Ramadan has come for the second year and the health pandemic is severely affecting many countries of the Islamic world.

The activities of its people cease to celebrate the introduction of this holy month with what their returns have taken place for centuries, and those seeking to pray for the ties of kinship become distracted from the exchange of visits in it, and because of this, the feeding tables - which many urbanites are famous for - are reluctant to supply and extend.

So that you know - dear reader - the extent of the anguish that has descended in the hearts of many of the followers of this blessed month;

We invite you to contemplate the coming lines that tell us that the Muslims' preparations for the advance of Ramadan - throughout their history - were remarkable, as his month was associated with them early with the light when Muslims began lighting the mosques and streets in Ramadan in order to preserve the people of the month, and the Ramadan customs began to take root from the ceremonies of the investigation of the sighting of the crescent to the holding Dhikr and learning councils, leading to the expansion of tables and the multiplicity of aspects of social communication.

Until the moment this article is published;

The link still exists between the citizens of Ramadan in the past and present. Every Arab or Islamic city does not deprive itself of its share in the customs of Ramadan that are characteristic of it, and from the spiritual brilliance with which the life of Muslims is famous in this Quranic month.

This article tries to mix between the religious, social and cultural maxims that prevailed during the months of Ramadan throughout the centuries, through extensive monitoring that gathers a number of stories and narratives through which we can access the distinctive Ramadan behaviors that Muslims have lived in the countries of the world, bright and western.

The investigation ceremony


is related to the Arab month with the introduction of the crescent and the appearance of its signs, as well as fasting Ramadan due to the hadith of the Prophet contained in Sahih Al-Bukhari (d.

That is why Muslims were keen to see the crescent moon of Ramadan accurately and according to their capabilities in every town and country, and for that reason they chose Muslims who were not accused of lying and deceit, and then the matter developed with the advent of the Abbasid era until the judges became supervisors of the sighting ceremonies of the crescent and documented the testimony of its proof.

The Judge Judge, historian Ibn Khallkan al-Shafi’i (d.681 AH / 1282 CE) - in 'Deaths of notables' - told us that the modernist of Egypt, Abdullah bin Lahiya al-Hadrami (d. 172 AH / 788 CE) - who was appointed by the Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur (158 AH / 776 CE) in the year 155 AH / 773 CE A judge in Egypt - he was “the first judge who came to look at the crescent in the month of Ramadan, and the judges continued to see it until now,” that is, at the end of the seventh century AH / thirteenth century AD.

This habit continued - at least - until the middle of the eighth century AH.

The Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta (d. 779 AH / 1377 CE) came to Egypt in the year 725 AH / 1325 CE and witnessed the ceremony of the phenomenon of the Hilal Ramadan investigation in the city of Abyaar in northern Egypt, when he was hosted by the judge of that city, Izz al-Din al-Maliji al-Shafi’i (d.793 AH / 1391 CE).

He says on his journey: “I once attended with him the 'Day of Knee', which is called the day of anticipation of the crescent of Ramadan. Whoever is in the city of men, women, slaves and boys, and they end up to a high place outside the city, and the crescent is expected for them, and that place is covered with rugs and brushes, so the judge and those with him come down in it and wait for the crescent, then they return to Medina after the sunset prayer, and between their hands are candles, torches and lanterns, and the people are kindled. The shops with their wax shops, and people arrive with the judge to his house and then leave. This is what he did every year.

However, the Baghdad judges, for example, relied on eyewitnesses and did not go out by themselves to inspect the crescent like others do.

Al-Dhahabi (d. 748 AH / 1347 CE) - in “History of Islam” - stated that in the year 624 AH / 1227 CE, Judge Imad al-Din Abu Salih Nasr bin Abd al-Razzaq al-Jaili al-Baghdadi (d.633 AH / 1236 CE) approved the testimony of two Baghdad residents.

Al-Dhahabi says that “on the second night the crescent was sighted and it was not seen, and the error of the witnesses was clear, and some of the companions of Abu Saleh [the judge] broke their fast.

Because of this mistake, the masses revolted against the judge until “Abu Saleh took refuge in Al-Rusafa [Baghdad] in the house of a weaver, and some people met with him from the door of marriage, and they were prevented from entering it, then he was released after the shedding of Shawwal.”

The advent of Ramadan may be accompanied by severe weather conditions that obscure the vision of its crescent, so people expected confusion and confusion, and among the strangest examples of that is what Al-Maqrizi (d. 845 AH / 1441 CE) told - in his 'conduct to know the countries of the kings' - from “that the people of the city of Granada in Andalusia fasted the month of Ramadan (Year 702 AH / 1302 AD) Twenty-six days, because the clouds accumulated for them several months before Ramadan. When it was the night of the twenty-seventh, they came up the minaret to light it as usual, and when the clouds had taken off and the crescent appeared, then they broke their fast!

Some funny situations occurred during the investigation of seeing the crescent;

Among this is what Ibn Khallakan reported, that the great companion Anas bin Malik (d. 93 AH / 713 CE) went out with a group of people to search for the crescent, and he had reached the age of a hundred years at that time.

Anas said: I have seen him, he is that! And he made a point to him so that they did not see him, and Iyas (bin Mu’awiya al-Muzni, judge of Basra, deceased 122 AH / 741 CE) looked at Anas, and if a hair from his eyebrow was bent [on his eye, he thought it was the crescent], then Iyas wiped it and flattened it with his eyebrow. Then he said to him: O Abu Hamza, show us the position of the crescent! So he started to look and say what I see!

Ibn Khallakan also narrated that a sharp-eyed man saw the crescent of Ramadan in Basra until “someone else saw it with him and saw it. When the crescent of al-Fitr was, he passed the gymnast (= Muhammad ibn Amr al-Basri, died 250 AH / 864 CE), the owner of the anecdotes (= al-Taraif) to that man, so the door knocked on him. He said: Rise, get us out of what you have brought us into !!

Adornment and beautification,


and one of the people’s habit of receiving the holy month was to decorate their homes and cities and beautify it in addition to it;

The traveler al-Maqdisi al-Bishari (d. About 380 AH / 991 CE) tells us - in 'the best of the divisions in knowing the regions' - that the people of Aden in Yemen “decorate the roofs two days before Ramadan, and beat the bears on them (= drums). At magic, they recite poems until the end of the night. "

And this text of Al-Bashari tells us that the celebration of the advent of the holy month reached the point of beating drums, and then developed - in recent centuries with the Ottomans - into what has become called the "Ramadan cannon" whose bullets are struck at the time of breakfast.

And it seems that it was also given during suhoor times.

Shahab al-Din al-Hallaq al-Budairi (d. After 1175 AH / 1761 CE) tells us - in his book 'The Daily Incidents of Damascus' that in the year 1155 AH / 1742 CE “the crescent of Ramadan was ... and the lamps were lit in all the minarets of Levant, and the 'cannons of proof' were struck in the middle of the night, and it happened to the people. The suhoor movement was crowded, until food shops opened at night, such as bakers and quail.

The most important of these customs were decorating and lighting mosques and mosques.

Ibn Asaker (d. 571 AH / 1175 CE) - in the History of Damascus - stated that Umar al-Faruq (d. 23 AH / 645 CE) was the first to illuminate the mosques with lamps in Islam. “Ali bin Abi Talib (d. 40 AH / 661 AD) passed over the mosques In the month of Ramadan, and there are lamps in it, he said: God enlightened Omar in his grave just as he enlightened our mosques for us.

It is also customary to perfume and fumigate the Prophet’s Mosque.

Ibn Sa`d (d. 230 AH / 845 AD) says in 'The Great Classes': “The governors before Umar bin Abdul Aziz (d. 101 AH / 720 CE) used to forge the mosque of the Messenger of God for the gathering and perfume it in the month of Ramadan from [money] the tithe and charity (= Zakat), however, Umar bin Abdul Aziz decided to cut this habit in order to save the Muslims' money.

And since the days of the Companions;

Ramadan was also associated with the annual time for changing the clothes of the Holy Kaaba, so it was the custom - as Al-Azraqi (d.250 AH / 864 CE) says in 'Akhbar Makkah' - to “cover the Qabati Kaaba at the end of the month of Ramadan,” since the time of Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan (d. 60 AH / 681 CE) ), And "al-Qabati" is a type of clothing that was woven in Egypt since the era of Caliph Al-Faruq.

The caliphs and governors were keen on the custom of decorating mosques and increasing their lights, candles and perfume during Ramadan.

As the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun (d.218 AH / 833 CE) ordered at the beginning of Ramadan the writer Abu Jaafar Ahmad bin Yusuf al-Ajali (d.213 AH / 828 CE) to write on his tongue a letter to his governors and workers in the provinces, so that they would be interested in decorating and lighting mosques throughout the month of Ramadan.

Ibn Yusuf says about what Ibn Tayfour (d.280 AH / 893 CE) narrates about him in “The Book of Baghdad”: “Al-Maamun instructed me to write to all workers about taking people to multiply lamps in the month of Ramadan, and informing them of the merit in that. I say about that, as no one has gone before me and followed his way and his doctrine ... then he came to me and said: Say: For in that there is a forgetfulness of the questioner, illumination of the diligent, and a negation of the guise of suspicion, and her removal to the homes of God from the desolation of darkness.

And in 'Zahr al-Adab' by al-Husari al-Qayrawani (d. 453 AH / 1062 CE) he wrote: “It is a light for the worshipers ...

Lanterns


and

drums

As for the most

famous

minister of Andalusia and

handler

of the Umayyads, Al-Mansur bin Abi Amer (d. 392 AH / 1003 AD), his habit of caring for the Great Mosque of Cordoba during Ramadan was sent to him, as Ibn Azhari (d. After 712 AH / 1312 CE) says in al-Bayan al-Maghrib: “From Linen for wicks in each month of Ramadan is three quarters of a quintal; and all the oil that the mosque needs in a year is five hundred a quarter or so; it is spent in Ramadan, especially about half of the number. The aforementioned wax; and the large ones of wax are burned next to the imam; their weight is from fifty to sixty pounds (from approximately 22 to 32 kg), some of which are burned throughout the month, and all of them are burned on the night of the khatmah.

The Fatimids were also keen to illuminate the great mosques in Cairo - such as Al-Azhar, Al-Hakimi Mosque and Rashidah Mosque - especially in the blessed Ramadan, so that the Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim Bi Amr Allah (died after 411 AH / 1021 AD) was what came in his endowment on Al-Azhar, which preserved for us its Maqrizi content in 'Homilies and Considerations': “The Al-Azhar Mosque has two lights and twenty-seven lamps, including an adult mosque that enlightens and twelve candles, and it is a condition that it be hung in the month of Ramadan and returned to a place in which it is customary to be kept.”

The Fatimids' habit of lighting the mosques during Ramadan is part of their annual tradition which al-Maqrizi calls - in 'al-Khatat' - “mosque detection” which is carried out prior to the entry of Ramadan, and Ibn Hajar (d. 852 AH / 1448 CE) described it as “the day of circumambulation of mosques.” And the mosques two days before Ramadan, "to inspect their needs of medicine and lighting.

And this tradition was witnessing a popular celebration for it being concluded with a luxurious banquet;

He said, “Judges in Egypt, if there were three days left for the month of Ramadan, would roam a day around the sights and mosques in Cairo and Egypt, then start with the Al-Maqs mosque, then the mosques of Cairo… to see the restriction of that, its lanterns, its construction, and removing its hair (= cleaning and organizing it). He takes refuge in the door of judgment and witnesses, and the parasites greet that day and circumambulate with the judge to attend the scalp (= the celebration table).

The habit of renewing the maintenance of mosques, rebuilding them and supplying them with everything they need in Ramadan has become one of the necessary customs that are ongoing in the various countries of Islam, so that the famous Andalusian traveler Ibn Jubair Al-Balansi (d.582 AH / 1186 CE) says - in his journey - about the manifestations of this in the Grand Mosque: “And it happened. Celebrating in the Grand Mosque for this blessed month - and it was true - from the renewal of the mats, and the multiplication of candles, torches, and other instruments until the Haram shines with light and shines bright.

And this custom continued until Ibn Battuta - on his journey - later spotted it, saying: “If the crescent of Ramadan is set, drums and beards are beaten with the prince of Mecca, and the celebration of the Grand Mosque takes place from the renewal of the mats and the multiplication of candles and torches until the Haram shines with light and shines with joy and brightness, and the imams disperse a difference. They are Shafi’i, Hanafi, Hanbali, and Zaydi, and as for the Malikis, they meet with four reciters: they take turns reading and light the candles, and there is no corner or side in the Haram except in which there is a reader who prays with his congregation, then the mosque shifts to the voices of the reciters, the souls are uplifted, the hearts are attended, and the eyes are neglectful .

Recitation and devotion


while competing with caliphs and rulers in decorating and lighting mosques and preparing them for those standing and bowing.

Generation after generation the ummah has competed in the work of acts of obedience and righteousness, especially in Ramadan, enlightened by the actions of the Prophet ﷺ and the Companions, on top of that the reading of the Noble Qur’an.

Abu Uthman Saeed bin Mansour al-Jawzjani (d.227 AH / 842 CE) - in his book “The Interpretation of Sunan Sa`id Bin Mansour” - reported on the authority of al-Tabi al-Aswad ibn Yazid al-Nakha'i (d. 75 AH / 695 CE) that he used to “complete the Qur’an in the month of Ramadan every two nights,” He sleeps between sunset and dinner, "then completes his daily program full of good and righteous deeds.

And in Ibn Battuta’s journey that it was the custom in Makkah Al-Mukarramah that “every night of the last ten nights of Ramadan, the Qur’an is sealed and the seal is attended by the judge, the jurists and the elders, and the one who seals with them will be one of the sons of the pride of the people of Mecca. If he finishes his sermon, his father summons the people to his house, and he fed them many foods and sweeteners, as well as made during all the nights of Witr, and the greatest of those nights they have is the night of twenty-seven, and their celebration of it is greater than their celebration of other nights, and the great Qur’an is sealed behind the holy shrine, "meaning the shrine of Ibrahim." - Peace be upon him - around the Kaaba.

Many of these predecessors and great scholars had special conditions during Ramadan, and some of them left everything free for this holy month.

As Ibn Asaker reported - in the 'History of Damascus' - he said: “Al-Hanini (= Ishaq bin Ibrahim who died in 219 AH / 834 CE) when Ramadan entered the month of Ramadan, he stopped hearing the hadith, so Malik (bin Anas, the imam of the Malikis who died in 179 AH / 795 CE) said to him: O Aba Yaqoub, why did you stop listening to the hadith in Ramadan? If there is something hate in it, then it is hated at a time other than Ramadan. Then Al Hanini said to him: O Abu Abdullah, the month of [Mubarak] I would love to devote myself to [about it].

And it was stated in the book 'Rabih al-Abrar' by al-Zamakhshari (d. 538 AH / 1143 CE): “Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 161 AH / 778 CE), when he entered Ramadan, left all worship and began to read the Qur’an."

Al-Hafiz Ibn Katheer (d. 774 AH / 1372 CE) - in “The Beginning and the End” - narrates that Imam Al-Lughawi Abu Amr bin Al-Ala Al-Tamimi Al-Basri (d. 157 AH / 775 AD), “When Ramadan entered the month of Ramadan, he would not recite a line of poetry in it until it was shed.”

One of the custom of the updated Imam Suwaid ibn Amr al-Kufi (d.204 AH / 819 CE) was that it “does not happen in Ramadan.

According to Jamal al-Din al-Mazzi (d.742 AH / 1341 CE) in Tahdheeb al-Kamal.

On the same path, the Andalusian judge Abi Bakr Ibn Zarrab Al-Andalus (d. 381 AH / 992 AD) walked.

Al-Nabahi (d. 792 AH / 1390 CE) - in the “History of the Judges of Al-Andalus” - says about him that “he did not rule in the month of Ramadan and devoted himself to work and worship, he continued to do so until he died.”

Some of these scholars used to devote themselves to writing Qur’ans, such as Muhammad Ibn al-Adim al-Hanafi al-Halabi (d.626 AH / 1229 CE) - who is the uncle of the minister and historian Kamal al-Din Ibn al-Adim (d. Al-Wafi Al-Wifaat: “He used to write a Qur’an or two copies of the Qur’an in Ramadan - if he observes i'tikaaf.”

Al-Maqrizi says - in 'The Homilies' - that in Fatimid Egypt “the custom was ongoing from the days of priority (= relative to the best minister al-Jamali who died 515 AH / 1121 CE) at the end of Jumada al-Akhira every year: that all the winners' halls in Cairo and Egypt were to be closed and sealed (= put It has a government lock), and it warns against selling alcohol "until Ramadan is over!"

He also mentions their keenness to increase the salaries of the reciters and muezzins at the end of this holy month, if "it was on the twenty-ninth of the month of Ramadan, the commands would come out in multiples of what is stable for the reciters and muezzins every night by drawing the suhoor by virtue of it being the night of the end of the month."

Bonds


and

Jihad

Some of the most senior scholars in Tunisia liked to spend the month of Ramadan stationed in the openings in front of the enemy, such as Imam al-Maliki Sahnoun al-Tanukhi (d.240 AH / 854 CE) and his friend, the scholar Musa bin Muawiya al-Samadhi (d.225 AH / 840 CE).

In this, Sahnoun says, as narrated by Abu al-Arab al-Tamimi (d. 333 AH / 945 CE) in “Tabaqat Afriqiyah Ulema”: “We were attached to Monastir (= a defensive fortress in northern Tunisia on the Mediterranean coast) during the month of Ramadan with a group of our companions, so Musa bin Muawiya was with us. The longest prayer of all of them is the longest prayer of them, and if it is the twenty-seventh night of the month of Ramadan, apply it from beginning to end.

On top of these Almoravid scholars is Imam al-Mujahid al-Alamamah Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak (d.181 AH / 797 CE), who was famous for his constant participation in the battles of the Abbasids and their jihad against the Byzantines, and his long-term stay stationed in front of the enemy in the northern Thughour al-Sham, so that he “died defeated from Tarsus Southern Turkey today (in the month of Ramadan in the year one hundred and eighty one);

According to Abu Hatim al-Darami (d. 354 AH / 976 CE) in “The Famous Scholars of Al-Amsaar”.

This city of Tarsus was a dangerous gulf and a great bond of jihad with the Byzantines until they captured it in 354 AH / 966 AD.

And like Ibn Al-Mubarak in that;

The Iraqi hadith, Hussain bin Bahr Al-Ahwazi (d. 261 AH / 875 CE), of whom Al-Khatib Al-Baghdadi (d. 463 AH / 1072 AD) - in the 'History of Baghdad' - said that he “died in the Nafir in Malatya (central Turkey today) in the month of Ramadan in the year sixty-one century.”

And this phenomenon emerged among the scholars of Andalusia as well:

Ibn al-Fardi (d. 403 AH / 1013 CE) says - in the 'History of the Scholars of Andalusia' - that Abdullah bin Harthama bin Dhakwan (d. Jalil resembles the presidency of the Court of Cassation / Cassation in our time - "His death in Bkerke (= Fortress of North Andalusia) was in the Summer Raiders (= Summer), and that was at the beginning of the month of Ramadan in the year of seventy and three hundred."

And a petition for the double reward that the Prophet قر attached to it in Ramadan when he said that “an umrah in it is equivalent to a Hajj” (Sahih Al-Bukhari);

A number of the great scholars and reciters of Makkah al-Mukarramah were keen to perform the Umrah of Ramadan annually.

Muhammad bin Ishaq al-Fakihi (d. 272 ​​AH / 883 CE) - in 'Akhbar Makkah' - narrated that Abdullah Ibn Khuthaim (d.132 AH / 751 CE) said: “I realized Atta (Ibn Abi Rabah d. 114 AH / 733 CE) and Mujahid (= Mujahid bin Jabr) T 104 AH / 723 CE), Abdullah bin Katheer al-Dari (d.120 AH / 739 CE) and people of the Qur’a (= the jurists). ".

Al-Safadi says - in 'Nakht al-Haimyan in the jokes of the blind'- that the blind jurist Muhammad al-Bandaniji al-Shafi’i (d.

Feeding and spending


As for the habit of spending on charitable causes during Ramadan, and making food for the needy as charity and righteousness for them;

It is an ancient Islamic tradition that dates back to the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs after the Companions took it on the authority of the Prophet when they described his generosity in this blessed month.

(Sahih Muslim).

Indeed, Ibn al-Atheer (d. 630 AH / 1233 CE) - in his 'complete' history - traces this custom back to the pre-Islamic era, when he said that Abd al-Muttalib bin Hashem (the Prophet’s grandfather d. ) With green, so when the month of Ramadan began, he would go up and feed the poor throughout the month.

On the work of the Companions in this field;

It came in the history of al-Tabari (d. 310 AH / 922 CE): “Umar used to make every soul of the people of al-Fayyah one dirham in Ramadan every day, and he imposed for the wives of the Messenger of God two dirhams, and he was told: If you make food, then you gathered them to it! He said: People are satisfied in their homes. Uthman (ibn Affan d. 35 AH / 656 CE), who used to make Umar and added food for Ramadan, said: To the worshiper who is left behind in the mosque, to Ibn al-Sabil, and to those who marry (= the poor) of the people during Ramadan.

For the fasting people a drink was allocated when breaking their fast in the Prophet’s Mosque, as Ibn Sa’ad - in 'The Great Classes' - narrated on the authority of Imran bin Abdullah al-Khuza'i (d. ".

The Umayyads followed the path of the Rightly Guided Caliphs in the habit of feeding the fasting people. Al-Azraqi tells us - in 'Makkah News' - that the founder of the Umayyad state, Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan (d. I.e. food pots;

Because there were pots of yellows (= copper) in which the food of the pilgrim (= the pilgrims) and the food of the month of Ramadan were cooked, which is differentiated among the poor, the Umrah performers and other fasting people.

Some princes used to increase their spending and give alms to the parish during the month of Ramadan, such as the just prince of Tunisia, Ahmed bin Muhammad bin Al-Aghlab (d. 249 AH / 863 AD), whose habit - according to Ibn Azari in 'Al-Bayan Al-Maghrib' - was to ride every night in Ramadan. And between his hands he would get wax out of the old palace and walk until he entered the door of Abi al-Rabi 'with donkeys [loaded] with dirhams, so he used to give the weak and the needy until he ended up at the mosque in Kairouan and people would go out to pray for him.

And in the 'History of Damascus' by Ibn Asaker that the Emir of Damascus and Jordan of the Abbasids, Malik bin Tawq (d. 260 AH / 874 CE), was a "famous and generous person."

"When the month of Ramadan came, the caller Malik bin Touq called in Damascus every day at the door of 'Al-Khadra' - after the sunset prayer - and the emirate's house was in 'Al-Khadra' at that time: Iftar, may God have mercy on you, breakfast, may God have mercy on you, and the doors are open, so everyone who wishes enters without So, and he was not preventing anyone from that. "

The people of goodness and the left, and the young princes and ministers contributed to feeding the fasting people.

This is Hammad bin Abi Suleiman al-Kufi (d.120 AH / 739 CE) - who is the sheikh of Imam Abu Hanifa al-Nu'man (d.150 AH / 768 CE) - who “broke the fast every night in the month of Ramadan, five hundred people, so if the night of fasting was to wear a garment to him and give them a hundred hundred”;

According to what was reported by Al-Shajari Al-Jarjani (d. 499 AH / 1106 AD) in the 'Order of the Five Amalites.'

Abu Mansour al-Tha'alabi (d. 429 AH / 1039 CE) - in the 'Orphan of Eternity' - narrates that the Minister Al-Buihi Al-Sahib Ibn Abbad (d. 385 AH / 996 AD) used to “not enter him in the month of Ramadan after the afternoon of anyone - whoever he was - and he would leave his home except After breaking the fast with him, and in every night of Ramadan, his house was not without a thousand souls that break the fast, and his prayers, alms and relatives in this month amounted to the sum of what he would be released (= spent) of it during all months of the year.


Fatimid hospitality


and some of the judges and scholars of Andalusia followed the same path, such as the judge of Malaga Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Nabahi (d. 463 AH / 1072 CE) about which Abu al-Hasan al-Nabahi (d. 793 AH / 1391 CE) says in the “History of the Judges of Andalusia”: “Every Ramadan he followed the example of His son-in-law in Córdoba, Ahmed bin Ziyad (Al-Lakhmi d. 326 AH / 938 CE), then calls a house for him next to the mosque, ten jurists in a range of people who break their fast every night with him, and they study the Book of God among them and recite it.

This virtuous custom continued to flow until Ibn al-Atheer says - in his history - that the Caliph Al-Nasir Li Din Allah Al-Abbasi (d.622 AH / 1225 AD) ordered in Ramadan the year 604 AH / 1207 CE “to build houses in the shops (= the neighborhoods) in Baghdad for the poor to break their fast, and it was called 'Dur Al-Dhiyafa ', in which lamb is cooked, and fine bread, he did that on both sides of Baghdad (= Rusafa and al-Karkh), and he made in each house someone to document his trustworthiness, and he used to give each person a mug full of stew and meat, and manna (' manna 'is an old kale equal to 40 grams Almost) of bread, so every night a number of people would break the fast for his food.

So did his grandson, Caliph Al-Mustansir (d.640 AH / 1242AD).

Ibn Shamail al-Baghdadi al-Hanbali (d. 739 AH / 1338 CE) - in the “Observatories for Viewing Names of Places and Bekaa” - said that he had endowments for “Adur al-Mudheif” (= guest houses) that he established in Baghdad's shops for breakfast for the poor during the month of Ramadan. ”

And while the Rashidun, Umayyads, and Abbasids called people to eat and drink;

It was the habit of the Fatimid kings to disperse food on the classes of the people in Cairo from the kitchens they created for that.

This custom began in the era of al-Muizz Ladin Allah the Fatimid (d. 365 AH / 977 CE).

As al-Maqrizi says - in “Al-Mo`azat” - quoting from the historian Ibn Abi Tayy (d.630 AH / 1233 CE): “Al-Muizz made a house for the religion of God which he called:“ Dar al-Fitrah ”, and he used to work in it from Khashkananj (= bread made with butter, sugar and almonds), and sweet … Cakes, dates and hotels are a great thing, from the first of Rajab until halfway through Ramadan, so all of this will be differentiated in all private and public people according to the extent of their homes in containers that cannot be recovered "from those in need who were sent to them.

Al-Maqrizi also tells us about Sane 'the Fatimid military commander, then the Ayyubid Lu'lu` al-Hajeb al-Armeni (d.598 AH / 1203 CE) before and during Ramadan.

He says that "he used to separate twelve thousand loaves every day with the pots of food, and when the month of Ramadan entered the weaker that, and was celibate to separate from noon every day until about the next evening prayer, and put three boats in the length of each boat, twenty-one cubits full of food, and the poor would enter." He was standing tight in the middle like a shepherd, and in his hand was a ladle, and in the other a jar of margarine, and he fixed the ranks of the poor and brought food and friendliness to them (= melted fat), and it began with men, then women, then boys, and the poor - with their abundance - did not crowd because they knew that the well-known prevailed them. If the need of the poor ends, spread out cloth for the rich, the kings will not be able to resemble it! "

Ibn Battuta caught the attention of some of the good habits of the people of Damascus during the month of Ramadan, especially with them sharing food throughout Ramadan.

Where he says: “One of the virtues of the people of Damascus is that none of them breaks the fast during the nights of Ramadan alone at all. For whoever is among the princes, judges, and the elders, he invites his companions and the poor, they break their fast with him, and whoever is among the merchants and the elders of the market does something like that, and whoever is among the weak and the desert, they all gather together. One night in someone's home or in a mosque, and everyone brings what he has and they all break their fast. "

And in Egypt;

Al-Maqrizi also tells us - in “The Conduct to Know the Countries of Kings” - that the Mamluk Sultan al-Zahir Barquq (d. 801 AH / 1399 CE) used “throughout the days of his emirate and his sultanate every day of the month of Ramadan [slaughtering] twenty-five cows, which he gives in charity - after they are cooked with thousands of From the loaves of pure bread - to the people of mosques, the scenes and the khanak (= the collection of khanaka / khanaqah: a retreat and a school for Sufism), ribat, and the people of prisons; each person has a pound of cooked meat and three loaves of pure wheat (= wheat), except for what was separated in the corners [for Sufism] of Lamb meat, and every day given to each corner fifty pounds and several loaves of bread, and among them are given more than that according to their condition.

Architecture and Endowments


Many caliphs, kings and sultans were keen to lift grievances, establish justice, facilitate people in Ramadan, and follow the path of those who preceded them in the construction and reconstruction of righteous institutions in this blessed month.

The historian Ibn Tayfour mentioned - in the 'Book of Baghdad' - that the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun was filed a complaint to him “in the month of Ramadan that the merchants assaulted the weak of people in measure, so he ordered a jump (= a measure) holding eight shovels (= a plural of makkuk: an old measure of the people of Iraq) He commanded the merchants [to] lend (= seize) their irons on them, their young and old, so they did so and the people were satisfied. "

Among the stories indicative here is what al-Maqrizi tells - in 'The Homilies' - that the Emir of Egypt, Ahmad Ibn Tulun (d.270 AH / 883 CE) saw “the craftsmen building in the mosque (= his famous mosque in Egypt) at dinner, and it was in the month of Ramadan, so he said: When will these people buy The weak people break the fast for their families and children, spend them in the afternoon. It has become a Sunnah to this day (= the Maqrizi era in the ninth century AH / 15th century AD) in Egypt. When the month of Ramadan ended, he was told: The month of Ramadan has passed and they return to their drawing; so he said: Their prayers have reached me, and I have been blessed With it, this is not something that saves work for us. He completed it (= Al-Jami`) in the month of Ramadan in the year sixty-five (265 AH / 879 AD). "

It is known that the oldest university established in the Islamic world was the famous 'Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque' in Fez, Morocco, which was built from the money of the righteous woman Fatima bint Muhammad Al-Fihri (d. About 265 AH / 879 AD). .

And in that;

The historian Ibn Abi Zara (d. 726 AH / 1326 CE) says - what Abu al-Abbas al-Nasiri (d. 1315 AH / 1897 CE) attributed to him in “The Investigation of News of the Far Maghreb Countries” - says that this Fatima “died her husband and brothers and inherited from them substantial money, and it was permissible. That she spent it on charitable causes, and she had a good intention, so she decided to build a mosque that would find its reward with God, so she bought the spot from its Lord, and proceeded to dig the foundation of the mosque and build its walls, and that is on Saturday, the holy month of Ramadan, in the year forty-five and two hundred (245 AH / 859AD).

And Sultan Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi (d.589 AH / 1193 CE) followed the path of these people, and he was a sign of activity and work throughout the year and in Ramadan as well.

In the year 588 AH / 1192AD he deported “to Jerusalem in the fourth month of Ramadan, inspected his conditions, ordered the construction of its walls, and increased the endowment of the school that he had established in Jerusalem.”

According to the narration of Ibn Fadl Allah Al-Omari (d. 749 AH / 1348 AD) in Masalik Al-Ibsar.

Also, the Mamluk prince Saif al-Din Sourghatmush al-Nasiri (d. 759 AH / 1358 CE) built his school, which is still a testament to perfection and creativity in Mamluk architecture in Cairo.

Al-Maqrizi says in “Al-Mo`azat”: “He started building the school on Thursday of the month of Ramadan in the year fifty-six (756 AH / 1355 AD), and ended in Jumada al-Ula in the year fifty-seven, and it came from the most innovative and prestigious buildings, the best of them, the best in form and the most delightful in appearance.”

Lessons and debates, and


while the scholars and jurists were busy with their work and worship and competed in it during Ramadan;

Councils of princes varied in it, so some of them liked to spend their Ramadan days hearing the stories of the ancients and their strange and extremist news from al-Akhbarians and historians. “The princes of Bani al-Aghlab [in Tunisia] were sent to Ishaq (bin Abd al-Malik al-Malashuni, who died after 226 AH / 841 CE and was aware of the first two news) So he will be with them in Ramadan, and he speaks to them of these miracles so that he will cut them all day long.

In the words of Abu Al-Arab Al-Tamimi in his classes.

Al-Maqrizi mentions - in al-Khattat - that the Fatimid caliph would sit after the eaters of the “osmata of Ramadan .. in al-Rawshan (= the palace balcony) until the time of the dawn, and the reciters under it recite the tenth and rejoice so that the caliph would see them, then [if they finished] he came after them. The muezzins, and they began to say takbeer and mention the virtues of the suhoor, and sealed the supplication, and the makhad was presented to the preachers, and they mentioned the virtues of the month.

The Mamluk sultans and their princes in Egypt and the Levant used to establish councils of noble prophetic hadith in Ramadan, and perhaps the beginning of that was at the hands of Sultan Al-Ashraf Shaban (d. / 1372 AD) Sultan [Al-Ashraf Shaaban] begged him at the palace - from the mountain castle - to read the book 'Sahih al-Bukhari' every day of the month of Ramadan, in the presence of the group of judges and sheikhs of knowledge;

The traveler al-Maqdisi says that the Samanid kings in Khorasan used to hold “councils ... for debate between the hands of the Sultan, so he began to ask an issue and then talk about it.”

Al-Thaalabi also quotes - in the 'Orphan of the Eternal' - on the authority of Al-Buihi Minister Al-Saheb Ibn Abbad that he said: “I attended the council of [the minister] Ibn al-Ameed (d. 360 AH / 972 AD) on the eve of the evening of the month of Ramadan. ".

The same is true for the sultans of the Ghurid Mamluks in India. Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq Shah (d. 752 AH / 1351 CE) used to engage with scholars in this month. Jahan, one of them every night, attends to mention a joke (= a scientific or literary issue). Then the group attracts the parties to discuss it in the presence of the Sultan, and as one of them, he speaks with them, searches among them, and responds to him.

It is noteworthy that we find councils for scholars and scholars that were open to students in this holy month.

The modernist and historian Alam al-Din al-Barzali (d. 739 AH / 1338 CE) tells us that he heard the hadith from his sheikh Asma bint Muhammad al-Dimashqiyya (d.733 AH / 1333 CE).

In this, Safadi says - in 'notables of the era' - quoting Al-Barzali: “I read on her the majlis of the month of Ramadan in Ramadan in the year eighty-three [and six hundred (683 AH / 1284 CE)]], and I read about her four days before her death. The two dates were more than fifty years. A blessed woman who is awake, abounding in charity and kindness. "

Preaching and literature, just


as science, teaching, writing and preaching circles were as active and energetic as this holy month.

Abdullah ibn Abbas (d.68 AH / 688 CE) used to fast and break the fast in Basra for some years, and it was his custom for people to stand up for a sermon to deliver a brief speech to them after the evening prayer, so he said to them for a night as Al-Hafiz Ibn Asakir mentioned it in the History of Damascus: The angel of your command is the religion, your loyalty link, the adornment of knowledge, your safety in the dream, and your longevity (= your wealth) known; God has entrusted you with abundance, fear God as much as you can.

Then one of the attendees asked him about the most hairy people of their time, and Ibn Abbas went on to talk to them about poetry and poets.

It seems that the habit of consuming poetry and literature in mosques during the nights of Ramadan has persisted over time.

The writer Jamal al-Din bin Dhafir al-Azdi (d.613 AH / 1216 CE) - in “Badaa'i al-Badi’a” - recounted: “We gathered one night in Ramadan at the mosque, and we sat after the end of the prayer to talk, and the lantern of Suhoor was lit, so some of the attendees suggested to the writer. Abu Hajjaj bin Yusuf Ali -almenboz (aka =) B'alnjh'- to make it [poetry], but rather a

request Tjeezh; he made and sang:


The star of the

lantern shines ** but his

wudoo '

without the

planets does not apply have


not seen a

star never before Taluah * * If he cries, he forfeits the fasting people from breaking the fast

So I delegated him from among the congregation;

And I said: This is an exclamation that is not correct, because I and those present have seen stars that do not come under the restriction and are not counted by counting, and if they are absent they forbid the fasting to break the fast, which are the morning stars.

After that, the congregation wasted it, and began to tear its breadth and cut it apart.


So he

made and sang:

This is a brigade of suhour that sheds light on it ** and the militarism of the shooting stars in the darkness is


tugging, and the fasting people are all guided by it ** “as if it is a flag in whose head there is fire”!

The princes of the Turkmen state of Aratqa - in Diyarbakir, Mardin and the regions north of Mosul - liked to hear literature and read poetry after breakfast.

Ibn Shakir Al-Ketbi (d. 764 AH / 1363 AD) narrates - in “Fawat al-Fatat” - on the authority of the preacher Sheikh Nashib bin Hilal al-Harrani (d.591 AH / 1195 CE) as saying: “I went to Diyarbakir acquired by preaching. (D. 547 AH / 1152 AD) to break his fast with him in the month of Ramadan, so I came to him, and he did not raise my seat or honor me, and he said after breakfast to a boy with him: He brought us a book, and he brought it, and he said: I push it to the sheikh to read it, so I opened the book and if it is the divan of the man of Qais (


D.

540 A.D.), and if at the beginning:

Do you not know in the morning, O archaic child ** And does anyone know who was in the Empty Era?


I said to myself: I am a guest and a stranger, and I open what I read to a great sultan who has passed through the night:


Do not

know in the morning, O weary youth

! ! ...; then I said [on the face of it]:

Are


you not good at night, O High King ** and you are still in lasting glory


and eagerness, then I completed the poem, so the Sultan’s face rejoiced for that and raised my council and brought me nearer to it, and that was the reason for my favor with him. ”

These are some of the sights and customs of Muslims - of all generations and their conditions - welcoming the blessed month of Ramadan throughout the ages, and it reveals to us that this ummah did not know - in general - fatigue and boredom in this holy month, as they built - in most of their conditions - between worship and spending And education, creation and reconstruction, and competition for the good among the various classes, their colors, their cities, and their hurricanes.