movements in prayer that were identical with the Mandaeans and the Harranians; and making ablution, or ceremonial washing, before each prayer. In the Qur'an, Mohammed called the Sabians “people of the book” like the Jews and Christians.
Ramadan was a pagan ceremony practiced by the Sabians, whether they were Harranians or Sabians. From the writings of Abu Zanad, an Arabic writer from Iraq who lived around 747 A.D., we conclude that at least one Mandaean community located in northern Iraq observed Ramadan[ii][2].
Ramadan was Originally an Annual Ritual Performed at the City of Harran. Similarities Between the Ramadan of Harran and the Islamic Ramadan.
Although the fasting of Ramadan was practiced in pre-Islamic times by the pagans of Jahiliyah, it was introduced to Arabia by the Harranians. Harran was a city on the border between Syria and Iraq, very close to Asia Minor which, today, is Turkey. Their main deity was the moon, and in the worship of the moon, they conducted a major fast which lasted thirty days. It began the eighth of March and usually finished the eighth of April. Arabic historians, such as Ibn Hazm, identify this fast with Ramadan.[iii][3]"
"The pagan Arabians in the pre-Islamic Jahiliyah period fasted in the same way Muslims fasted, as originally directed by Mohammed. Pagan Arabian fasting included abstinence from food, water, and sexual contact – the same as practiced by Islam. Their fasting also was done in silence. There was to be no talking, not even for a short period of time such as one day, or a longer period of time of a week or more.[xii][12] The Qur’an points to the same kind of fasting when, in Surah 19, it describes God instructing the Virgin Mary to say that she vowed to fast before God, which also meant she couldn't speak to anyone[xiii][13]. The Arabian practice of keeping silent during the fast noticeably influenced the customs of the Qur’an. We are told that Abu Baker approached a woman among the pagan worshippers in Medina. He found her fasting, included abstinence from speaking.[xiv][14] Fasting was a serious matter for the Arabians, enforced with laws requiring severe penalties for failing to abstain from talking. Ramadan in Islam is a continuation of this kind of fasting."
Bing something like - girlfriend should not talk to boyfriend during ramadan - (through which you will also discover that even the concept of girlfriend and boyfriend is haram in Islam!)
Next Bing something like - ramadan moon sighting - to find websites that report such as: "Muslim faithful all over the country begin tonight a nationwide sky watch to monitor the rising of the crescent moon signaling the end of the holy month of Ramadan."
Wikipedia: "This annual observance is regarded as one of the Five Pillars of Islam.[4] The month lasts 29–30 days based on the visual sightings of the crescent moon, according to numerous biographical accounts compiled in the hadiths.[5][6]"
Another: "This means that Muslims around the world await with great anticipation the announcement that the new moon – known as the ‘hilal’ in Arabic – has been sighted. The excitement is greatest ahead of the crescent which will herald the first of Ramadan, topped only by the new moon which marks Eid ul Fitr, the celebration that takes place on the first day of the month after Ramadan, and marks the end of the month of fasting."
Please note that "Hilal" means crescent, and is a root of the name of the Arabian pagan's deity "Allah", as explored on that dedicated page. So while Muslims do not believe they worship the moon, and some may not even realize that "Allah" was the name of an Arabian pagan deity, Muhammad's own father was named "Abdullah" - meaning slave of "Allah" - long before Muhammad was born let alone was moved to invent his anti-Gospelreligion of Islam.
It cannot be reasonably denied that the Islamic ritual of Ramadan, in which Muhammad's followers engage, was first developed by pagan Arabian moon worshipers. Arabian pagan moon, sun, star and jinn-devil worshippers also engaged in the Hajj and Umrah in Mecca, during the century before Muhammad was born.
It cannot be denied that Muhammad's followers prostrate themselves toward the very same black stone idol, that Muhammad's tribe the Quraish venerated, before Muhammad was ever born. The Quraish pagans did not worship their black stone idol - but veneratedit - as representing one of their pagan deities, and from the etymology of the name "Allah", perhaps their moon god. Nor do Muhammad's followers worship the Quraish pagan's black stone idol, but it cannot be denied that they venerate it, as representing Muhammad's "Allah":
venerate (Mirriam-Webster)
1: to regard with reverential respect or with admiring deference
2: to honor (as an icon or a relic) with a ritual act of devotion
One thing should be painfully obvious, at least to "people of the book", as Muhammad referred to us. Islamic rituals such as Ramadan and the Hajj and Umrah, certainly weren't ordained by the one true God of the scriptures of the Jews and Christians. Indeed YHWH moved Abraham to smash ALL of his father's idols, not all of his father's idols ..... except one to maintain for veneration. And as Christians are warned:
1Corinthians 10:14 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
It would seem not coincidentally, for this same group that proudly identifies themselves with the seed of Ishmael:
Romans 9:7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Galatians 4:22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. {that is Hagar} 25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Religion Research Institute Materials by Dr. Rafat Amari (URL)
There is much more information on Ramadan included in the very informative paper "Ramadan and its Roots". The preceding quotes were provided to begin to introduce Muhammad's followers, to the apparent origins of Islamic so-called "tradition", in that the Sabians:
1. prayed five times a day
2. performed ablution
3. prostrated while praying
4. fasted during daylight hours for 30 days, ending by observation of the crescent moon
5. wore long white robes
Many more informative papers by Dr. Rafat Amari, with much of the information credited to Islam's own authors, are available at the Religion Research Institute.
Regarding Muhammad:
Regarding Mecca:
Regarding the Hajj:
Regarding the Rise of Islam (contents)
4. Mohammad in the Qur'an Confused Mary, the Mother of Jesus, with Mary, the Sister of Aaron and Moses
Of particular importance at this juncture are Dr. Amari's papers regarding the one true God of the Jews and Christians - YHWH - and the Messiah, Yeshua, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.
Regarding Christ
Footnotes:
[i][1] Ibn Al Nadim, Al-Fahrisit, page 348
[ii][2] Abdel Allah ibn Zakwan Abi al-Zanad. See Ibn Qutaybah,op.cit.page 204;Cited by Sinasi Gunduz, The Knowledge of Life, Oxford University, 1994, page 25
[iii][3] Ibn Hazm, I, page 34; quoted by Sinasi Gunduz, pages 167-168
[xii][12] Jawad Ali, al-Mufassal, vi, page 342
[xiii][13] al-Allusi, Ruh' al-Maani 16; page 56 ; Tafsir al-Tabari, 16, page 56
[xiv][14] Qastallani Ahmad ibn Muhammed, Irshad al-Sari, 6: 175; Ibn Hagar, al-Isabah 4:315
No comments:
Post a Comment