Ramadan came for the second year and the health pandemic is hanging over many countries of the Islamic world, paralyzing the activities of their people from celebrating the introduction of this holy month with their returns for centuries, restricting the feet of those seeking kinship ties from exchanging visits in it, and receding because of it the feeding tables - for which many cities are famous - from supply and extension.

In order to know - dear reader - the extent of the anguish that has been in the hearts of many of the followers of this blessed month, we invite you to contemplate the next lines that tell us that the preparations of Muslims for the provider of the Ramadan - throughout their history - were remarkable, as its month was associated with light early when Muslims began to light mosques and streets in Ramadan in order to humanize the month, and Ramadan customs began to take root from the ceremonies of investigating the sightings of the crescent to the holding of remembrance and learning councils, to the expansion of tables and the multiplicity of manifestations of social communication.

Until the moment this article is published, the link still exists between the citizens of Ramadan, old and new, as every Arab or Islamic city does not deprive itself of its share in the customs of Ramadan characteristic of it, and of the spiritual brilliance that the life of Muslims is famous for in this Quranic month.

This article attempts to blend the religious, social and cultural traditions that have prevailed for months Ramadan over the centuries, through a wide monitoring that mobilizes a number of stories and narratives through which we can access the distinctive Ramadan behaviors experienced by Muslims in the countries of the world, the East and the Maghreb.

Investigation Ceremony The Arab month
is associated with the front of the crescent moon and the appearance of its signs, as well as the fasting of Ramadan according to the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) contained in the Sahihs of al-Bukhari (d. 256 AH/870 CE) and Muslim (d. 261 AH/875 CE): "Fast to see it and break the fast to see it." Therefore, Muslims were investigating the sighting of the crescent of Ramadan accurately and according to their capabilities in every town and country, and they chose for that the rejection of Muslims who are not accused of lying and fraud, and then the matter developed with the advent of the Abbasid era until the judges became supervisors of the ceremonies of sighting the crescent and documented the testimony of its confirmation, as is the case today in the work of the committees for monitoring, documenting and announcing the sighting of the crescent of Ramadan.

The Qadi al-Qudah (historian Ibn Khallikan al-Shafi'i (d. 681 AH/1282 CE) told us in Deaths of Notables that the Muhaddith of Egypt, Abdullah ibn Lahi'a al-Hadrami (d. 172 AH/788 CE), who was appointed by the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur (158 AH/776 CE) in 155 AH/773 CE as a judge in Egypt, was "the first judge to attend the crescent in the month of Ramadan, and the judges continued to do so until now," i.e. the late seventh century AH/13th century CE.

The Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta (d. 779 AH / 1377 CE) came to Egypt in 725 AH / 1325 CE and witnessed the ceremony of the phenomenon of investigating the crescent of Ramadan in the city of Abyar in northern Egypt, when he stayed in the hospitality of the judge of that city, Izz al-Din al-Meligi al-Shafi'i (d. 793 AH / 1391 AD).

"I once attended the 'Day of the Knee' and they call it the day of the expectation of the crescent of Ramadan. It is their custom that the jurists and faces of the city meet after the afternoon of the twenty-ninth day of Sha'ban in the house of the judge... If they are integrated there, the judge rode and all those with him rode with him, and all those in the city, men, women, slaves and boys, followed them, and they ended up in a high position outside the city, which is expected to be the crescent with them, and that place was furnished with rugs and brushes, and the judge and those with him descended in it, and they waited for the crescent, and then they returned to the city after the sunset prayer, and in their hands wax, torches and lanterns, and the people of the shops lit candles with their shops, and the people arrived with the judge to his house and then left, so they did every year."

Al-Dhahabi (d. 748 AH/1347 CE) mentions in Tareekh al-Islam that in 624 AH/1227 CE, the chief judge Imad al-Din Abu Saleh Nasr ibn Abd al-Razzaq al-Jili al-Baghdadi (d. 633 AH/1236 CE) relied on the testimony of two Baghdadis.

Al-Dhahabi says that "on the second night the crescent moon was watched, but he did not see, and the fault of the witnesses appeared, and some of the companions of Abu Saleh [the judge] broke their fast, and they caught six of their notables and confessed, and they were honored with Durra and they were imprisoned, and then those who witnessed were taken and they were imprisoned and each one was beaten fifty." Because of this mistake, the masses revolted against the judge until "Abu Saleh took refuge in Rusafa [in Baghdad] in the house of a weaver, and a creature gathered there from the gate of Al-Azaj and they were prevented from entering it, and then he was released after the Shawwal was torn off."

The presenter of Ramadan may be associated with very cloudy weather conditions that obscure the vision of his crescent, so people expect in a problem and confusion, and one of the strangest examples of this is what Al-Maqrizi (d. 845 AH / 1441 AD) narrated - in 'Behavior to know the countries of kings' - of "that the people of the city of Granada in Andalusia fasted the month of Ramadan (year 702 AH / 1302 AD) twenty-six days, and that the clouds accumulated for several months before Ramadan, so when it was the night of the twenty-seventh they saw the minaret to kindle it as usual, if the clouds had taken off and the crescent appeared, they broke their fast"!

Some funny situations occurred during the investigation of the sighting of the crescent, such as Ibn Khalkan's report that the great companion Anas bin Malik (d. 93 AH/713 CE) went out with a group of people to investigate the crescent, and he was a hundred years old at that time. Iyas (ibn Mu'awiyah al-Muzni, the judge of Basra (d. 122 AH/741 CE) looked at Anas and when a hair from his eyebrow was bent [on his eye and he thought it was the crescent], Iyas wiped it and changed it with his eyebrow, and then said to him: O Abu Hamza, show us the position of the crescent! He was made to look and say what I see!"

Ibn Khallikan also narrated that a sharp-sighted man saw the crescent of Ramadan in Basra until "others saw it with him and saw it, so when Hilal al-Fitr Jaz al-Jammaz (= Muhammad ibn 'Amr al-Basri (d. 250 AH / 864 AD) was the owner of anecdotes (= anecdotes) to that man, he knocked on the door and said: "Get us out of what you have brought us into"!!


The traveler al-Maqdisi al-Bashari (d. circa 380 AH/991 CE) tells us – in 'The Best Divisions in the Knowledge of the Regions' – that the people of Aden, Yemen, "decorate the roofs two days before Ramadan, and beat them with bears (= drums Ramadan);

This text of Al-Bashari tells us that the celebration of the beginning of the holy month reached the point of beating drums, and then evolved - in recent centuries with the Ottomans - into what became called the "cannon of Ramadan", whose shots were fired at breaking the fast. Shihab al-Din al-Hallaq al-Budairi (d. after 1175 AH/1761 CE) tells us in his book The Daily Incidents of Damascus that in 1155 AH/1742 CE, "the crescent of Ramadan was. Lanterns were lit in the rest of the minarets of the Levant, and the 'proof cannons' were struck in the middle of the night, and people got crowded in the movement of suhoor, until food shops opened at night like bakers and quails."

Ibn Asaker (d. 571 AH/1175 CE) mentioned in Tareekh Dimashq that Umar al-Faruq (d. 23 AH/645 CE) was the first to illuminate mosques with lanterns in Islam, as "Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 40 AH/661 CE) passed by mosques in the month of Ramadan with lanterns, and he said: The light of God is on Omar in his grave as the light of our mosques is on us."

Ibn Sa'd (d. 230 AH/845 CE) says in al-Tabaqat al-Kubra: "The rulers before 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz (d. 101 AH/720 CE) used to run to the mosque of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to collect and ta'ib it in the month of Ramadan from the tithe [money] and charity (= zakat)," but 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz decided to break this custom in order to save Muslims' money.

Since the days of the Companions, Ramadan has also been associated with the annual date of changing the clothes of the Kaaba, so it was customary, as Azraqi (d. 250 AH/864 CE) says in Akhbar Makkah, that "the Kaaba was clothed in the Coptic at the end of the month of Ramadan", since the time of Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan (d. 60 AH/681 CE), and "Qubati" is a type of clothing that has been woven in Egypt since the time of Caliph Al-Faruq.

The Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun (d. 218 AH/833 CE) ordered at the beginning of Ramadan his scribe Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Yusuf al-Ajli (d. 213 AH/828 CE) to write a letter on his tongue to his governors and workers in the provinces, so that they would take care of decorating and lighting mosques throughout the month of Ramadan.Ramadan

Ibn Yusuf says in Ibn Tayfur (d. 280 AH/893 CE) in Kitab Baghdad: "Al-Ma'mun ordered me to write to all the workers in taking people by increasing the number of lamps in the month of Ramadan, and to introduce them to the virtues of that. Then he came to me and said, "Say, for this is a blessing for the questioner, a light for the hard-working, a denial of the doubt, and a purification of the houses of God from the wildness of darkness." I wrote these words and others that are in their meaning."

In Zahr al-Adab by al-Husari al-Qayrawani (d. 453 AH/1062 CE), he wrote: "It is a light for the mutahajids. And Anas for the negative. So I told al-Ma'mun about it, and he waited for him, and ordered that the books should pass on him."

Lanterns and drums As for the most famous vizier of al-Andalus and its mastermind of the Umayyads, al-Mansur ibn Abi 'Amir (d. 392 AH/1003 CE), his custom was to take care Ramadan of the Great Mosque of Cordoba in Ramadan, so he used to send to him, as Ibn Adhari (d. after 712 AH/1312 CE) says in al-Bayan al-Maghrib: "From linen to wicks every month Ramadan three quarters
of a quintal; Three quintals of wax and three-quarters of a quintal of shortened linen for the sake of the aforementioned wax were related to Ramadan, and large wax was lit next to the imam, weighing fifty to sixty pounds (approximately 22 to 32 kg), some of which burned throughout the month, and all of them were burned on the night of the seal."

The Fatimids were also keen to light large mosques in Cairo – such as Al-Azhar, the Al-Hakimi Mosque and the Rashida Mosque – especially in the blessed Ramadan, so that the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (d. after 411 AH / 1021 AD) was one of the things stated in his endowment on Al-Azhar, the content of which Al-Maqrizi preserved for us in 'Sermons and Consideration': "The Al-Azhar Mosque has two tanurans and twenty-seven lanterns, and of which the Rashida Mosque has a tannur and twelve lanterns, provided that it is hung in the month of Ramadan and returned to a place where it is customary to be kept."

The Fatimids' custom of lighting mosques in Ramadan is part of their annual tradition, which al-Maqrizi calls in al-Khatib al-'Akhti' the "Kashf al-Masajid" carried out before the entry of Ramadan, and Ibn Hajar (d. 852 AH/1448 CE) described it in Rifa' al-Esr as "the day of circumambulation of mosques and mosques two days before Ramadan", in order to inspect their needs for perfume and lighting.

This tradition was popularly celebrated because it concluded with a luxurious feast: "If the judges in Egypt remain for a month Ramadan three days, they roam one day on the scenes and mosques in Cairo and Egypt, starting with the Mosque of Al-Maqs, and then the mosques of Cairo... , to consider the limitation of this, its lanterns, its architecture, and the removal of its shagging (= cleaning and organizing it). Most of the people who sought refuge at the door of judgment and witnesses, and the parasites waited for that day and circumambulated with the judge to attend the tablecloth (= the celebration table)."

The custom of renewing the maintenance and reconstruction of mosques and supplying them with everything they need in Ramadan has become one of the necessary customs going on in the different countries of Islam, so that the famous Andalusian traveler Ibn Jubayr Al-Balansi (d. 582 AH / 1186 AD) says - in his journey - about the manifestations of this in the Grand Mosque: "The celebration took place in the Grand Mosque for this blessed month - and the right to do so - of renewing the mat, and increasing wax, torches, and other instruments until the Haram shone with light, and shine brightly."

This habit continued until it was later monitored by Ibn Battuta – in his journey – by saying: "If the people of Hilal Ramadan beat drums and bears at the Emir of Mecca, and the celebration of the Grand Mosque is located from the renewal of the inventory, and the multiplication of wax and torches until the sanctuary shines light, and shines with joy and radiance, and the imams disperse teams, namely the Shafi'is, Hanafi, Hanbali and Zaidi, and the Malikis gather on four of the readers: they take turns reading and lighting wax, and there is no corner or hand left in the sanctuary except where a reader prays in his group, so the mosque shakes for the voices of the readers, and souls rise, Hearts are present, and eyes are neglected (= tears)."

Recitation and dedication While the caliphs and governors competed in decorating
and lighting mosques and preparing them for those standing and kneeling, the Ummah raced generation after generation in doing obedience and good deeds, especially in Ramadan enacted by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and the Companions, on top of which was the reading of the Holy Qur'an.

Abu 'Uthman Sa'id ibn Mansur al-Jawzjani (d. 227 AH/842 CE), in his book al-Tafsir min Sunan Sa'id ibn Mansur, quoted al-Tabi al-Aswad ibn Yazid al-Nakha'i (d. 75 AH/695 CE) as saying that he used to "complete the Qur'an in the month of Ramadan every two nights, sleep between Maghrib and Isha," and then complete his daily program full of acts of charity and righteousness.

In Ibn Battuta's journey that it was customary in Mecca that "every night of the last ten nights of the Ramadan seal the Qur'an and attend the seal of the judge and jurists and nobles, and be the one who seals them one of the sons of the great people of Mecca if he sealed erected a pulpit decorated with silk, and lit wax and sermons, and if he finished his sermon summoned his father people to his house and fed them many foods and sweets, as well as make in all the nights of Witr, and the greatest of those nights they have the night of twenty-seven, and their celebration of it is greater than their celebration of all nights, and the great Qur'an is concluded behind the Holy Maqam", meaning the shrine of Abraham - peace be upon him - around the Kaaba.

Many of these great Salaf and scholars had special circumstances in Ramadan, and some of them left everything dedicated to this holy month, as reported by Ibn Asaker – in Tareekh Dimashq – who said: "When he entered the month of Ramadan, he would not listen to the hadith, and Malik (Ibn Anas, the imam of the Malikis, who died in 219 AH / 834 AD) said to him: O Abu Ya'qub, why did you leave listening to the hadith in Ramadan? If there is something in him that he hates, he is not Ramadan hated. Al-Hanini said to him, "O Abu 'Abd Allah, the month [of Mubarak] I would like to devote myself [to] to myself."

وجاء في كتاب ‘ربيع الأبرار‘ للزمخشري (ت 538هـ/1143م): "كان سفيان الثوري (ت 161هـ/778م) إذا دخل رمضان ترك جميع العبادة وأقبل على قراءة القرآن". ويروي الحافظ ابن كثير (ت 774هـ/1372م) -في ‘البداية والنهاية‘- أن الإمام اللغوي أبا عمرو بن العلاء التميمي البصري (ت 157هـ/775م) "كان إذا دخل شهر رمضان لا ينشد فيه بيتا من الشعر حتى ينسلخ".

وكان من عادة الإمام المحدِّث سُوَيْد بن عمرو الكوفي (ت 204هـ/819م) أنه "لا يُحدِّث في رمضان، فقيل له، فقال: لعلَّنا نسلمُ منكم، لا نذكر أحدًا في رمضان"؛ حسب جمال الدين المَزِّي (ت 742هـ/1341م) في ‘تهذيب الكمال‘. وعلى الدرب نفسه سار قاضي الأندلس أبي بكر ابن زَرْبٍ الأندلسي (ت 381هـ/992م)؛ يقول عنه النُّبّاهي (ت 792هـ/1390م) -في ‘تاريخ قضاة الأندلس‘- إنه "كان لا يحكم في شهر رمضان ويُفرّغ فيه نفسه للعمل والعبادة، لم يزل مواظبًا على ذلك إلى أن مات".

وبعض هؤلاء العلماء كان يتفرّغ لكتابة المصاحف، مثل محمد ابن العَديم الحنفي الحلبي (ت 626هـ/1229م) -وهو عم الوزير والمؤرخ كمال الدين ابن العديم (ت 660هـ/1262م)- الذي يقول عنه المؤرخ صلاح الدين الصفدي (ت 764هـ/1363م) في ‘الوافي بالوفيات‘: "كان يكتبُ في رمضان -إذا اعتكف- مُصحفًا أو مُصحفين"!!

ويقول المقريزي -في ‘المواعظ‘- إنه في مصر الفاطميين "كانت العادة جارية من الأيام الأفضلية (= نسبة إلى الوزير الأفضل الجمالي المتوفى 515هـ/1121م) في آخر جمادى الآخرة من كل سنة: أن تُغلق جميع قاعات الخمّارين بالقاهرة ومصر وتُختم (= يوضع عليها قفل حكومي)، ويحذّر من بيع الخمر" حتى ينقضي رمضان!

كما يذكر حرصهم على زيادة رواتب القرّاء والمؤذنين في نهاية هذا الشهر الكريم، فإذا "كان في التاسع والعشرين من شهر رمضان خرجت الأوامر بأضعاف ما هو مستقرّ للمقرئين والمؤذنين في كل ليلة برسم السحور بحكم أنها ليلة ختم الشهر".

رباط وجهاد
وكان بعض كبار علماء تونس يحب أن يقضي شهر رمضان مرابطًا في الثغور أمام العدو، مثل الإمام المالكي سحنون التنوخي (ت 240هـ/854م) وصديقه العالم موسى بن معاوية الصُّمادحي (ت 225هـ/840م).

وفي ذلك يقول سحنون حسبما يرويه عنه أبو العرب التميمي (ت 333هـ/945م) في ‘طبقات علماء أفريقية‘: "كُنّا نُرابط بالمُنستير (= حصن دفاعي شمالي تونس على ساحل البحر المتوسط) في شهر رمضان ومعنا جماعة من أصحابنا، فكان موسى بن معاوية أطولهم كلّهم صلاة وأدومهم عليها، فإذا كانت ليلة سبع وعشرين من شهر رمضان طبَّقها من أولها إلى آخرها".

ويأتي على رأس هؤلاء العلماء المرابطين الإمامُ العلامة المجاهد عبد الله بن المبارك (ت 181هـ/797م)، الذي اشتُهر باشتراكه الدائم في معارك العباسيين وجهادهم ضد البيزنطيين، ومكوثه فترات طويلة مرابطًا أمام العدو في ثغور الشام الشمالية، حتى إنه "مات منصرفا من طَرَسوس (تقع جنوبي تركيا اليوم) في شهر رمضان سنة إحدى وثمانين ومئة"؛ وفقا لأبي حاتم الدارمي (ت 354هـ/976م) في ‘مشاهير علماء الأمصار‘.

وكانت مدينة طَرَسوس هذه ثغرا خطيرا ورباطا عظيما للجهاد مع البيزنطيين حتى استولوا عليها سنة 354هـ/966. ومثل ابن المبارك في ذلك؛ المحدّث العراقي الحسين بن بحر الأهوازي (ت 261هـ/875م) الذي قال عنه الخطيب البغدادي (ت 463هـ/1072م) -في ‘تاريخ بغداد‘- إنه "مات في النفير بمَلَطْيَة (وسط تركيا اليوم) في شهر رمضان سنة إحدى وستين ومئتين".

وبرزت هذه الظاهرة عند علماء الأندلس أيضًا؛ فابن الفرضي (ت 403هـ/1013م) يقول -في ‘تاريخ علماء الأندلس‘- إن عبد الله بن هَرْثَمَة بن ذَكْوان (ت 370هـ/981م) -وهو أحد كبار علماء وقضاة الأندلس الأموية كان يتولى وظيفة "صاحب الرد" بقرطبة التي هي منصب قضائي جليل يشبه رئاسة محكمة التمييز/النقض في عصرنا- كانت "وفاته بكركي (= حصن شمالي الأندلس) في غزاة الصائفة (= الصيف)، وذلك في صدر شهر رمضان سنة سبعين وثلاثمئة".

والتماسا للأجر المضاعف الذي قرنه النبي ﷺ برمضان حين قال إن «عُمْرَةً فِيهِ تَعْدِلُ حَجَّةً» (صحيح البخاري)؛ كان عدد من كبار علماء وقرّاء مكة المكرمة يحرصون سنويا على أداء عمرة رمضان.

فقد حكى محمد بن إسحق الفاكهي (ت 272هـ/883م) -في ‘أخبار مكة‘- أن عبد الله ابن خُثَيم (ت 132هـ/751م) قال: "أدركتُ عطاء (بن أبي رباح ت 114هـ/733م) ومُجاهدًا (= مجاهد بن جبر ت 104هـ/723م) وعبد الله بن كثير الدّاري (ت 120هـ/739م) وأُناسًا من القُرَّاء (= الفقهاء) إذا كان ليلة سبع وعشرين من شهر رمضان خرجوا إلى التنعيم فاعتمَروا.. من حيث اعتمرت عائشة (ت 58هـ/679م) رضي الله عنها". ويقول الصفدي -في ‘نكث الهميان في نكت العميان‘- إن الفقيه الضرير محمد البَنْدَنِيجي الشافعي (ت 495هـ/1102م) كان "يعتمرُ في شهر رمضان ثلاثين عُمرة"!

إطعام وإنفاق
أما عادة الإقبال على الإنفاق في أوجه الخير خلال رمضان، وصنع الطعام للمحتاجين تصدقًا وبرّا بهم؛ فهي تقليد إسلامي قديم يعود إلى عصر الخلفاء الراشدين بعد أن أخذه الصحابة عن النبي ﷺ حين وصفوا كرمه في هذا الشهر الفضيل، فقالوا إنه كان «أَجْوَدَ النَّاسِ بِالْخَيْرِ، وَكَانَ أَجْوَدَ مَا يَكُونُ فِي شَهْرِ رَمَضَانَ»؛ (صحيح مسلم). بل إن ابن الأثير (ت 630هـ/1233م) -في تاريخه ‘الكامل‘- يرجع هذه العادة إلى العصر الجاهلي، حيث قال إن عبد المطلب بن هاشم (جد النبي ﷺ ت 45ق.هـ/578م) هو "أول من تحنّث (= تعبَّد) بِحِرَاء، فكان إذا دخل شهر رمضان صعد حِرَاء وأطعم المساكين جميع الشهر".

وعن عمل الصحابة في هذا المجال؛ جاء في تاريخ الطبري (ت 310هـ/922م): "كان عمر يجعلُ لكل نفس من أهل الفيء في رمضان درهمًا في كل يومٍ، وفرضَ لأزواج رسول الله ﷺ درهمين درهمين، فقيل له: لو صنعتَ طعامًا فجمعتهم عليه! فقال: أُشبعُ الناس في بيوتهم. فأقرّ عثمان (بن عفان ت 35هـ/656م) الذي كان صنع عمر وزاد فوضع طعام رمضان، فقال: للمتعبّد الذي يتخلّف في المسجد وابن السبيل والمُعْتَرِّين (= الفقراء) من الناس في رمضان".

وقد خُصص للصائمين شراب عند فطرهم في المسجد النبوي الشريف، إذ روى ابن سعد -في ‘الطبقات الكبرى‘- عن التابعي عمران بن عبد الله الخُزَاعي (ت بعد 93هـ/713م) أنه "كان في رمضان يُؤْتَى [الصائمون] بالأشربة في مسجد النبي ﷺ".

وسار الأمويون على درب الخلفاء الراشدين في عادة إطعام الصائمين، فالأزرقي يفيدنا -في ‘أخبار مكة‘- بأن مؤسس الدولة الأموية معاوية بن أبي سفيان (ت 60هـ/681م) اشترى -من آل المؤمل العدويين- دارًا في مكة المكرمة وسماها "دار المراجل" أي قدور الطعام؛ "لأنها كانت فيها قُدور من صُفْر (= نُحاس) يُطبخُ فيها طعام الحاجّ (= الحُجّاج) وطعام شهر رمضان" الذي يفرق على الفقراء والمعتمرين وغيرهم من الصائمين.

ودأب بعضُ الأمراء على الإكثار من الإنفاق والتصدق على الرعية في شهر رمضان، مثل أمير تونس العادل أحمد بن محمـد بن الأغلب (ت 249هـ/863م) الذي كان من عادته -حسب ابن عِذاري في ‘البيان المُغرب‘- أن يركب كل ليلة في رمضان "وبين يديه الشمع فيخرج من القصر القديم ويمشي حتى يدخل من باب أبي الربيع ومعه دوابّ [محمّلة] بالدراهم، فكان يعطي الضعفاء والمساكين حتى ينتهي إلى المسجد الجامع بالقيروان فيخرج الناس إليه يدعون له".

وفي ‘تاريخ دمشق‘ لابن عساكر أن أمير دمشق والأردن للعباسيين مالك بن طَوْق (ت 260هـ/874م) كان "من الأسخياء المشهورين"؛ فكان "إذا جاء شهر رمضان نادى منادي مالك بن طوق بدمشق كل يوم على باب ‘الخضراء‘ -بعد صلاة المغرب- وكانت دارُ الإمارة في ‘الخضراء‘ في ذلك الزمان: الإفطار رحمكم الله، الإفطار رحمكم الله؛ والأبواب مفتحة فكل من شاء دخل بلا إذن، وكان لا يمنع أحدًا من ذلك".

ولقد ساهم أهل الخير واليسار وصغار الأمراء والوزراء في إطعام الصائمين؛ فهذا حماد بن أبي سليمان الكوفي (ت 120هـ/739م) -وهو شيخ الإمام أبي حنيفة النعمان (ت 150هـ/768م)- كان "يُفطّر كل ليلة في شهر رمضان خمسمئة إنسان، فإذا كان ليلة الفطر كساهم ثوبًا ثوبًا، وأعطاهم مئة مئة"؛ طبقا لما أورده الشَّجري الجُرْجاني (ت 499هـ/1106م) في ‘ترتيب الأمالي الخميسية‘.

ويحدث أبو منصور الثعالبي (ت 429هـ/1039م) -في ‘يتيمة الدهر‘- عن أن الوزير البويهي الصاحب ابن عبّاد (ت 385هـ/996م) كان "لا يدخل عليه في شهر رمضان بعد العصر أحد -كائنا من كان- فيخرج من داره إلا بعد الإفطار عنده، وكانت داره لا تخلو في كل ليلة من ليالي شهر رمضان من ألف نفس مفطرة فيها، وكانت صِلاته وصدقاته وقُرُباته في هذا الشهر تبلغ مبلغ ما يُطْلق (= يُنفق) منها في جميع شهور السنة".
حفاوة فاطمية
وسار بعض قضاة وعلماء الأندلس على الدرب ذاته، مثل قاضي مالقة محمد بن الحسن النُّباهي (ت 463هـ/1072م) الذي يقول عنه أبو الحسن النُّباهي (ت 793هـ/1391م) في ‘تاريخ قضاة الأندلس‘: "كان في كل رمضان يحذو حذو صهره القاضي بقرطبة أحمد بن زياد (اللخمي ت 326هـ/938م)، فيدعو بدار له تُجاور المسجد عشرةً من الفقهاء في طائفة من وجوه الناس، يفطرون كل ليلة عنده، ويتدارسون كتاب الله بينهم ويتلونه".

واستمر جريان هذه العادة الحميدة حتى إن ابن الأثير يقول -في تاريخه- إن الخليفة الناصر لدين الله العباسي (ت 622هـ/1225م) أمر في رمضان سنة 604هـ/1207م "ببناء دُور في المحالِّ (= الأحياء) ببغداد ليُفطر فيها الفُقراء، وسُميت ‘دُور الضيافة‘، يُطبخُ فيها اللحم الضأن، والخُبز الجيد، عمل ذلك في جانبيْ بغداد (= الرصافة والكرخ)، وجعل في كلّ دارٍ من يُوثقُ بأمانته، وكان يُعطي كلّ إنسانٍ قدَحًا مملوءًا من الطبيخ واللحم، ومَنًّا (‘المَنُّ‘ كيلٌ قديم يساوي 40 غراما تقريبا) من الخُبز، فكان يُفطرُ كلَّ ليلةٍ على طعامه خلقٌ لا يُحصون كثرة".

وكذلك فعل بعده حفيدُه الخليفة المستنصر (ت 640هـ/1242م)؛ فقد قال ابن شمائل البغدادي الحنبلي (ت 739هـ/1338م) -في ‘مراصد الاطلاع على أسماء الأمكنة والبقاع‘- إنه كانت له أوقاف "على ‘آدُرِ المضيف‘ (= دُور الضيافة) التي أنشأها في محالّ بغداد لفطور الفقراء في شهر رمضان".

ولئن دعا الراشدون والأمويون والعباسيون الناسَ إلى طعامهم وشرابهم؛ فقد كانت عادة ملوك الفاطميين تفريق الطعام على طبقات الناس في القاهرة من المطابخ المخصصة التي أنشؤوها لذلك.

وقد بدأت هذه العادة منذ عصر المعز لدين الله الفاطمي (ت 365هـ/977م)؛ إذْ يقول المقريزي -في ‘المواعظ‘- نقلا عن المؤرخ ابن أبي طَي (ت 630هـ/1233م): "عمِل المعز لدين الله دارا سماها: ‘دار الفَطرة‘، فكان يعمل فيها من الخُشْكَنَانَج (= خبز يُعمل بالزبد والسكر واللوز)، والحلواء… والكعك والتمر والبُنْدق شيء كثير، من أوّل رجب إلى نصف رمضان، فيفرّق جميع ذلك في جميع الناس الخاص والعام على قدر منازلهم في أوانٍ لا تُستعاد" ممن أرسلِت إليهم من المحتاجين.

Al-Maqrizi also tells us about the works of the Fatimid military commander and then the Ayyubid pearl of the Armenian bailiff (d. 598 AH/1203 CE) before Ramadan and in it: "He used to divide every day twelve thousand loaves with pots of food, and if he entered the month of Ramadan he weakened it, and he got wet to separate from noon every day until about the evening prayer of the hereafter, and he put three boats of twenty-one cubits each long filled with food, and the poor entered in droves while standing tight in the middle as if he were a shepherd, and in his hand a ladle In the other jar of ghee, which fixes the ranks of the poor and brings them food and wadak (= melted fat), and begins with men, then women, then boys, and the poor - with their abundance - do not crowd because they know that the known pervades them, and if the need of the poor ends up extending a tablecloth for the rich, the kings are unable to like it"!

Ibn Battuta drew the attention of some of the good customs of the people of Damascus in the month of Ramadan, especially sharing food with them throughout the Ramadan: "One of the virtues of the people of Damascus is that none of them breaks the fast on the nights of Ramadan alone at all; with what He has, and they shall all break their fast."

In Egypt, al-Maqrizi also tells us – in al-Suluq al-'idl al-'idwal al-muluk (d. 801 AH/1399 CE) that the Mamluk sultan al-Zahir Barquq (d. <> AH/<> CE) used to "throughout the days of his emirate and sultanate every day of the month of Ramadan [slaughtering] twenty-five cows, with which he gave charity – after they were cooked with thousands of loaves of pure bread – to the people of mosques, scenes, khanouks (= plural of khankah/khanqah: a retreat and a school of Sufism), the binding, and the people of prisons; The zawiyas [for Sufis] are mutton, and every day every day they give to each corner fifty pounds and several loaves of bread, and among them those who give more than that, according to their condition."

Architecture and Endowments
Many caliphs, kings and sultans were keen to lift grievances, establish justice, facilitate the people in Ramadan, and follow the path of their predecessors in the establishment and reconstruction of the institutions of righteousness in this blessed month.

The historian Ibn Tayfur – in the Kitab Baghdad – stated that the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun filed a complaint against him "in the month of Ramadan that merchants were attacking the weak people in the kail, so he ordered a cage (= a bushel) that can accommodate eight shuttles (= collecting a shuttle: an old bushel for the people of Iraq) sent, and in the middle of it became a pillar and named the mine, and ordered the merchants [to] lend (= set) their makkayel on them, young and old, so they did so and the people were satisfied."

One of the indicative stories here is what al-Maqrizi tells – in al-Ma'a'iz – 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 and he said: When will these weak people buy breakfast for their children and children, spend them in the afternoon. It became a year to this day (= the era of al-Maqrizi in the ninth century AH / 15th century AD) in Egypt. When the month of Ramadan was over, it was said to him, "The month of Ramadan has passed, and they will return to their drawing." It was completed (= the mosque) in the month of Ramadan sixty-five and two hundred (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 wealth of the righteous woman Fatima bint Muhammad al-Fihri (d. circa 265 AH/879 CE), and it was ordered that its beginning in Ramadan a desire to double the wage.

The historian Ibn Abi Zara (d. 726 AH / 1326 AD) – attributed to him by Abu al-Abbas al-Nasiri (d. 1315 AH / 1897 CE) in al-Istiqsa li-Akhbar al-Maghrib al-Aqsa – says that this Fatima "died her husband and brothers, and she inherited from them a lot of money, and it was halal, so she wanted to spend it in the faces of goodness, and she had a good intention, so she resolved to build a mosque that finds its reward with God, so she bought the spot from her Lord, and began to dig the foundation of the mosque and build its walls, on Saturday, Fatih Ramadan the year five. and forty and two hundred (245 AH / 859 AD)."

In 589 AH / 1193 CE, he left "to Jerusalem on the fourth of Ramadan, inspected its conditions, ordered the construction of its walls, and further stopped the school he worked in Jerusalem", according to Ibn Fadl Allah al-'Umari (d. 588 AH/1192 CE) in Maslak al-Absar.Ramadan

The Mamluk prince Sayf al-Din Sarghatmish al-Nasiri (d. 759 AH/1358 CE) also built his school, which is still a testament to the mastery and creativity of Mamluk architecture in Cairo; al-Maqrizi says in al-Ma'a'iz: "The construction of the school began on Thursday of the month of Ramadan in the year fifty-six and seven hundred (756 AH / 1355 AD), and it ended in Jumada al-Awwal in the year fifty-seven, and it came from the most creative and longest, the best template and the most delightful view."

Lessons and debates While scholars and jurists were busy with their work and worship and competed in them during the Ramadan, the councils of princes varied in it, and some of them liked to spend their Ramadan day listening to the stories of the first and their strange and extreme news from the Akhbaris and historians, as "the princes of Bani al-Aghlab [in Tunisia] used to send to Ishaq (ibn Abd al-Malik al-Malshoni, who died after 226 AH / 841 CE) and he would be with them in Ramadan, and he would tell them these wonders until he cut them off all day long", according to the expression of Abu al-Arab al-Tamimi in his layers
.

Al-Maqrizi mentions – in al-Khatib – that the caliph of the Fatimids used to sit after the eaters had finished "Asmata Ramadan. In the roshan (= the balcony of the palace) until the time of suhoor, and the reciters under it recite a tithe, and sing so that the caliph watches them, then [if they finish] the muezzins came after them, and they began to takbeer and mention the virtues of suhoor, and they concluded with 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 the Prophet's hadith in Ramadan, and perhaps the beginning of this was at the hands of Sultan al-Ashraf Sha'ban (d. 775 AH / 1373 AD), as may be understood from the saying of al-Maqrizi in al-Suluq: "In it (= Ramadan year 774 AH / 1372 AD) Sultan [al-Ashraf Sha'ban] in the palace - from the mountain castle - 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;

According to the Jerusalemite traveler, it was Ramadan the custom of the Samanid kings of Khorasan to hold "majlis... The debate is in the hands of the Sultan, and he begins to ask a question and then they talk about it." Al-Thaalibi also quotes – in 'The Orphan of the Age' – the Buyid vizier Sahib Ibn Abbad as saying: "I attended the Majlis of [the vizier] Ibn al-Ameed (d. 360 AH/972 CE) on the eve of the month of Ramadan, and the jurists and theologians attended it for the debate, and I was then in the prime of my youth."

Like the Mamluk sultans of the Ghurid in India, Sultan Muhammad ibn Taghlaf Shah (d. 752 AH/1351 CE) used to forgive the scholars in this month, about which al-'Umari says in Maslak al-Absar: "The scholars attend his Majlis and break their fast in the month of Ramadan with him, and Sadr Jahan orders every night one of those who attend to mention a joke (= a scientific or literary issue);

The hadith and historian Alam al-Din al-Barzali (d. 739 AH/1338 CE) tells us that he heard the hadith from his sheikha Asma bint Muhammad al-Dimashqiya (d. 733 AH/1333 CE). In this regard, Safadi says, in 'Notables of the Age', quoting al-Barzali: "I read to her the Majlis of the month of Ramadan in the Ramadan of the year eighty-three [six hundred (683 AH / 1284 AD)], and I read it four days before her death. Between the two histories there are more than fifty years. She was a blessed and vigilant woman, abundant in righteousness, charity and favor."


Abdullah bin Abbas (d. 68 AH/688 CE) used to fast and break the fast in the city of Basra for some years, and it was his custom to raise a preacher among the people and give them a brief speech after the evening prayer, and he said to them one night according to what was reported by Al-Hafiz Ibn Asaker in his History of Damascus: "The angel of your command is religion, your loyalty is your connection, your adornment is knowledge, your dream is your safety, and your height (= your riches) is known; Then one of the attendees asked him about the feelings of the people of their time, and Ibn Abbas went on to talk to them about poetry and poets.

The writer Jamal al-Din ibn Zafer al-Azdi (d. 613 AH/1216 CE) narrated in Badaa'i al-Bada'a (Badaa'i') that "We met one night in Ramadan in the mosque, and we sat down after the end of the prayer to talk, and the Suhoor lantern was (= lit up), so some of those present suggested to the writer Abu al-Hajjaj Yusuf bin Ali – al-Manbouz (= nicknamed) as 'the ewe' – to make [poetry] in it, but he asked to incapacitate it.Ramadan
And a star from the lantern shines its light ** but without the planets it does not flow
and I have never seen a star before it rises ** If it is raid, it forbids fasting people to break the fast

I said this is an exclamation that is not valid, because I and those present have seen stars that do not fall under the count and are not counted by counting, if they are absent, the fasting people forbid breaking the fast, which are the morning stars, so the group then overdid in bashing it, and they began to tear and cut it, so he made and sang:
This is a Suhoor brigade to be illuminated by ** And the military of meteors in the darkness is a tractor
and all fasting people are guided by it ** "As if it were a flag in his head fire""!

Ibn Shakir al-Ketbi (d. 764 AH / 1363 CE) narrated – in 'Missing Deaths' – that the preacher Sheikh Nasheb bin Hilal al-Harrani (d. 591 AH / 1195 AD) said: "I went to Diyarbakir acquired by preaching, and when I went down to Mardin Castle, its owner Tamrtash bin Ilghazi bin Artaq (d. 547 AH / 1152 AD) invited me to break the fast with him in the month of Ramadan, so I attended with him and he did not raise my Majlis or honor me, and he said after breaking the fast to a boy He has: He brought us a book, and he brought it, and he said: Pay it to the Sheikh to read in it, so my anger increased and I opened the book and if it is the Diwan of Imru' al-Qays (d. 540 AD), and if in the first: Am not the morning O worn talal ** And do you 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 and he has passed from the night:

Isn't it morning, you worn-out child!! ... I said [intuitively]: "
O High King, I am still in glory and glory
, and then I completed the poem, and the Sultan's face cheered for that and raised my council and condemned me to it, and that was the reason for my favor with him."

These are some of the scenes and customs of receiving Muslims - of various generations and conditions - for the blessed month of Ramadan throughout the ages and times, and they reveal to us that this nation did not know - in general - fatigue and boredom in this holy month, as its sons were - in most of their conditions - between worship, spending, education, establishment and reconstruction, and competition for good deeds between their different classes, colors, hurricanes and hurricanes.