Chapter 23: Islamic Fasting and Holy Months

This section of our surah is where fasting on the month of Ramadhan and its laws are prescribed.
.
.
.

Fasting on Ramadhan and Other Times

2:183-184 “O believers, a fast is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may be god-fearing, for a number of days. But if any of you be sick, or if he be on a journey, then a number of other days. And for those who are able to fast, a redemption by feeding a poor man. Yet better it is for him who volunteers good, and that you should fast is better for you, if you but knew.”
.
This passage seems to suggest that although fasting is prescribed in the Book, fasting is not compulsory, but recommended.
.
Here again the nebulous overshadows the specific, as the number of days prescribed for fasting is not given, but the following verse provide more specific information.
.
The volunteering of good seems out of place here, unless it is a reference to feeding the poor, in which case we have a discrepancy in the last clause, where feeding a poor man and fasting are considered better, even though they are presented as two alternatives.
.
Those who can fast, but choose not to, can redeem themselves by feeding a poor man.
.
The next verse (2:185) seems to abrogate 2:184 in respect of the obligation to fast.
.
2:185 “The month of Ramadhan, in which the Quran was sent down as guidance to the people, and as clear signs of the Guidance and the Furqan. So let those of you, who are present at the month, fast it. And if any of you be sick, or if he be on a journey, then a number of other days. Allah desires ease for you, and desires not hardship for you, and that you fulfil the number, and magnify Allah that He has guided you, and perhaps you will be thankful.”
.
2:185 is another example of the many Quranic texts containing incomplete sentences or clauses. The first sentence either ends prematurely, or the words “is the month” should be inserted after “Ramadhan”.
.
These incoherent passages will remain miracles of Allah, as they may not be amended. You will, however, find quite a lot of explanatory statements in parenthesis in the various translations of these verses.
.
In 2:186 Allah speaks to Muhammad: “And when My servants ask you concerning Me: I am near to answer the call of the caller when he calls to Me. So let them respond to Me, and let them believe in Me, so they walk the right path.”
.
This verse seems to have come from nowhere, sandwiched between the verses dealing with the fast of Ramadhan. It sounds much like a verse from the Book of Psalms (145:18): “The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth.”
.
I guess this verse could be placed anywhere in the Quran, as it is a general statement that is applicable to any passage.
.
.
.

Fasting Instructions

Back to the laws of Ramadhan (2:187): “Permitted to you, on the night of the Fast, is to go in to your wives: they are a vestment for you, and you are a vestment for them.
.
Allah knows that you have been betraying yourselves, and has turned to you and pardoned you. So now lie with them, and seek what Allah has permitted for you. And eat and drink, until you can tell between a white thread and a black thread at the dawn.
.
Then complete the Fast until the night, and do not lie with them and stay at the mosques. These are the limits of Allah, so do not go near them. Thus Allah makes His signs clear to men, so that they be god-fearing.”
.
Jewish law forbids sexual intercourse during a fast, which is more or less a single day affair. The Ramadhan fast lasts a whole month, so adopting the Jewish prohibition was impractical. It seems that originally the instruction was to abstain, and the “Permitted to you” advice came to relax the prohibition.
.
I am not sure what the reference to self deception is about. Perhaps it comes to indicate that the Believers took no notice of the prohibition, and the change was brought about to legalise the practice.
.
“Do not go near them” could refer to the limits of Allah, that is, “stay well within those limits”, or it could refer to the Believers’ wives. Take your pick.
Islamic fasting laws and customs are a variant, and sometimes somewhere in between, those of the Jews and those of the Christians.
.
Jewish fasting periods last not more than one day, with the major ones requiring total abstention for 24 to 26 hours, and minor Jewish fasting days requiring total abstention from dawn to nightfall. Christian fast (Lent) is a relaxed variant for forty days (some forms of nourishment are allowed). Islamic fasting contains elements of both.

.
.
.

Calendric Issues

2:188 forbids the wasting of wealth for vain purposes, or using it to bribe judges in order to devour other people’s wealth. This is a good thing.
.
2:189 “They will question you regarding the phases of the moon. Say: ‘these are for fixing times for people, and for holy days of pilgrimage. And it is not righteousness that you should enter the houses at their backs, but righteousness is this that one should be god-fearing. And go into the houses by their doors and be fear Allah, that you may be successful.”
.
It was a custom among returning pagan pilgrims to open a new doorway at the back of their homes and use it for entry, rather than use the front door. For some reason, Muhammad decided to outlaw this custom.
.
“The phases of the moon” refers to the fact that the Islamic calendar was Lunar, and months were declared by the phases of the moon, the new moon being the beginning of the month.
.
Since the length of a lunar cycle is around 29.5 days, the total length of twelve lunar months is around 354 days, and the total length of a solar year is just over 365 days, the Islamic months and therefore holy days retreat by about 11 days every year.
.
This is why the Fast of Ramadhan and the Hajj pilgrimage can occur in different seasons.
.
It is important to note that late in his career, Muhammad rejected the pre-Islamic Arab practice of adjusting the lunar calendar by adding an intercalary month to keep up with the solar cycle, as is the Jewish practice (9:37):
.
“Postponing is only an addition in unbelief, wherewith those who disbelieve are led astray, violating it one year and keeping it sacred another, that they may agree in the number that Allah has made sacred, and thus violate what Allah has made sacred …”
.
Ibn Ishaq (Sira:29-30) tells us about the “… intercalators, who used to adjust the months for the Arabs in the time of ignorance. They would make one of the holy months profane, and make one of the profane months holy to balance the calendar. It was about this that Allah sent down: …” (verse 9:37).
.
Why would Islam abandon the very useful practice of keeping in sync with the solar, and thereby, agricultural annual cycle?
.
It is probable that Muhammad, or those who established Islam as a belief system after his death, did it to further distance the new religion from practices that identified it with Judaism, or with existing pagan practices.
.
It seems that the ramifications of this hasty decision were not thoroughly considered.